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A room in a prison. |
A room in a prison. |
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Enter, severally, DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as a friar, and Provost |
DUKE VINCENTIO, disguised as a friar, and the Provost enter from opposite directions. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
Hail to you, provost! so I think you are. |
DUKE VINCENTIO
Hello, Provost—I think that’s who you are. |
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PROVOST
I am the provost. What’s your will, good friar? |
PROVOST
I am the provost. What do you want, good friar? |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
Bound by my charity and my blest order, I come to visit the afflicted spirits Here in the prison. Do me the common right To let me see them and to make me know The nature of their crimes, that I may minister To them accordingly. |
DUKE VINCENTIO
My sense of charity and my religious order make it my duty to come visit the troubled souls here in prison. Grant me the clergy’s usual right to see them, and tell me the nature of their crimes, so I may minister to them accordingly. |
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PROVOST
I would do more than that, if more were needful. |
PROVOST
I’d do more than that, if it were needed. |
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Enter JULIET |
JULIET enters. |
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Look, here comes one: a gentlewoman of mine, Who, falling in the flaws of her own youth, Hath blister’d her report: she is with child; And he that got it, sentenced; a young man More fit to do another such offence Than die for this. |
Look, here comes one: a gentlewoman in my charge who, by giving in to her youthful passion, has ruined her reputation. She’s pregnant, and the child’s father is sentenced to death. He’s just a young man, who deserves the chance to make more babies, rather than to die for this one. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
When must he die? |
DUKE VINCENTIO
When must he die? |
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PROVOST
As I do think, to-morrow. |
PROVOST
Tomorrow, I think. |
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To JULIET |
(to JULIET) |
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I have provided for you: stay awhile, And you shall be conducted. |
I’ve gotten accommodations for you. Wait here, and you’ll be escorted to them. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry? |
DUKE VINCENTIO
Pretty one, do you repent the sin you’re carrying? |
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JULIET
I do; and bear the shame most patiently. |
JULIET
I do, and patiently bear the shame. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
I’ll teach you how you shall arraign your conscience, And try your penitence, if it be sound, Or hollowly put on. |
DUKE VINCENTIO
I’ll teach you how to examine your conscience, and to test if your repentance is real or insincere. |
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JULIET
I’ll gladly learn. |
JULIET
I’ll gladly learn. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
Love you the man that wrong’d you? |
DUKE VINCENTIO
Do you love the man who wronged you? |
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JULIET
Yes, as I love the woman that wrong’d him. |
JULIET
Yes, as I love myself, the woman who wronged him. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
So then it seems your most offenceful act Was mutually committed? |
DUKE VINCENTIO
So then it seems your sinful act was mutually committed? |
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JULIET
Mutually. |
JULIET
Mutually. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
Then was your sin of heavier kind than his. |
DUKE VINCENTIO
But your sin is heavier than his. |
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JULIET
I do confess it, and repent it, father. |
JULIET
I do confess it, and repent it, father. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
’Tis meet so, daughter: but lest you do repent, As that the sin hath brought you to this shame, Which sorrow is always towards ourselves, not heaven, Showing we would not spare heaven as we love it, But as we stand in fear,— |
DUKE VINCENTIO
That’s appropriate, daughter. But if you’re only sorry because your sin’s been found out, that’s being sorry for yourself, not for offending Heaven. We tend to repent out of fear of God, rather than love for him— |
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JULIET
I do repent me, as it is an evil, And take the shame with joy. |
JULIET
I repent because my act was evil. I’m happy to be ashamed of it. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
There rest. Your partner, as I hear, must die to-morrow, And I am going with instruction to him. Grace go with you, Benedicite! |
DUKE VINCENTIO
Maintain that attitude. I hear your partner must die tomorrow, and I’m going to give him spiritual guidance. Grace go with you, and God bless you! |
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Exit |
He exits. |
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JULIET
Must die to-morrow! O injurious love, That respites me a life, whose very comfort Is still a dying horror! |
JULIET
Must die tomorrow! Oh, painful love! By making me pregnant, it’s spared my life. But that comfort means I have to live with the horror of Claudio’s death. |
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PROVOST
’Tis pity of him. |
PROVOST
He’s to be pitied. |
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Exeunt |
They exit. |