Much Ado about Nothing: ACT II
Introduction ACT I ACT II SCENE I. A hall in LEONATO'S house. SCENE II. The same. SCENE III. LEONATO'S orchard. ACT III ACT IV 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. The same. Enter DON JOHN and BORACHIO DON JOHN       It is so; the Count Claudio shall marry the       daughter of Leonato. BORACHIO       Yea, my lord; but I can cross it. DON JOHN       Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be 5     medicinable to me: I am sick in displeasure to him,       and whatsoever comes athwart his affection ranges       evenly with mine. How canst thou cross this marriage? BORACHIO       Not honestly, my lord; but so covertly that no       dishonesty shall appear in me. DON JOHN 10    Show me briefly how. BORACHIO       I think I told your lordship a year since, how much       I am in the favour of Margaret, the waiting       gentlewoman to Hero. DON JOHN       I remember. BORACHIO 15    I can, at any unseasonable instant of the night,       appoint her to look out at her lady's chamber window. DON JOHN       What life is in that, to be the death of this marriage? BORACHIO       The poison of that lies in you to temper. Go you to       the prince your brother; spare not to tell him that 20    he hath wronged his honour in marrying the renowned       Claudio--whose estimation do you mightily hold       up--to a contaminated stale, such a one as Hero. DON JOHN       What proof shall I make of that? BORACHIO       Proof enough to misuse the prince, to vex Claudio, 25    to undo Hero and kill Leonato. Look you for any       other issue? DON JOHN       Only to despite them, I will endeavour any thing. BORACHIO       Go, then; find me a meet hour to draw Don Pedro and       the Count Claudio alone: tell them that you know 30    that Hero loves me; intend a kind of zeal both to the       prince and Claudio, as,--in love of your brother's       honour, who hath made this match, and his friend's       reputation, who is thus like to be cozened with the       semblance of a maid,--that you have discovered 35    thus. They will scarcely believe this without trial:       offer them instances; which shall bear no less       likelihood than to see me at her chamber-window,       hear me call Margaret Hero, hear Margaret term me       Claudio; and bring them to see this the very night 40    before the intended wedding,--for in the meantime I       will so fashion the matter that Hero shall be       absent,--and there shall appear such seeming truth       of Hero's disloyalty that jealousy shall be called       assurance and all the preparation overthrown. DON JOHN 45    Grow this to what adverse issue it can, I will put       it in practise. Be cunning in the working this, and       thy fee is a thousand ducats. BORACHIO       Be you constant in the accusation, and my cunning       shall not shame me. DON JOHN 50    I will presently go learn their day of marriage. Exeunt Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene