How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #1
KING
You three, Berowne, Dumain, and Longaville,
Have sworn for three years' term to live with me,
My fellow-scholars... (1.1.15-17)
The first line of the play announces a boys' club soon to be invaded.
Quote #2
ARMADO
What
great men have been in love?
BOY
Hercules, master.
ARMADO
Most sweet Hercules! More authority, dear
boy, name more; and, sweet my child, let them be
men of good repute and carriage. (1.2.64-69)
Great men in history are an important motif in the play. Take a look at our "Allusions" section in order to get a better sense of how many references there are to famous men in Mythology and History.
Quote #3
ARMADO
Yet was Samson so tempted,
and he had an excellent strength; yet was Solomon
so seduced, and he had a very good wit. Cupid's
butt-shaft is too hard for Hercules' club, and therefore
too much odds for a Spaniard's rapier. (1.2.173-177)
Armado and the lords comfort themselves with reminders that even heroes can love.
Quote #4
MARIA
A man of sovereign parts he is esteemed,
Well fitted in arts, glorious in arms.
Nothing becomes him ill that he would well. (2.1.45-47)
Here we see what Elizabethan women wanted in a man: a good reputation, education, and strength in battle.
Quote #5
DUMAINE
O, would the King, Berowne, and Longaville
Were lovers too! (4.3.127-128)
While the women share everything – the notes, gifts and speeches from their suitors – the men try to be strong and keep their own secrets.
Quote #6
BEROWNE
O me, with what strict patience have I sat,
To see a king transformèd to a gnat! (4.3.173-174)
In his hypocritical tirade, Berowne teases the King for letting love make him small.
Quote #7
BEROWNE
For valor, is not Love a Hercules,
Still climbing trees in the Hesperides? (4.3.334-335)
Is this Berowne, or Armado? Noble or clown, the boys need to know that someone respectable was once in love, too.
Quote #8
COSTARD
A conqueror, and
afeard to speak? Run away for shame, Alisander. (5.2.646-647)
Running away for shame is what the nobles – dressed like Russians – did just a few minutes before.