All's Well That Ends Well: ACT IV
Introduction ACT I ACT II ACT III ACT IV SCENE I. Without the Florentine camp. SCENE II. Florence. The Widow's house. SCENE III. The Florentine camp. SCENE IV. Florence. The Widow's house. SCENE V. Rousillon. The COUNT's palace. ACT V About the Play Feedback			Search: All the plays Hamlet Coriolanus Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Richard II Richard III Titus Andronicus Antony and Cleopatra Timon of Athens Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry the Fifth Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry VIII King John Pericles Troilus and Cressida All's Well... As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Cymbeline A Midsummer... Love's Labour's Lost Measure for Measure The Merry Wives... Much Ado about Nothing The Merchant of Venice Twelfth Night The Taming of... The Tempest The Two Gentlemen... The Winter's Tale    for: SCENE II. Florence. The Widow's house. Enter BERTRAM and DIANA BERTRAM       They told me that your name was Fontibell. DIANA       No, my good lord, Diana. BERTRAM       Titled goddess;       And worth it, with addition! But, fair soul, 5     In your fine frame hath love no quality?       If quick fire of youth light not your mind,       You are no maiden, but a monument:       When you are dead, you should be such a one       As you are now, for you are cold and stem; 10    And now you should be as your mother was       When your sweet self was got. DIANA       She then was honest. BERTRAM       So should you be. DIANA       No: 15    My mother did but duty; such, my lord,       As you owe to your wife. BERTRAM       No more o' that;       I prithee, do not strive against my vows:       I was compell'd to her; but I love thee 20    By love's own sweet constraint, and will for ever       Do thee all rights of service. DIANA       Ay, so you serve us       Till we serve you; but when you have our roses,       You barely leave our thorns to prick ourselves 25    And mock us with our bareness. BERTRAM       How have I sworn! DIANA       'Tis not the many oaths that makes the truth,       But the plain single vow that is vow'd true.       What is not holy, that we swear not by, 30    But take the High'st to witness: then, pray you, tell me,       If I should swear by God's great attributes,       I loved you dearly, would you believe my oaths,       When I did love you ill? This has no holding,       To swear by him whom I protest to love, 35    That I will work against him: therefore your oaths       Are words and poor conditions, but unseal'd,       At least in my opinion. BERTRAM       Change it, change it;       Be not so holy-cruel: love is holy; 40    And my integrity ne'er knew the crafts       That you do charge men with. Stand no more off,       But give thyself unto my sick desires,       Who then recover: say thou art mine, and ever       My love as it begins shall so persever. DIANA 45    I see that men make ropes in such a scarre       That we'll forsake ourselves. Give me that ring. BERTRAM       I'll lend it thee, my dear; but have no power       To give it from me. DIANA       Will you not, my lord? BERTRAM 50    It is an honour 'longing to our house,       Bequeathed down from many ancestors;       Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world       In me to lose. DIANA       Mine honour's such a ring: 55    My chastity's the jewel of our house,       Bequeathed down from many ancestors;       Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world       In me to lose: thus your own proper wisdom       Brings in the champion Honour on my part, 60    Against your vain assault. BERTRAM       Here, take my ring:       My house, mine honour, yea, my life, be thine,       And I'll be bid by thee. DIANA       When midnight comes, knock at my chamber-window: 65    I'll order take my mother shall not hear.       Now will I charge you in the band of truth,       When you have conquer'd my yet maiden bed,       Remain there but an hour, nor speak to me:       My reasons are most strong; and you shall know them 70    When back again this ring shall be deliver'd:       And on your finger in the night I'll put       Another ring, that what in time proceeds       May token to the future our past deeds.       Adieu, till then; then, fail not. You have won 75    A wife of me, though there my hope be done. BERTRAM       A heaven on earth I have won by wooing thee. Exit DIANA       For which live long to thank both heaven and me!       You may so in the end.       My mother told me just how he would woo, 80    As if she sat in 's heart; she says all men       Have the like oaths: he had sworn to marry me       When his wife's dead; therefore I'll lie with him       When I am buried. Since Frenchmen are so braid,       Marry that will, I live and die a maid: 85    Only in this disguise I think't no sin       To cozen him that would unjustly win. Exit Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene