JULIA              Nay, that I will not. LUCETTA        Then never dream on infamy, but go. If Proteus like your journey when you come, No matter who’s displeased when you are gone. I fear me he will scarce be pleased withal. JULIA That is the least, Lucetta, of my fear. A thousand oaths, an ocean of his […]

LUCETTA        You must needs have them with a codpiece, madam. JULIA  Out, out, Lucetta! That will be ill-favoured. LUCETTA A round hose, madam, now’s not worth a pin Unless you have a codpiece to stick pins on. JULIA Lucetta, as thou lov’st me let me have What thou think’st meet and is most mannerly. But […]

LUCETTA        Why then, your ladyship must cut your hair. JULIA  No, girl, I’ll knit it up in silken strings With twenty odd-conceited true-love knots. To be fantastic may become a youth Of greater time than I shall show to be. LUCETTA What fashion, madam, shall I make your breeches? JULIA That fits as well as […]

JULIA  Then let me go, and hinder not my course. I’ll be as patient as a gentle stream, And make a pastime of each weary step Till the last step have brought me to my love. And there I’ll rest, as after much turmoil A blessèd soul doth in Elysium. LUCETTA        But in what habit […]

LUCETTA        I do not seek to quench your love’s hot fire, But qualify the fire’s extreme rage, Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason. JULIA  The more thou damm’st it up, the more it burns. The current that with gentle murmur glides Thou know’st, being stopped, impatiently doth rage; But when his fair […]

LUCETTA        Alas, the way is wearisome and long. JULIA  A true-devoted pilgrim is not weary To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps. Much less shall she that hath love’s wings to fly, And when the flight is made to one so dear, Of such divine perfection as Sir Proteus. LUCETTA        Better forbear till Proteus make […]

Enter Julia and Lucetta JULIA  Counsel, Lucetta. Gentle girl, assist me, And e’en in kind love I do conjure thee, Who art the table wherein all my thoughts Are visibly charactered and engraved, To lesson me, and tell me some good mean How with my honour I may undertake A journey to my loving Proteus.      […]

PROTEUS       This night he meaneth with a corded ladder To climb celestial Silvia’s chamber window, Myself in counsel his competitor. Now presently I’ll give her father notice Of their disguising and pretended flight, Who, all enraged, will banish Valentine; For Thurio he intends shall wed his daughter. But Valentine being gone, I’ll quickly cross, By […]

PROTEUS       I will forget that Julia is alive, Remembering that my love to her is dead, And Valentine I’ll hold an enemy, Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend. I cannot now prove constant to myself Without some treachery used to Valentine.           (2.6.27-32)   Proteus has made his mind up, and he sounds shockingly callous—there […]

CW: racism PROTEUS       I cannot leave to love, and yet I do. But there I leave to love where I should love. Julia I lose, and Valentine I lose. If I keep them, I needs must lose myself. If I lose them, thus find I by their loss For Valentine, myself, for Julia, Silvia. I […]