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Exit CLAUDIO
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CLAUDIO exits.
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By and by.
I hope it is some pardon or reprieve
70For the most gentle Claudio.
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In a minute. I hope it’s some pardon or reprieve for gentle Claudio.
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Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before
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DUKE VINCENTIO enters, disguised as a friar.
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Welcome father.
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Welcome, father.
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DUKE VINCENTIO The best and wholesomest spirts of the night
Envelope you, good Provost! Who call’d here of late?
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DUKE VINCENTIO The best, most wholesome night spirits surround you, good Provost! Who’s been here lately?
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PROVOST None, since the curfew rung.
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PROVOST No one, since the
curfew bellrung at 9:00 p.m. curfew bell rang. |
DUKE VINCENTIO
75Not Isabel?
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DUKE VINCENTIO Not Isabel?
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PROVOST No.
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PROVOST No.
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DUKE VINCENTIO They will, then, ere’t be long.
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DUKE VINCENTIO Someone will be, then, before long.
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PROVOST What comfort is for Claudio?
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PROVOST Is there any news to give comfort to Claudio?
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DUKE VINCENTIO There’s some in hope.
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DUKE VINCENTIO There’s comfort in hope.
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PROVOST
80It is a bitter deputy.
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PROVOST Angelo’s a cruel deputy.
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DUKE VINCENTIO Not so, not so; his life is parallel’d
Even with the stroke and line of his great justice:
He doth with holy abstinence subdue
That in himself which he spurs on his power
85To qualify in others: were he meal’d with that
Which he corrects, then were he tyrannous;
But this being so, he’s just.
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DUKE VINCENTIO No, no. His life parallels the same straight line that his mighty justice draws. With religious restraint, he suppresses in himself the same impulses he persecutes in others. If he were stained with the sort of sins he punishes, then he’d be a tyrant. But because he’s virtuous, he’s fair.
(knocking is heard offstage)
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Knocking within
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