Act 5, Scene 1

Before LEONATO'S House.

[Enter LEONATO and ANTONIO.]
Antonio
1711 If you go on thus, you will kill yourself
1712 And 'tis not wisdom thus to second grief
1713 Against yourself.
Leonato
1714 I pray thee, cease thy counsel,
1715 Which falls into mine ears as profitless
1716 As water in a sieve: give not me counsel;
1717 Nor let no comforter delight mine ear
1718 But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine:
1719 Bring me a father that so lov'd his child,
1720 Whose joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine,
1721 And bid him speak to me of patience;
1722 Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine,
1723 And let it answer every strain for strain,
1724 As thus for thus and such a grief for such,
1725 In every lineament, branch, shape, and form:
1726 If such a one will smile, and stroke his beard;
1727 Bid sorrow wag, cry 'hem' when he should groan,
1728 Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk
1729 With candle-wasters; bring him yet to me,
1730 And I of him will gather patience.
1731 But there is no such man; for, brother, men
1732 Can counsel and speak comfort to that grief
1733 Which they themselves not feel; but, tasting it,
1734 Their counsel turns to passion, which before
1735 Would give preceptial medicine to rage,
1736 Fetter strong madness in a silken thread,
1737 Charm ache with air and agony with words.
1738 No, no; 'tis all men's office to speak patience
1739 To those that wring under the load of sorrow,
1740 But no man's virtue nor sufficiency
1741 To be so moral when he shall endure
1742 The like himself. Therefore give me no counsel:
1743 My griefs cry louder than advertisement.
Antonio
1744 Therein do men from children nothing differ.
Leonato
1745 I pray thee peace! I will be flesh and blood;
1746 For there was never yet philosopher
1747 That could endure the toothache patiently,
1748 However they have writ the style of gods
1749 And made a push at chance and sufferance.
Antonio
1750 Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself;
1751 Make those that do offend you suffer too.
Leonato
1752 There thou speak'st reason: nay, I will do so.
1753 My soul doth tell me Hero is belied;
1754 And that shall Claudio know; so shall the prince,
1755 And all of them that thus dishonour her.
Antonio
1756 Here comes the prince and Claudio hastily.
[Enter DON PEDRO and CLAUDIO.]
Don Pedro
1757 Good den, good den.
Claudio
1758 Good day to both of you.
Leonato
1759 Hear you, my lords,—
Don Pedro
1760 We have some haste, Leonato.
Leonato
1761 Some haste, my lord! well, fare you well, my lord:
1762 Are you so hasty now?—well, all is one.
Don Pedro
1763 Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old man.
Antonio
1764 If he could right himself with quarrelling,
1765 Some of us would lie low.
Claudio
1766 Who wrongs him?
Leonato
1767 Marry, thou dost wrong me; thou dissembler, thou.
1768 Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy sword; I fear thee not.
Claudio
1769 Marry, beshrew my hand,
1770 If it should give your age such cause of fear.
1771 In faith, my hand meant nothing to my sword.
Leonato
1772 Tush, tush, man! never fleer and jest at me:
1773 I speak not like a dotard nor a fool,
1774 As, under privilege of age, to brag
1775 What I have done being young, or what would do,
1776 Were I not old. Know, Claudio, to thy head,
1777 Thou hast so wrong'd mine innocent child and me
1778 That I am forc'd to lay my reverence by,
1779 And, with grey hairs and bruise of many days,
1780 Do challenge thee to trial of a man.
1781 I say thou hast belied mine innocent child:
1782 Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart,
1783 And she lied buried with her ancestors;
1784 O! in a tomb where never scandal slept,
1785 Save this of hers, fram'd by thy villany!
Claudio
1786 My villany?
Leonato
1787 Thine, Claudio; thine, I say.
Don Pedro
1788 You say not right, old man,
Leonato
1789 My lord, my lord,
1790 I'll prove it on his body, if he dare,
1791 Despite his nice fence and his active practice,
1792 His May of youth and bloom of lustihood.
Claudio
1793 Away! I will not have to do with you.
Leonato
1794 Canst thou so daff me? Thou hast kill'd my child;
1795 If thou kill'st me, boy, thou shalt kill a man.
Antonio
1796 He shall kill two of us, and men indeed:
1797 But that's no matter; let him kill one first:
1798 Win me and wear me; let him answer me.
1799 Come, follow me, boy; come, sir boy, come, follow me.
1800 Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence;
1801 Nay, as I am a gentleman, I will.
Leonato
1802 Brother,—
Antonio
1803 Content yourself. God knows I lov'd my niece;
1804 And she is dead, slander'd to death by villains,
1805 That dare as well answer a man indeed
1806 As I dare take a serpent by the tongue.
1807 Boys, apes, braggarts, Jacks, milksops!
Leonato
1808 Brother Antony,—
Antonio
1809 Hold your content. What, man! I know them, yea,
1810 And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple,
1811 Scambling, out-facing, fashion-monging boys,
1812 That lie and cog and flout, deprave and slander,
1813 Go antickly, show outward hideousness,
1814 And speak off half a dozen dangerous words,
1815 How they might hurt their enemies, if they durst;
1816 And this is all!
Leonato
1817 But, brother Antony,—
Antonio
1818 Come, 'tis no matter:
1819 Do not you meddle, let me deal in this.
Don Pedro
1820 Gentlemen both, we will not wake your patience.
1821 My heart is sorry for your daughter's death;
1822 But, on my honour, she was charg'd with nothing
1823 But what was true and very full of proof.
Leonato
1824 My lord, my lord—
Don Pedro
1825 I will not hear you.
Leonato
1826 No? Come, brother, away. I will be heard.—
Antonio
1827 And shall, or some of us will smart for it.
[Exeunt LEONATO and ANTONIO.]
[Enter BENEDICK.]
Don Pedro
1828 See, see; here comes the man we went to seek.
Claudio
1829 Now, signior, what news?
Benedick
1830 Good day, my lord.
Don Pedro
1831 Welcome, signior: you are almost come to part almost a fray.
Claudio
1832 We had like to have had our two noses snapped off with two old
1833 men without teeth.
Don Pedro
1834 Leonato and his brother. What think'st thou? Had we fought, I
1835 doubt we should have been too young for them.
Benedick
1836 In a false quarrel there is no true valour. I came to seek you
1837 both.
Claudio
1838 We have been up and down to seek thee; for we are high-proof
1839 melancholy, and would fain have it beaten away. Wilt thou use
1840 thy wit?
Benedick
1841 It is in my scabbard; shall I draw it?
Don Pedro
1842 Dost thou wear thy wit by thy side?
Claudio
1843 Never any did so, though very many have been beside their wit. I
1844 will bid thee draw, as we do the minstrels; draw, to pleasure us.
Don Pedro
1845 As I am an honest man, he looks pale. Art thou sick, or angry?
Claudio
1846 What, courage, man! What though care killed a cat, thou hast
1847 mettle enough in thee to kill care.
Benedick
1848 Sir, I shall meet your wit in the career, an you charge it
1849 against me. I pray you choose another subject.
Claudio
1850 Nay then, give him another staff: this last was broke cross.
Don Pedro
1851 By this light, he changes more and more: I think he be angry
1852 indeed.
Claudio
1853 If he be, he knows how to turn his girdle.
Benedick
1854 Shall I speak a word in your ear?
Claudio
1855 God bless me from a challenge!
[Aside to CLAUDIO.]
Benedick
1856 You are a villain, I jest not: I will make it good how you dare,
1857 with what you dare, and when you dare. Do me right, or I will protest
1858 your cowardice. You have killed a sweet lady, and her death shall
1859 fall heavy on you. Let me hear from you.
Claudio
1860 Well I will meet you, so I may have good cheer.
Don Pedro
1861 What, a feast, a feast?
Claudio
1862 I' faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf's-head and a capon,
1863 the which if I do not carve most curiously, say my knife's naught.
1864 Shall I not find a woodcock too?
Benedick
1865 Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily.
Don Pedro
1866 I'll tell thee how Beatrice praised thy wit the other day. I said,
1867 thou hadst a fine wit. 'True,' says she, 'a fine little one.'
1868 'No,' said I, 'a great wit.'
1869 'Right,' said she, 'a great gross one.'
1870 'Nay,' said I, 'a good wit.'
1871 'Just,' said she, 'it hurts nobody.'
1872 'Nay,' said I, 'the gentleman is wise.'
1873 'Certain,' said she, a wise gentleman.'
1874 'Nay,' said I, 'he hath the tongues.'
1875 'That I believe' said she, 'for he swore a thing to me on Monday
1876 night, which he forswore on Tuesday morning: there's a double tongue;
1877 there's two tongues.'
1878 Thus did she, an hour together, trans-shape thy particular virtues;
1879 yet at last she concluded with a sigh, thou wast the properest man in
1880 Italy.
Claudio
1881 For the which she wept heartily and said she cared not.
Don Pedro
1882 Yea, that she did; but yet, for all that, an if she did not hate him
1883 deadly, she would love him dearly. The old man's daughter told us all.
Claudio
1884 All, all; and moreover, God saw him when he was hid in the garden.
Don Pedro
1885 But when shall we set the savage bull's horns on the sensible
1886 Benedick's head?
Claudio
1887 Yea, and text underneath, 'Here dwells Benedick the married man!'
Benedick
1888 Fare you well, boy: you know my mind. I will leave you now to your
1889 gossip-like humour; you break jests as braggarts do their blades,
1890 which, God be thanked, hurt not. My lord, for your many courtesies
1891 I thank you: I must discontinue your company. Your brother the bastard
1892 is fled from Messina: you have, among you, killed a sweet and innocent
1893 lady. For my Lord Lack-beard there, he and I shall meet; and till
1894 then, peace be with him.
[Exit.]
Don Pedro
1895 He is in earnest.
Claudio
1896 In most profound earnest; and, I'll warrant you, for the love of
1897 Beatrice.
Don Pedro
1898 And hath challenged thee?
Claudio
1899 Most sincerely.
Don Pedro
1900 What a pretty thing man is when he goes in his doublet and hose
1901 and leaves off his wit!
Claudio
1902 He is then a giant to an ape; but then is an ape a doctor to such
1903 a man.
Don Pedro
1904 But, soft you; let me be: pluck up, my heart, and be sad! Did he
1905 not say my brother was fled?
[Enter DOGBERRY, VERGES, and the Watch, with CONRADE and BORACHIO.]
Dogberry
1906 Come you, sir: if justice cannot tame you, she shall ne'er weigh more
1907 reasons in her balance. Nay, an you be a cursing hypocrite once, you
1908 must be looked to.
Don Pedro
1909 How now! two of my brother's men bound! Borachio, one!
Claudio
1910 Hearken after their offence, my lord.
Don Pedro
1911 Officers, what offence have these men done?
Dogberry
1912 Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have
1913 spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly,
1914 they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things;
1915 and to conclude, they are lying knaves.
Don Pedro
1916 First, I ask thee what they have done; thirdly, I ask thee what's
1917 their offence; sixth and lastly, why they are committed; and, to
1918 conclude, what you lay to their charge?
Claudio
1919 Rightly reasoned, and in his own division; and, by my troth, there's
1920 one meaning well suited.
Don Pedro
1921 Who have you offended, masters, that you are thus bound to your
1922 answer? this learned constable is too cunning to be understood.
1923 What's your offence?
Borachio
1924 Sweet prince, let me go no further to mine answer: do you hear me,
1925 and let this count kill me. I have deceived even your very eyes: what
1926 your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought to
1927 light; who, in the night overheard me confessing to this man how Don
1928 John your brother incensed me to slander the Lady Hero; how you were
1929 brought into the orchard and saw me court Margaret in Hero's
1930 garments; how you disgraced her, when you should marry her. My
1931 villany they have upon record; which I had rather seal with my death
1932 than repeat over to my shame. The lady is dead upon mine and my
1933 master's false accusation; and, briefly, I desire nothing but the
1934 reward of a villain.
Don Pedro
1935 Runs not this speech like iron through your blood?
Claudio
1936 I have drunk poison whiles he utter'd it.
Don Pedro
1937 But did my brother set thee on to this?
Borachio
1938 Yea; and paid me richly for the practice of it.
Don Pedro
1939 He is compos'd and fram'd of treachery:
1940 And fled he is upon this villany.
Claudio
1941 Sweet Hero! now thy image doth appear In the rare semblance that
1942 I lov'd it first.
Dogberry
1943 Come, bring away the plaintiffs: by this time our sexton hath
1944 reformed Signior Leonato of the matter. And masters, do not forget
1945 to specify, when time and place shall serve, that I am an ass.
Verges
1946 Here, here comes Master Signior Leonato, and the sexton too.
[Re-enter LEONATO, ANTONIO, and the Sexton.]
Leonato
1947 Which is the villain? Let me see his eyes,
1948 That, when I note another man like him,
1949 I may avoid him. Which of these is he?
Borachio
1950 If you would know your wronger, look on me.
Leonato
1951 Art thou the slave that with thy breath hast kill'd
1952 Mine innocent child?
Borachio
1953 Yea, even I alone.
Leonato
1954 No, not so, villain; thou beliest thyself:
1955 Here stand a pair of honourable men;
1956 A third is fled, that had a hand in it.
1957 I thank you, princes, for my daughter's death:
1958 Record it with your high and worthy deeds.
1959 'Twas bravely done, if you bethink you of it.
Claudio
1960 I know not how to pray your patience;
1961 Yet I must speak. Choose your revenge yourself;
1962 Impose me to what penance your invention
1963 Can lay upon my sin: yet sinn'd I not
1964 But in mistaking.
Don Pedro
1965 By my soul, nor I:
1966 And yet, to satisfy this good old man,
1967 I would bend under any heavy weight
1968 That he'll enjoin me to.
Leonato
1969 I cannot bid you bid my daughter live;
1970 That were impossible; but, I pray you both,
1971 Possess the people in Messina here
1972 How innocent she died; and if your love
1973 Can labour aught in sad invention,
1974 Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb,
1975 And sing it to her bones: sing it to-night.
1976 To-morrow morning come you to my house,
1977 And since you could not be my son-in-law,
1978 Be yet my nephew. My brother hath a daughter,
1979 Almost the copy of my child that's dead,
1980 And she alone is heir to both of us:
1981 Give her the right you should have given her cousin,
1982 And so dies my revenge.
Claudio
1983 O noble sir,
1984 Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me!
1985 I do embrace your offer; and dispose
1986 For henceforth of poor Claudio.
Leonato
1987 To-morrow then I will expect your coming;
1988 To-night I take my leave. This naughty man
1989 Shall face to face be brought to Margaret,
1990 Who, I believe, was pack'd in all this wrong,
1991 Hir'd to it by your brother.
Borachio
1992 No, by my soul she was not;
1993 Nor knew not what she did when she spoke to me;
1994 But always hath been just and virtuous
1995 In anything that I do know by her.
Dogberry
1996 Moreover, sir,—which, indeed, is not under white and black,—
1997 this plaintiff here, the offender, did call me ass: I beseech you,
1998 let it be remembered in his punishment. And also, the watch heard
1999 them talk of one Deformed: they say he wears a key in his ear and
2000 a lock hanging by it, and borrows money in God's name, the which
2001 he hath used so long and never paid, that now men grow hard-hearted,
2002 and will lend nothing for God's sake. Pray you, examine him upon
2003 that point.
Leonato
2004 I thank thee for thy care and honest pains.
Dogberry
2005 Your worship speaks like a most thankful and reverent youth, and
2006 I praise God for you.
Leonato
2007 There's for thy pains.
Dogberry
2008 God save the foundation!
Leonato
2009 Go, I discharge thee of thy prisoner, and I thank thee.
Dogberry
2010 I leave an arrant knave with your worship; which I beseech your
2011 worship to correct yourself, for the example of others. God keep
2012 your worship! I wish your worship well; God restore you to health!
2013 I humbly give you leave to depart, and if a merry meeting may be
2014 wished, God prohibit it! Come, neighbour.
[Exeunt DOGBERRY and VERGES.]
Leonato
2015 Until to-morrow morning, lords, farewell.
Antonio
2016 Farewell, my lords: we look for you to-morrow.
Don Pedro
2017 We will not fail.
Claudio
2018 To-night I'll mourn with Hero.
[Exeunt DON PEDRO and CLAUDIO.]
[To the Watch.]
Leonato
2019 Bring you these fellows on. We'll talk with
2020 Margaret, How her acquaintance grew with this lewd fellow.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 1715rhetorical device
“falls into mine ears as profitless As water in a sieve”
Leonato rejects Antonio's comfort with a proverbial comparison: advice poured into grieving ears is as useless as water carried in a sieve — it passes straight through without being held. The image captures the futility of consolation that has not been earned through shared suffering.
TLN 1727archaic vocab
“Bid sorrow wag, cry 'hem' when he should groan, Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk With candle-wasters”
'Wag' means go away or be off. 'Hem' is a throat-clearing sound used to mask emotion. 'Patch grief with proverbs' means cover pain with ready-made sayings. 'Candle-wasters' are those who sit up late by candlelight: scholars or moralizers who read philosophy while others suffer. Leonato is mocking the philosopher who 'makes misfortune drunk' — numbs it — with bookish consolation.
TLN 1735rhetorical device
“give preceptial medicine to rage, Fetter strong madness in a silken thread, Charm ache with air and agony with words”
'Preceptial medicine' means advice or rules offered as a cure ('precept' = a rule of conduct). 'Fetter strong madness in a silken thread' pictures binding violent grief with something impossibly delicate; 'charm ache with air' means soothing physical pain with mere words (air = breath = speech). The three phrases build a sarcastic crescendo: armchair philosophers propose fragile remedies for forces too strong to contain.
TLN 1745historical topical
“I will be flesh and blood; For there was never yet philosopher That could endure the toothache patiently”
Leonato invokes a stock Elizabethan joke against Stoic philosophy: the ancient Stoics preached that a wise man could be indifferent to pain, yet no philosopher ever actually endured a toothache without complaint. The joke targets thinkers who 'writ the style of gods' — wrote as though they stood above mortal feeling — while being just as vulnerable to a rotten tooth as anyone.
TLN 1753cultural context
“Hero is belied; And that shall Claudio know; so shall the prince, And all of them that thus dishonour her”
'Belied' means slandered — lied about publicly. Leonato has now recovered from his initial acceptance of Hero's guilt (4.1) and is declaring his intention to confront Claudio and Don Pedro with the truth. In a culture where a woman's honour rested entirely on her reputation for chastity, being publicly accused of unchastity amounted to social death, even if the accusation was false.
historical A woman's honour: chastity and the double standard
TLN 1767archaic vocab
“Marry, thou dost wrong me; thou dissembler, thou”
'Marry' is a mild oath derived from 'By the Virgin Mary,' used here as an exclamation of emphasis, not as a religious invocation. 'Dissembler' means a hypocrite, someone who conceals their true character by pretending to be something else. Leonato charges Claudio with hypocrisy: the man posed as an honourable suitor while concealing the lie he intended to tell at the altar.
TLN 1791archaic vocab
“his nice fence and his active practice, His May of youth and bloom of lustihood”
'Nice fence' means elegant or refined swordsmanship — 'fence' was the art of fencing or sword-play, and 'nice' meant refined, precise. 'May of youth' is a metaphor for the prime of young life (May = the freshest, most vigorous spring month). 'Lustihood' means vigorous health and physical strength. Leonato is ironically acknowledging Claudio's youth and skill with a sword, then daring him anyway.
TLN 1794archaic vocab
“Canst thou so daff me? Thou hast kill'd my child; If thou kill'st me, boy, thou shalt kill a man”
'Daff' (or 'doff') means to put aside or dismiss — Leonato asks whether Claudio can simply brush him off. 'If thou kill'st me, boy, thou shalt kill a man' is a dignified retort to Claudio's dismissal of Leonato as just an old man: even an old father who fights for his slandered daughter's honour is a man, and killing him would be a murder, not a trifle.
TLN 1798archaic vocab
“Win me and wear me; let him answer me. Come, follow me, boy; come, sir boy, come, follow me. Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence”
'Win me and wear me' is a proverbial challenge: defeat me in a fight and you can claim me as your prize, as one wears a trophy. 'Foining fence' means thrusting swordsmanship — 'foin' was the technical term for a lunge or thrust in fencing. Antonio challenges Claudio's fashionable Italian fencing style, boasting he will drive him off with plain old rage. The repetition of 'sir boy' is deliberate aggression, infantilizing Claudio.
TLN 1811archaic vocab
“Scambling, out-facing, fashion-monging boys, That lie and cog and flout, deprave and slander, Go antickly”
'Scambling' means scrambling or brawling — disorderly, quarrelsome behaviour. 'Out-facing' is brazen bluffing. 'Fashion-monging' means obsessively following fashions, being a shallow trend-follower. 'Cog' means to cheat or deceive (originally a term for cheating at dice). 'Flout' is to mock or scoff. 'Antickly' means grotesquely, like a buffoon ('antick' = a ludicrous performer). Antonio is cataloguing the vices of the young courtiers in withering terms.
TLN 1836rhetorical device
“In a false quarrel there is no true valour”
Benedick's sentence is a maxim that defuses the old men's challenge to Claudio and Don Pedro: a fight in defence of a wrong cause cannot produce genuine courage. By calling their quarrel 'false,' Benedick implies he knows Hero's accusers were wrong — and this immediately before he himself issues a private challenge to Claudio for a duel, making the sentence quietly ironic.
TLN 1841wordplay
“It is in my scabbard; shall I draw it?”
Claudio asks Benedick to use his wit to cheer them up; Benedick replies that his wit is sheathed like a sword. The joke runs on equating verbal wit with a weapon: wit is 'drawn' (unsheathed, but also delivered) on demand. Claudio then extends the conceit: 'we do the minstrels; draw, to pleasure us' — musicians were told to 'draw' (strike up, begin playing) for their audience.
TLN 1846wordplay
“What though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care”
'Care killed a cat' was an Elizabethan proverb: even a cat — proverbially said to have nine lives — can be killed by worry. Claudio's point is that Benedick has 'mettle' (courage and spirit) enough to kill care before it kills him. 'Mettle' here also puns on 'metal' — the metal of a sword — continuing the weapons-wit conceit of the previous exchange.
TLN 1848archaic vocab
“I shall meet your wit in the career, an you charge it against me”
A 'career' in horsemanship was a short gallop at full speed, and 'to charge' was to level a lance and run full tilt at an opponent in the lists. Benedick says he will meet Claudio's wit head-on if Claudio 'charges' (directs) it at him — but immediately asks to 'choose another subject,' signalling that the usual sparring is over. The tournament metaphor continues: the next line's 'staff broke cross' (a tilting lance broken sideways, meaning a failed pass) confirms the jousting conceit.
TLN 1853archaic vocab
“If he be, he knows how to turn his girdle”
'He knows how to turn his girdle' was a proverbial expression for knowing how to prepare for a fight — a girdle (belt) was turned to the front or a sword-belt adjusted when a man readied himself for action. The phrase means: if Benedick is angry, he knows what to do about it (i.e. challenge someone to a duel). Claudio says this mockingly, before Benedick actually does exactly that.
TLN 1856cultural context
“You are a villain, I jest not: I will make it good how you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare”
Benedick is issuing a formal duelling challenge. 'You are a villain' was the required verbal formula for calling a man a liar and demanding satisfaction; 'I will make it good' means he will prove the charge with his body in a duel. 'How you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare' sets the terms of engagement, leaving the choice of weapons and time to Claudio. This is not wit: it is a legal-social act that puts Claudio's honour at stake.
TLN 1875wordplay
“he swore a thing to me on Monday night, which he forswore on Tuesday morning: there's a double tongue; there's two tongues”
Don Pedro reports Beatrice's wit: Benedick swore one thing and then denied it within hours, so he 'has the tongues' (is multilingual) in a different sense — he has two tongues, like a snake, meaning he speaks with forked-tongue duplicity. The joke exploits the idiom 'to have the tongues' (to know several languages) and turns it into an accusation of dishonesty.
historical 'Nothing': noting, eavesdropping, and the bawdy pun
TLN 1884biblical allusion
“God saw him when he was hid in the garden”
Claudio alludes to the garden of Eden, where Adam hid from God after eating the forbidden fruit, only to be found and called to account (Genesis 3:8-10). The point is that Benedick, eavesdropping in an orchard when his friends tricked him into thinking Beatrice loved him (2.3), thought himself unobserved — but God saw him, just as God saw Adam hiding. Claudio mocks Benedick's concealment as a shameful secret, like a fall from grace.
TLN 1885cultural context
“when shall we set the savage bull's horns on the sensible Benedick's head? Yea, and text underneath, 'Here dwells Benedick the married man!'”
Don Pedro and Claudio mock Benedick with the cuckold's horns: when Benedick marries, he will acquire the imaginary horns that supposedly sprouted on the heads of men whose wives were unfaithful. 'Here dwells Benedick the married man' — as if marriage itself were a public advertisement of his vulnerability. Earlier in the play (1.1) Benedick swore he would never marry precisely to avoid this fate.
historical The cuckold's horns
TLN 1893wordplay
“my Lord Lack-beard there, he and I shall meet”
Benedick invents a contemptuous nickname for Claudio: 'Lord Lack-beard,' meaning the beardless youth too young to have a full beard, i.e. a boy rather than a man. It is a deliberate insult targeting the same youth that Antonio and Leonato have been weaponizing throughout the scene. Benedick's challenge is now public knowledge disguised as a joke for Don Pedro's benefit, while privately announced to Claudio.
TLN 1906wordplay
“if justice cannot tame you, she shall ne'er weigh more reasons in her balance”
Dogberry intends to say 'if justice cannot tame you, she shall weigh no more REASONS in her balance' — meaning the scales of justice will not bother hearing your case further. But 'reasons' sounds exactly like 'raisins,' which could literally be weighed in a balance (a set of scales). This accidental pun on 'reasons/raisins' belongs to Dogberry's persistent habit of producing absurd near-misses while trying to sound official.
historical The constable and the night watch
TLN 1912wordplay
“they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things”
Dogberry lists the charges against Borachio and Conrade in spectacularly scrambled order: 'secondarily' comes second but then 'sixth and lastly' comes third, and 'thirdly' comes fourth. The content is also circular: 'false report,' 'spoken untruths,' 'slanders,' and 'belied a lady' are all the same charge, just differently worded. Don Pedro's reply mimics Dogberry's numbering exactly ('First... thirdly... sixth and lastly'), mocking him in his own terms.
historical The constable and the night watch
TLN 1925cultural context
“what your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought to light; who, in the night overheard me confessing to this man”
Borachio's confession is the play's structural irony made explicit: the socially superior 'wisdoms' of a prince and a count were deceived by Don John's plot, but the Constable's bumbling night watch — the 'shallow fools' — caught Borachio by stumbling into an overheard conversation. The play's title theme of 'nothing' and 'noting' reaches its payoff: the Watch did what the aristocrats could not, by simply listening in the dark.
historical 'Nothing': noting, eavesdropping, and the bawdy pun
TLN 1935rhetorical device
“Runs not this speech like iron through your blood? I have drunk poison whiles he utter'd it”
Don Pedro and Claudio use contrasting physical metaphors to describe the shock of Borachio's confession. 'Iron through your blood' images the cold, hard sensation of sudden guilt. 'Drunk poison' intensifies it: Claudio feels he has been poisoned by the words themselves, as if hearing the truth about his own crime is more lethal than the lie he acted on. Both images register the moment remorse becomes physical.
TLN 1943wordplay
“bring away the plaintiffs: by this time our sexton hath reformed Signior Leonato of the matter. And masters, do not forget to specify, when time and place shall serve, that I am an ass”
Dogberry makes two simultaneous errors. 'Plaintiffs' means accusers, but he means 'defendants' — Borachio and Conrade are the accused, not the accusers. 'Reformed' is used instead of 'informed' — he means the sexton has informed Leonato of the case. The malapropism 'reformed' for 'informed' is especially comic in a play about false accusation: 'reformation' implies moral change, while 'information' is simply news. Dogberry's proud insistence that his being called an ass should be recorded as part of the official complaint is the scene's comic heart.
historical The constable and the night watch
TLN 1957rhetorical device
“I thank you, princes, for my daughter's death: Record it with your high and worthy deeds. 'Twas bravely done, if you bethink you of it”
Leonato uses bitter irony: he 'thanks' Claudio and Don Pedro for killing his daughter, and tells them to record it among their 'high and worthy deeds.' 'Bravely done' is savagely sarcastic — shaming an innocent girl at her wedding in front of everyone was not brave. This is the rhetorical device of antiphrasis (saying the opposite of what one means to sharpen contempt), and it is far more damaging than a direct accusation.
TLN 1962archaic vocab
“Impose me to what penance your invention Can lay upon my sin: yet sinn'd I not But in mistaking”
'Impose me to' means assign me or subject me to. 'Invention' here means what you can devise or think up (Latin inventio, finding or devising). 'Sinn'd I not but in mistaking' is Claudio's attempt to mitigate: he sinned only through honest error, not malicious intent. The acknowledgement of sin combined with the reduction of it to mistake is theatrically significant — Claudio accepts fault but does not accept full moral responsibility.
TLN 1971cultural context
“Possess the people in Messina here How innocent she died; and if your love Can labour aught in sad invention, Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb, And sing it to her bones: sing it to-night”
'Possess the people' means inform the people publicly — make sure everyone in Messina knows Hero was innocent. Leonato asks Claudio to write an epitaph and sing it at her tomb that same night. This public mourning and restoration of reputation is the play's answer to the public slander at the altar: the dishonour was performed in public, so it must be undone in public.
historical A woman's honour: chastity and the double standard
TLN 1996wordplay
“which, indeed, is not under white and black,—this plaintiff here, the offender, did call me ass”
'Under white and black' means in writing (black ink on white paper) — i.e. in the official written record. Dogberry notes that his being called an ass is not formally in the written examination (the sexton recorded the substantive charges), and he wants it added. He again confuses 'plaintiff' (accuser) and 'defendant' (offender), calling Conrade both at once: 'this plaintiff here, the offender.' The two words contradict each other; the accuser cannot simultaneously be the offender in the same charge.
historical The constable and the night watch
TLN 2005wordplay
“Your worship speaks like a most thankful and reverent youth, and I praise God for you”
Dogberry calls Leonato, the elderly governor of Messina, a 'reverent youth' — intending 'reverend' (worthy of respect, venerable) but producing 'reverent' (showing reverence), and calling him 'youth' when he is clearly old. This is a double malapropism: the wrong word choice in 'reverent' for 'reverend,' and the absurd 'youth' for an old man. Leonato is too relieved to care; the comedy returns.
historical The constable and the night watch
TLN 2008historical topical
“God save the foundation!”
'God save the foundation' was a formula used by beggars or recipients of charity when given money by someone associated with a charitable institution or 'foundation' (an endowed hospital, almshouse, or school). Leonato has just given Dogberry money ('There's for thy pains'). Dogberry responds with the wrong stock phrase: the proper response to a tip from a private person is simply 'thank you,' but Dogberry treats Leonato as if he were a charitable endowment. It is another malapropism-by-category, applying the wrong social script.