Speech
Arden 3 | 2020

ANGELO
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine?            165
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
Not she, nor doth she tempt, but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be,                              170
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie,
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?                          175
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live.
Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again                                    180
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet              185
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever till now
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how.

(Exit.)

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Words and Pronunciation +
Arden 3 | 2012

Words

O God: one of several apostrophes to the Deity by Juliet. (Weis)

honey: sweet, used here adjectivally; honey was the standard sweetener in Shakespeare’s day, and Juliet is humouring Nurse. (Weis)

aweary: tired (Leung); weary, tired (SW)

jaunt: fatiguing journey (cited in OED) (Weis)

have I: have I had (Weis)

would: 3. a. Denoting expression (usually authoritative) of a wish or intention: Determine, decree, ordain, enjoin, give order (that something be done). Obs. (OED)

Jesu: not yet banned at this date and, outside RJ, used exclusively in the history plays, particularly in the Henry IVs (Weis)

stay the circumstance: wait for the detail (see without circumstance, 5.3.181) (Weis)

circumstance: special argument, detailed explanation (SW); circumlocution, verbiage, unnecessary detail (SW): pageantry, ceremony, spectacle (SW)

simple: foolish; Nurse picks up Juliet’s formal dichotomy of good and bad while ignoring the substance of her question. (Weis); foolish, silly, stupid (SW)

flower of courtesy: effectively a non sequitur after flower of courtesy since gentleness could be thought to be part of courtesy; ‘as gentle as a lamb’ is proverbial (Dent, L34). (Weis)

go thy ways: ‘Lucky you!’ ways: well done (SW), carry on, go ahead (SW); get along, be off (SW)

wench:  a term of endearment for a young woman (OED sb. c) (Weis)

serve God: ‘Be good.’ (Weis)

dined: had your midday meal (Weis)

as: as if (Weis, re: line 49)

beshrew your heart: a mild and humorous imprecation on Juliet’s romantic heart for sending Nurse on this ‘back-breaking’ trip (cf. MA 5.1.55) (Weis)

beshrew: blame, censure, take to task, wish mischief on (SW); curse, devil take, evil befall (SW)

jauncing: prancing about (cited under OED jaunce v.)(Weis); jaunce: jaunt, trudge about, run around (SW); jaunt, fatiguing journey (SW)

honest: honourable (Weis); honourable, respectable, upright (SW); genuine, real, true (SW); innocent, well-intentioned, innocuous (SW)

warrant: assure, promise, guarantee, confirm (SW)

oddly: unequally, unevenly; or unusually, in a peculiar way (SW)

O God’s Lady: ‘by the Virgin Mary’ (Weis)

hot: eager, with a teasing intimation of unbecoming sexual passion (Weis); active, vigourous (SW); hot-tempered, angry, passionate (SW); fast, hasty (SW); lecherous, lustful, hot-blooded (SW); amorous, sexually eager, ardent, appetent (Partridge)

marry come up: a proverbial expression of indignant or amused surprise (Dent, M699.2) (Weis); expression of (real or playful) impatience (SW)

marry: [exclamation] by Mary (SW)

I trow: here meaning ‘surely’ (OED v. 4b glosses ‘I suppose’) (Weis); trow: (I) wonder, (I) ask you (SW); think, expect, believe (SW); believe, give credence to, accept as true (SW); hope, trust, suppose (SW); think, be sure (SW); know, guess, imagine (SW)

poultice: soothing dressing (Shakespeare’s only usage of the word) (Weis);1. A moist, usually heated mass of a substance with a soft, pasty consistency, applied to the skin, usually by means of a bandage or dressing, in order to promote healing, reduce swelling, relieve pain, etc.; a fomentation, a cataplasm. Also figurative. (OED)

coil: ado, fuss; cf. ‘I am not worth this coil that’s made for me’ (KJ 2.1.165).(Weis); turmoil, disturbance, fuss (SW); 1. Noisy disturbance, ‘row’; ‘tumult, turmoil, bustle, stir, hurry, confusion’ (Johnson).2. Confused noise of inanimate things; clutter, rattle, confused din. 3. Fuss, ado; a ‘business’.  4.a. to keep a coil: to keep up a disturbance; make a fuss, bustle, much ado.

shrift:  confession (Leung, SW); absolution (SW); confessional, place for hearing confession (SW)

hie: hasten, go quickly (also at 72, 77, 78) (Weis); hasten, hurry, speed (SW)

cell: small, humble dwelling (SW)

stays: waits (Leung); stay: stay in hiding, remain hidden (SW); staying, remaining, continued presence (SW); remain, continue, endure (SW); wait (for), await (SW)

wanton blood: Juliet is starting to blush (Weis)

blood: spirit, vigour, mettle (SW); anger, temper, passion (SW); colouring, healthy complexion, blushing (SW); hot blood, the blood as affected by sexual passion (Partridge, 67)

wanton: feminine; or: childlike (SW); lascivious, lewd, obscene (SW); carefree, lighthearted, frolicsome, playful (SW)

climb: to climb a woman’s legs (as though they were the limb of a tree) and then enjoy her (Partridge, 80)

bird’s nest: i.e. Juliet’s bedroom; the idiom ‘to climb a bird’s nest’ may have been proverbial (Dent, N124.1). (Weis) pudend and pubic hair (Partridge, 66)

at any: hasten, go quickly (also at 72, 77, 78) (Weis)

drudge and toil in your delight: ‘I am a mean labourer and hack, and I labour for your pleasure.’ (Weis)

drudge: slave, serf, lackey (SW)

bear the burden: assume responsibility for what will ensue; but also suggesting that Juliet will experience the weight of Romeo’s body during love-making (cf. AC 1.5.22).(Weis); bear: to bear children; to bear, support, a superincumbent man (Partridge, 63)

soon at night: tonight (proverbial; Dent, S639.1) (Weis); quickly, in a short time (SW)

hie to high fortune: Wish me luck. (No Fear Shakespeare Translation)

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Pronunciation +

lookest: possibly “look’st” (Leung, also: Arden CWRE, 1998)

shamest: (line 23) Q2–3; sham’st Q4, F; not in Q1 (Weis)

Jesu: (line 29) jeez-yoo or jee-zoo; jayz-yoo or jay-zoo

you: (line 29) The more formal pronoun is used consistently by Nurse when addressing Juliet, while the 13-year-old uses the familiar thou, thee, thy to her servant, in conformity with the etiquette of the day in which social class overrides age. (Weis)

marry: (line 62) mah-ree (UK); meh-ree (US) (OED)

trow: (line 62) tr-ah-oo (UK); tr-oh (US) (OED)

hie: (line 68) hah-ee

wanton: (line 70) want-en or want-in

+prose: (lines 38-45) The nurse switches to prose for this speech.

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Translation
No Fear Shakespeare

ANGELO
What’s happening? Is this her fault or mine? The tempter or the tempted, who sins the most? Ha! It’s not her, she’s not trying to be a tempter. It’s me. It’s like I’m lying in a field of violets, only instead of blossoming and smelling like a flower, I’m rotting and stinking like a corpse from the same sun that makes the flowers grow. Is it possible that a modest woman can arouse desire more than a seductive one? Having destroyed enough land already, should a person want to tear down a holy place and establish evil there as well? Oh, damn, damn, damn! Angelo, what are you doing, who are you? Do you sinfully desire her for the things that make her good? Oh, I should let her brother live! Thieves are justified in robbing when the judges themselves are thieves. Can it be I’m in love with her, when I want to hear her speak again, and gaze into her eyes? What am I dreaming of? Oh, the devil’s a cunning enemy—to catch a saint, he baits the hook with saints! The most dangerous temptation is the one that uses our love of goodness to draw us into sin. A prostitute could never attract me, even with her two powers: her seductive skills and her natural endowments. But this virtuous girl totally overwhelms me. Whenever I saw men who were infatuated like idiots, I smiled and didn’t understand—up until now.

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Assonance
Arden 3 | 2020

ANGELO
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine?            165
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
Not she, nor doth she tempt, but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be,                              170
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie,
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?                          175
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live.
Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again                                    180
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet              185
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever till now
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how.

(Exit.)

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Pronunciation +

shamest: (line 23) Q2–3; sham’st Q4, F; not in Q1 (Weis)

Jesu: (line 29) jeez-yoo or jee-zoo; jayz-yoo or jay-zoo

you: (line 29) The more formal pronoun is used consistently by Nurse when addressing Juliet, while the 13-year-old uses the familiar thou, thee, thy to her servant, in conformity with the etiquette of the day in which social class overrides age. (Weis)

marry: (line 62) mah-ree (UK); meh-ree (US) (OED)

trow: (line 62) tr-ah-oo (UK); tr-oh (US) (OED)

hie: (line 68) hah-ee

wanton: (line 70) want-en or want-in

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Alliteration
Arden 3 | 2020

ANGELO
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine?            165
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
Not she, nor doth she tempt, but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be,                              170
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie,
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?                          175
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live.
Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again                                    180
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet              185
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever till now
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how.

(Exit.)

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Consonance
Arden 3 | 2020

ANGELO
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine?            165
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
Not she, nor doth she tempt, but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be,                              170
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie,
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?                          175
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live.
Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again                                    180
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet              185
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever till now
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how.

(Exit.)

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Thoughts
Arden 3 | 2020

ANGELO
1. What’s this? 2. What’s this? 3. Is this her fault or mine? [165]
4. The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
5. Not she, nor doth she tempt, but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. 6. Can it be,  [170]
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? 7. Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? 8. O fie, fie, fie,
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?  [175]
9. Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? 10. O, let her brother live.
11. Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. 12. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again  [180]
And feast upon her eyes? 13. What is’t I dream on?
14. O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! 15. Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. 16. Never could the strumpet  [185]
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; 16a. but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. 17. Ever till now
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how.

(Exit.)

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Thought Count
Arden 3 | 2020

ANGELO

Long: 0
Medium: 5 | 4
Short: 12 | 13
Complex: 1 (2)

End stopped: 6
Midline: 11 | 12

Period: 6
Exclamation: 1
Question: 10
Dash: 0

Total: 17 | 18

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Rhythm
Arden 3 | 2020

ANGELO
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine? [165](10)
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?(11w)
Not she, nor doth she tempt, but it is I (10R)
That, lying by the violet in the sun, (10R | 11)
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower, (11W | 12)
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be, [170] (10R | 11)
That modesty may more betray our sense (10R)
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough, (11)
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary (10R | 11)
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie, (10R)
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo? [175](10R)
Dost thou desire her foully for those things (10R)
That make her good? O, let her brother live. (10R)
Thieves for their robbery have authority, (10 |11)
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her, (11W)
That I desire to hear her speak again  [180](10R)
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on? (11w)
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint, (10R | 11)
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous (10R)
Is that temptation that doth goad us on (10R)
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet [185] (13W)
With all her double vigour, art and nature, (11w)
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid (10R | 10 | 11)
Subdues me quite. Ever till now (8)
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how. (10R)

(Exit.)

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Pacing
Arden 3 | 2020

ANGELO
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine? [165] pause?
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha? pause?
Not she, nor doth she tempt, but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be, [170]
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie,
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo? [175] pause?
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live.  pause?
Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again                                    180
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?  pause?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet              185
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. PAUSE  Ever till now
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how.

(Exit.)

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Beats
Arden 3 | 2020

ANGELO
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine?            165
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
Not she, nor doth she tempt, but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be,                              170
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie,
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?                          175
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live.
Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again                                    180
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet              185
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever till now
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how.

(Exit.)

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Pronunciation +

shamest: (line 23) Q2–3; sham’st Q4, F; not in Q1 (Weis)

Jesu: (line 29) jeez-yoo or jee-zoo; jayz-yoo or jay-zoo

you: (line 29) The more formal pronoun is used consistently by Nurse when addressing Juliet, while the 13-year-old uses the familiar thou, thee, thy to her servant, in conformity with the etiquette of the day in which social class overrides age. (Weis)

marry: (line 62) mah-ree (UK); meh-ree (US) (OED)

trow: (line 62) tr-ah-oo (UK); tr-oh (US) (OED)

hie: (line 68) hah-ee

wanton: (line 70) want-en or want-in

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Rhetoric
Arden 3 | 2020

ANGELO
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine?            165
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
Not she, nor doth she tempt, but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be,                              170
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie,
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?                          175
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live.
Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again                                    180
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet              185
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever till now
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how.

(Exit.)

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Scene
Arden 3 | 2020 | 214-233

2.2

Enter Provost [and a] Servant.

SERVANT
He’s hearing of a cause; he will come straight,
I’ll tell him of you.

PROVOST
’Pray you do.

[Exit Servant.]

I’ll know
His pleasure, maybe he will relent; alas,
He hath but as offended in a dream.
5All sects, all ages smack of this vice, and he
To die for’t?

Enter Angelo.

ANGELO
Now, what’s the matter, Provost?

PROVOST
Is it your will Claudio shall die tomorrow?

ANGELO
Did not I tell thee yea? Hadst thou not order?
10215Why dost thou ask again?

PROVOST
10Lest I might be too rash:
Under your good correction I have seen
When after execution, judgement hath
Repented o’er his doom.

ANGELO
Go to; let that be mine,
Do you your office or give up your place,
15And you shall well be spared.

PROVOST
I crave your honour’s pardon:
What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet?
She’s very near her hour.

ANGELO
Dispose of her
To some more fitter place; and that with speed.

[Enter Servant.]

SERVANT
20Here is the sister of the man condemned
Desires access to you.

ANGELO
Hath he a sister?

PROVOST
Ay, my good lord, a very virtuous maid,
And to be shortly of a sisterhood,
216If not already.

ANGELO
Well, let her be admitted.[Exit Servant.]
25See you the fornicatress be removed.
Let her have needful but not lavish means.
There shall be order for’t.
Enter Lucio and Isabella.

PROVOST
’Save your honour.

ANGELO
Stay a little while. [to Isabella] You’re welcome: what’s your will?

ISABELLA
I am a woeful suitor to your honour,
30’Please but your honour hear me.

ANGELO
30Well, what’s your suit?

ISABELLA
There is a vice that most I do abhor,
And most desire should meet the blow of justice;
For which I would not plead, but that I must,
For which I must not plead, but that I am
35At war ’twixt will and will not.

ANGELO
35Well, the matter?

ISABELLA
I have a brother is condemned to die;
I do beseech you let it be his fault,
And not my brother.

PROVOST
[aside]Heaven give thee moving graces.

ANGELO
Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?
40Why every fault’s condemned ere it be done.
Mine were the very cipher of a function
To fine the faults, whose fine stands in record,
And let go by the actor.

ISABELLA
O just but severe law!
I had a brother then; heaven keep your honour.

LUCIO

[aside to Isabella]

45Give’t not o’er so. To him again, entreat him,
Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown.
You are too cold; if you should need a pin,
You could not with more tame a tongue desire it:
To him, I say.

ISABELLA
50Must he needs die?

ANGELO
50Maiden, no remedy.

ISABELLA
Yes, I do think that you might pardon him,
And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.

ANGELO
I will not do’t.

ISABELLA
But can you if you would?

ANGELO
Look what I will not, that I cannot do.
219

ISABELLA
55But might you do’t and do the world no wrong
If so your heart were touched with that remorse
As mine is to him?

ANGELO
He’s sentenced, ’tis too late.

LUCIO
[aside to Isabella] You are too cold.

ISABELLA
60Too late? Why, no. I that do speak a word
May call it again. Well, believe this,
No ceremony that to great ones longs,
Not the king’s crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal’s truncheon, nor the judge’s robe,
65Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does. If he had been as you
And you as he, you would have slipped like him.
But he, like you, would not have been so stern.

ANGELO
Pray you be gone.

ISABELLA
70I would to heaven I had your potency,
And you were Isabel. Should it then be thus?
No. I would tell what ’twere to be a judge,
And what a prisoner.

LUCIO
[aside] Ay, touch him: there’s the vein.

ANGELO
75Your brother is a forfeit of the law,
And you but waste your words.

ISABELLA
Alas, alas.
Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once,
And he that might the vantage best have took
Found out the remedy. How would you be,
80If he, which is the top of judgement, should
But judge you as you are? O, think on that,
And mercy then will breathe within your lips
Like man new made.

ANGELO
Be you content, fair maid,
It is the law, not I, condemn your brother.
85Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
It should be thus with him: he must die tomorrow.

ISABELLA
Tomorrow? O, that’s sudden! Spare him, spare him!
He’s not prepared for death. Even for our kitchens
We kill the fowl of season. Shall we serve heaven
90With less respect than we do minister
To our gross selves? Good, good, my lord, bethink you;
Who is it that hath died for this offence?
There’s many have committed it.

LUCIO
[aside]Ay, well said.

ANGELO
The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept.
95Those many had not dared to do that evil,
If the first that did th’edict infringe
Had answered for his deed. Now ’tis awake,
Takes note of what is done, and like a prophet
Looks in a glass that shows what future evils
100Either now, or by remissness new conceived,
And so in progress to be hatched and born,
Are now to have no successive degrees,
224But ere they live, to end.

ISABELLA
Yet show some pity.

ANGELO
I show it most of all when I show justice,
105For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismissed offence would after gall,
And do him right, that answering one foul wrong
Lives not to act another. Be satisfied;
Your brother dies tomorrow; be content.

ISABELLA
110So you must be the first that gives this sentence,
And he that suffers. O, it is excellent
To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous
225To use it like a giant.

LUCIO
[aside]That’s well said.

ISABELLA
Could great men thunder
As Jove himself does, Jove would never be quiet,
115For every pelting, petty officer
Would use his heaven for thunder,
Nothing but thunder. Merciful heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
120Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man,
Dressed in a little brief authority,
226Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
125As makes the angels weep, who with our spleens
Would all themselves laugh mortal.

LUCIO
[aside to Isabella]
O, to him, to him, wench. He will relent,
He’s coming: I perceive’t.

PROVOST
[aside]Pray heaven she win him.

ISABELLA
We cannot weigh our brother with ourself.
130Great men may jest with saints; ’tis wit in them,
But in the less, foul profanation.

LUCIO
[aside]Thou’rt i’th’ right, girl, more o’that.

ISABELLA
That in the captain’s but a choleric word,
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

LUCIO
135[aside to Isabella]Art advised o’that? More on’t.

ANGELO
Why do you put these sayings upon me?

ISABELLA
Because authority, though it err like others,
Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself
That skins the vice o’th’ top. Go to your bosom,
140Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know
That’s like my brother’s fault. If it confess
A natural guiltiness, such as is his,
Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue
Against my brother’s life.

ANGELO
[aside]She speaks, and ’tis such sense
145That my sense breeds with it. – Fare you well.

ISABELLA
Gentle my lord, turn back.

ANGELO
I will bethink me: come again tomorrow.

ISABELLA
Hark, how I’ll bribe you; good my lord, turn back.

ANGELO
How? Bribe me?

ISABELLA
150Ay, with such gifts that heaven shall share with you.

LUCIO
[aside]You had marred all else.

ISABELLA
Not with fond sicles of the tested gold,
Or stones whose rate are either rich or poor
As fancy values them, but with true prayers
155That shall be up at heaven and enter there
Ere sunrise – prayers from preserved souls,
From fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate
To nothing temporal.

ANGELO
Well, come to me tomorrow.

LUCIO
[aside to Isabella]Go to, ’tis well; away.

ISABELLA
160Heaven keep your honour safe.

ANGELO
160Amen.
[aside] For I am that way going to temptation,
Where prayers cross.

ISABELLA
At what hour tomorrow
Shall I attend your lordship?

ANGELO
At any time ’fore noon.

ISABELLA
’Save your honour.

[Exeunt Isabella, Lucio and Provost.]

ANGELO
From thee, even from thy virtue.
165What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine?
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
Not she, nor doth she tempt, but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
170Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be,
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie,
175What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live.
Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
180That I desire to hear her speak again
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
185To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever till now
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how.

(Exit.)

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Pronunciation +

shamest: (line 23) Q2–3; sham’st Q4, F; not in Q1 (Weis)

Jesu: (line 29) jeez-yoo or jee-zoo; jayz-yoo or jay-zoo

you: (line 29) The more formal pronoun is used consistently by Nurse when addressing Juliet, while the 13-year-old uses the familiar thou, thee, thy to her servant, in conformity with the etiquette of the day in which social class overrides age. (Weis)

marry: (line 62) mah-ree (UK); meh-ree (US) (OED)

trow: (line 62) tr-ah-oo (UK); tr-oh (US) (OED)

hie: (line 68) hah-ee

wanton: (line 70) want-en or want-in

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