The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Israel Gollancz William Shakespeare [756]
married her daughter.
MRS.
PAGE. [Aside] Doctors doubt that; if Anne Page be
my daughter, she is, by this, Doctor Caius' wife.
Enter SLENDER
SLENDER.
Whoa, ho, ho, father Page!
PAGE.
Son, how now! how now, son! Have you dispatch'd'?
SLENDER.
Dispatch'd! I'll make the best in Gloucestershire
know on't; would I were hang'd, la, else!
PAGE.
Of what, son?
SLENDER.
I came yonder at Eton to marry Mistress Anne
Page, and she's a great lubberly boy. If it had not been i'
th' church, I would have swing'd him, or he should have
swing'd me. If I did not think it had been Anne Page,
would I might never stir!-and 'tis a postmaster's boy.
PAGE.
Upon my life, then, you took the wrong.
SLENDER.
What need you tell me that? I think so, when I
took a boy for a girl. If I had been married to him, for all
he was in woman's apparel, I would not have had him.
PAGE.
Why, this is your own folly. Did not I tell you how
you should know my daughter by her garments?
SLENDER.
I went to her in white and cried 'mum' and she
cried 'budget' as Anne and I had appointed; and yet it was
not Anne, but a postmaster's boy.
MRS.
PAGE. Good George, be not angry. I knew of your
purpose; turn'd my daughter into green; and, indeed, she
is now with the Doctor at the dean'ry, and there married.
Enter CAIUS
CAIUS.
Vere is Mistress Page? By gar, I am cozened; I ha'
married un garcon, a boy; un paysan, by gar, a boy; it is
not Anne Page; by gar, I am cozened.
MRS.
PAGE. Why, did you take her in green?
CAIUS.
Ay, be gar, and 'tis a boy; be gar, I'll raise all
Windsor. Exit CAIUS
FORD.
This is strange. Who hath got the right Anne?
PAGE.
My heart misgives me; here comes Master Fenton.
Enter FENTON and ANNE PAGE
How now, Master Fenton!
ANNE.
Pardon, good father. Good my mother, pardon.
PAGE.
Now, Mistress, how chance you went not with Master Slender?
MRS.
PAGE. Why went you not with Master Doctor, maid?
FENTON.
You do amaze her. Hear the truth of it.
You would have married her most shamefully,
Where there was no proportion held in love.
The truth is, she and I, long since contracted,
Are now so sure that nothing can dissolve us.
Th' offence is holy that she hath committed;
And this deceit loses the name of craft,
Of disobedience, or unduteous title,
Since therein she doth evitate and shun
A thousand irreligious cursed hours,
Which forced marriage would have brought upon her.
FORD.
Stand not amaz'd; here is no remedy.
In love, the heavens themselves do guide the state;
Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate.
FALSTAFF.
I am glad, though you have ta'en a special stand
to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanc'd.
PAGE.
Well, what remedy? Fenton, heaven give thee joy!
What cannot be eschew'd must be embrac'd.
FALSTAFF.
When night-dogs run, all sorts of deer are chas'd.
MRS.
PAGE. Well, I will muse no further. Master Fenton,
Heaven give you many, many merry days!
Good husband, let us every one go home,
And laugh this sport o'er by a country fire;
Sir John and all.
FORD.
Let it be so. Sir John,
To Master Brook you yet shall hold your word;
For he, to-night, shall lie with Mistress Ford. Exeunt
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
This tragedy is believed to have been written in 1602. Throughout the play, the tone alternates between bawdy comedy and tragic gloom, proving problematic for the audience to respond to the characters. For many critics, Troilus and Cressida is the most ambiguous of Shakespeare's plays, appearing on one level a simple narration of stories based on the Greek myths of Troy, while on another level, it offers a parody of Elizabethan society, with subtle undertones probing public morality of the time. The original source of the play is Chaucer’s famous poem, which deals with the tragic love, betrayal and deaths of Troilus and Criseyde.
Shakespeare's main source text for this play is available via this link.
The 1609 Quarto title page
Matthew Kelly as