Act 2 Scene 2

Question 1

Philoclea:
Nay!
My father wrote this letter for my mother,
The “she he loves the most,” and to that “she”
Thou shalt deliver it.

Answer 1

I knew a woman once, and once she knew
An untamed Love where Apprehension grew
But imperceptibly, in small events;
The changes choked her childish Innocence.
Would I could tell thee that I knew her now;
I lost her, though, along the way somehow.

I have remain’d every true to the King.
But he to me? Fie, men are men and tend
Not to halt the tenor of their spray.
But we women? Why stay we true, as new
Passion dwindles over time to routine
Play?

Am I a woman who could from her husband stray?

Only if the occasion arises.

Question 2

O Madam?

(Skidmarks)

Answer 2

Yes?

Question 3

You are the “she” to whom this envelope
Delivered be. Anon’ymously. My heart
Doth quaver.

Answer 3

Quaver not! With dizziness
Made of delight, thee I receive! Stay close —

“My dearest one, forgive my anxious hand.
Thy company reveals a desert in
My heart, and in’t I welcome thy oasis.
I am a man — “ That must I knew! — who’s new
To metaphor. So if my double meaning
Offendeth thee, I beg thee burn this note.”

What’s made of fire cannot be burned.

Question 4

What?

Answer 4

Appreciating thy formality,
I shall respond in kind. Do stand apart.
I hope my flair for prose has not grown rusty.

Question 5

(After verse in this old feeling)

Answer 5

Oh, Cleophila! Hence my heart dispatch.