|
| All's Well That Ends Well |
|
Shakespeare homepage
| All's Well That Ends Well
| Act 2, Scene 4
Previous scene | Next scene |
|
Enter HELENA and ClownHELENA
My mother greets me kindly; is she well?Clown
She is not well; but yet she has her health: she'sHELENA
very merry; but yet she is not well: but thanks be
given, she's very well and wants nothing i', the
world; but yet she is not well.
If she be very well, what does she ail, that she'sClown
not very well?
Truly, she's very well indeed, but for two things.HELENA
What two things?Clown
One, that she's not in heaven, whither God send herPAROLLES
quickly! the other that she's in earth, from whence
God send her quickly!
Enter PAROLLES
Bless you, my fortunate lady!HELENA
I hope, sir, I have your good will to have mine ownPAROLLES
good fortunes.
You had my prayers to lead them on; and to keep themClown
on, have them still. O, my knave, how does my old lady?
So that you had her wrinkles and I her money,PAROLLES
I would she did as you say.
Why, I say nothing.Clown
Marry, you are the wiser man; for many a man'sPAROLLES
tongue shakes out his master's undoing: to say
nothing, to do nothing, to know nothing, and to have
nothing, is to be a great part of your title; which
is within a very little of nothing.
Away! thou'rt a knave.Clown
You should have said, sir, before a knave thou'rt aPAROLLES
knave; that's, before me thou'rt a knave: this had
been truth, sir.
Go to, thou art a witty fool; I have found thee.Clown
Did you find me in yourself, sir? or were youPAROLLES
taught to find me? The search, sir, was profitable;
and much fool may you find in you, even to the
world's pleasure and the increase of laughter.
A good knave, i' faith, and well fed.HELENA
Madam, my lord will go away to-night;
A very serious business calls on him.
The great prerogative and rite of love,
Which, as your due, time claims, he does acknowledge;
But puts it off to a compell'd restraint;
Whose want, and whose delay, is strew'd with sweets,
Which they distil now in the curbed time,
To make the coming hour o'erflow with joy
And pleasure drown the brim.
What's his will else?PAROLLES
That you will take your instant leave o' the kingHELENA
And make this haste as your own good proceeding,
Strengthen'd with what apology you think
May make it probable need.
What more commands he?PAROLLES
That, having this obtain'd, you presentlyHELENA
Attend his further pleasure.
In every thing I wait upon his will.PAROLLES
I shall report it so.HELENA
I pray you.
Exit PAROLLES
Come, sirrah.
Exeunt
|
Shakespeare homepage
| All's Well That Ends Well
| Act 2, Scene 4
Previous scene | Next scene |
 | Ahoy Mates! We're happy to announce that 2006 is the year of Moby Dick. Join us before the mast! For more information, please check out Moby Dick or email Drake. Free downloadable copies are available at Moby Dick, and we hope that ye join us in discussing the novel at the Moby Dick Campfire. Invite yer friends! We would like to unite the world in reading what is perhaps the greatest work of fiction ever penned on the American shores. Written in the rich context of Shakespeare and the Bible, Moby Dick was Herman Melville's definitive masterpiece. If you've already read the epic, we invite you to read it again. And be sure to pick up Hamlet and the Bible throughout November, as the novel shall only be enhanced by the deeper context. The White Whale, symbolic of the truth and freedom which the greatest spirits in Western Civilization have ever pursued, yet swims free. Concerning Moby Dick, Melville wrote, "It ... is of the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships' cables and hausers. A Polar wind blows through it, & birds of prey hover over it. Warn all gentle fastidious people from so much as peeping into the book..." Moby Dick was the first "Great Book" posted at jollyroger.com, over six years ago, and Melville's masterpiece has inspired a lot of our poetry and prose. Check out Drake's new film at Moby Dick Film and Moby Dick.  Amazon Computers | |