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Enter BENEDICK
andMARGARET
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BENEDICK andMARGARET
enter.
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BENEDICK Pray thee, sweet Mistress Margaret, deserve well at my
hands by helping me to the speech of Beatrice.
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BENEDICK Please Margaret, help me write this poem for Beatrice.
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MARGARET Will you then write me a sonnet in praise of my beauty?
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MARGARET Afterward, will you write a sonnet for me, praising my
beauty?
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BENEDICK In so high a style, Margaret, that no man living shall come
5over it, for in most comely truth thou deservest it.
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BENEDICK I’ll write you such a glorious sonnet, Margaret, that
no man will ever be able to come over it. You certainly deserve it.
Benedick means that no man will ever improve on his sonnet; |
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MARGARET To have no man come over me! Why, shall I always keep
below stairs?
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MARGARET No man will come
over meMargaret interprets “come over” in a sexual way over me ! What a life that would be! |
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BENEDICK Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound’s mouth; it
catches.
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BENEDICK Your wit is as quick as a greyhound’s
jaws—it catches whatever it goes after.
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MARGARET And yours as blunt as the fencer’s foils, which hit but
hurt
10not.
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MARGARET And your wit is as blunt as a practice sword, with its dull tip;
it hits people but doesn’t hurt them.
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BENEDICK A most manly wit, Margaret, it will not hurt a woman. And
so, I pray thee, call Beatrice. I give thee the bucklers.
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BENEDICK It’s just that my wit is very gentlemanly, Margaret,
and refuses to hurt a woman. Now please, tell Beatrice to come out.
I admit defeat; I give you the
bucklersA “buckler” is a shield with a spike in the middle of it. bucklers . |
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MARGARET Give us the swords; we have bucklers of our own.
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MARGARET No, you should give a woman your sword—we have our own
bucklersMargaret interprets “buckler” as the vagina (and the sword as the penis). bucklers ! |
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BENEDICK If you use them, Margaret, you must put in the pikes with
15a vice, and they are dangerous weapons for maids.
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BENEDICK Watch out, though, Margaret—virgins
shouldn’t be brandishing their bucklers around.
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MARGARET Well, I will call Beatrice to you, who I think hath legs.
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MARGARET I’ll go get Beatrice for you, who can walk here by
herself—she has legs.
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