The Taming of the Shrew |
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| Taming of the Shrew
| Act 4, Scene 5
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Enter PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, HORTENSIO, and ServantsPETRUCHIO
Come on, i' God's name; once more toward our father's.KATHARINA
Good Lord, how bright and goodly shines the moon!
The moon! the sun: it is not moonlight now.PETRUCHIO
I say it is the moon that shines so bright.KATHARINA
I know it is the sun that shines so bright.PETRUCHIO
Now, by my mother's son, and that's myself,HORTENSIO
It shall be moon, or star, or what I list,
Or ere I journey to your father's house.
Go on, and fetch our horses back again.
Evermore cross'd and cross'd; nothing but cross'd!
Say as he says, or we shall never go.KATHARINA
Forward, I pray, since we have come so far,PETRUCHIO
And be it moon, or sun, or what you please:
An if you please to call it a rush-candle,
Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.
I say it is the moon.KATHARINA
I know it is the moon.PETRUCHIO
Nay, then you lie: it is the blessed sun.KATHARINA
Then, God be bless'd, it is the blessed sun:HORTENSIO
But sun it is not, when you say it is not;
And the moon changes even as your mind.
What you will have it named, even that it is;
And so it shall be so for Katharina.
Petruchio, go thy ways; the field is won.PETRUCHIO
Well, forward, forward! thus the bowl should run,HORTENSIO
And not unluckily against the bias.
But, soft! company is coming here.
Enter VINCENTIO
To VINCENTIO
Good morrow, gentle mistress: where away?
Tell me, sweet Kate, and tell me truly too,
Hast thou beheld a fresher gentlewoman?
Such war of white and red within her cheeks!
What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty,
As those two eyes become that heavenly face?
Fair lovely maid, once more good day to thee.
Sweet Kate, embrace her for her beauty's sake.
A' will make the man mad, to make a woman of him.KATHARINA
Young budding virgin, fair and fresh and sweet,PETRUCHIO
Whither away, or where is thy abode?
Happy the parents of so fair a child;
Happier the man, whom favourable stars
Allot thee for his lovely bed-fellow!
Why, how now, Kate! I hope thou art not mad:KATHARINA
This is a man, old, wrinkled, faded, wither'd,
And not a maiden, as thou say'st he is.
Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes,PETRUCHIO
That have been so bedazzled with the sun
That everything I look on seemeth green:
Now I perceive thou art a reverend father;
Pardon, I pray thee, for my mad mistaking.
Do, good old grandsire; and withal make knownVINCENTIO
Which way thou travellest: if along with us,
We shall be joyful of thy company.
Fair sir, and you my merry mistress,PETRUCHIO
That with your strange encounter much amazed me,
My name is call'd Vincentio; my dwelling Pisa;
And bound I am to Padua; there to visit
A son of mine, which long I have not seen.
What is his name?VINCENTIO
Lucentio, gentle sir.PETRUCHIO
Happily we met; the happier for thy son.VINCENTIO
And now by law, as well as reverend age,
I may entitle thee my loving father:
The sister to my wife, this gentlewoman,
Thy son by this hath married. Wonder not,
Nor be grieved: she is of good esteem,
Her dowery wealthy, and of worthy birth;
Beside, so qualified as may beseem
The spouse of any noble gentleman.
Let me embrace with old Vincentio,
And wander we to see thy honest son,
Who will of thy arrival be full joyous.
But is it true? or else is it your pleasure,HORTENSIO
Like pleasant travellers, to break a jest
Upon the company you overtake?
I do assure thee, father, so it is.PETRUCHIO
Come, go along, and see the truth hereof;HORTENSIO
For our first merriment hath made thee jealous.
Exeunt all but HORTENSIO
Well, Petruchio, this has put me in heart.
Have to my widow! and if she be froward,
Then hast thou taught Hortensio to be untoward.
Exit
Shakespeare homepage | Taming of the Shrew | Act 4, Scene 5
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