The scene which has the greatest
dramatic effect is that in which Biron, the king, Longaville, and
Dumain, successively detect each other and are detected in their
breach of their vow and in their profession of attachment to their
several mistresses, in which they suppose themselves to be overheard
by no one. The reconciliation between these lovers and their
sweethearts is also very good, and the penance which Rosaline
imposes on Biron, before he can expect to gain her consent to marry
him, full of propriety and beauty.
Rosaline. Oft have I heard of you, my lord Biron, Before I saw you:
and the world's large tongue Proclaims you for a man replete with
mocks; Full of comparisons, and wounding flouts; Which you on all
estates will execute, That lie within the mercy of your wit. To weed
this wormwood from your faithful brain; And therewithal to win me,
if you please, (Without the which I am not to be won) You shall this
twelvemonth term from day to day Visit the speechless sick, and
still converse With groaning wretches; and your task shall be, With
all the fierce endeavour of your wit, T' enforce the pained impotent
to smile.
Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat of death? It cannot be:
it is impossible: Mirth cannot move a soul in agony.
Rosaline. Why, that's the way to choke a gibing spirit, Whose
influence is begot of that loose grace, Which shallow laughing
hearers give to fools; A jest's prosperity lies in the ear Of him
that hears it; never in the tongue Of him that makes it: then, if
sickly ears, Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear groans, Will
hear your idle scorns, continue then, And I will have you, and that
fault withal; But, if they will not, throw away that spirit, And I
shall find you empty of that fault, Right joyful of your
reformation.
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