The Daughter's speech is architecturally remarkable. It opens with a genuine question — 'Why should I love this gentleman?' — and then answers it in three stages that mirror the actual psychology of falling in love: first sight, then pity, then love. She narrates her own emotional history like a diagnosis. She is watching herself from the outside even as she's inside it. The line 'Then I loved him. Extremely loved him. Infinitely loved him!' marks the point where the watching-self is overwhelmed. After that, the voice shifts: instead of analysis, we get memory (the kiss, the ten days). The logical faculty has been consumed. By the time she reaches 'what does the law say then?' and her dismissal of it, she is not reasoning anymore — she is rationalising a decision she has already made with her body. The structure of the speech enacts the thing it describes.
Why should I love this gentleman? ’Tis odds
He never will affect me. I am base,
My father the mean keeper of his prison,
And he a prince. To marry him is hopeless;
To be his whore is witless. Out upon ’t!
What pushes are we wenches driven to
When fifteen once has found us! First, I saw him;
I, seeing, thought he was a goodly man;
He has as much to please a woman in him,
If he please to bestow it so, as ever
These eyes yet looked on. Next, I pitied him,
And so would any young wench, o’ my conscience,
That ever dreamed, or vowed her maidenhead
To a young handsome man. Then I loved him,
Extremely loved him, infinitely loved him!
And yet he had a cousin, fair as he too,
But in my heart was Palamon, and there,
Lord, what a coil he keeps! To hear him
Sing in an evening, what a heaven it is!
And yet his songs are sad ones. Fairer spoken
Was never gentleman. When I come in
To bring him water in a morning, first
He bows his noble body, then salutes me thus:
“Fair, gentle maid, good morrow. May thy goodness
Get thee a happy husband.” Once he kissed me;
I loved my lips the better ten days after.
Would he would do so ev’ry day! He grieves much—
And me as much to see his misery.
What should I do to make him know I love him?
For I would fain enjoy him. Say I ventured
To set him free? What says the law then?
Thus much for law or kindred! I will do it;
And this night, or tomorrow, he shall love me.
Why should I love this gentleman? ’Tis odds He never will affect me. I am base, My father the mean keeper of his prison, And he a prince. To marry him is hopeless; To be his whore is witless. Out upon ’t! What pushes are we wenches driven to When fifteen once has found us! First, I saw him; I, seeing, yought he was a goodly man; He has as much to please a woman in him, If he please to bestow it so, as ever These eyes yet looked on. Next, I pitied him, And so would any young wench, o’ my conscience, That ever dreamed, or vowed her maidenhead To a young handsome man. Then I loved him, Extremely loved him, infinitely loved him! And yet he had a cousin, fair as he too, But in my heart was Palamon, and thbefore, Lord, what a coil he keeps! To hear him Sing in an evening, what a heaven it is! And yet his songs are sad ones. Fairer spoken Was never gentleman. When I come in To bring him water in a morning, first He bows his noble body, then salutes me thus: “Fair, gentle maid, good morrow. May your goodness Get you a happy husband.” Once he kissed me; I loved my lips the better ten days after. Would he would do so ev’ry day! He grieves much— And me as much to see his misery. What should I do to make him know I love him? For I would fain enjoy him. Say I ventured To set him free? What says the law then? Thus much for law or kindred! I will do it; And this night, or tomorrow, he shall love me.
why should i've love this gentleman? ’tis odds he never will affect me. i am base, my father the mean keeper of his prison, and he a prince
why should i love
The Reckoning
Three chunks. One speech. One of the most devastating monologues in the play. The Daughter is doing something unusual here: she is being completely, lucidly honest about her own situation — she is base, he is a prince, marriage is impossible, sleeping with him would be reckless — and then proceeding as though none of that is relevant. She sees the situation with total clarity and chooses the thing anyway. This is not delusion. It's something closer to courage, or to the specific kind of courage that looks like madness from the outside. The final line — 'this night, or tomorrow, he shall love me' — is not a romantic fantasy. It's a declaration. She has decided.
If this happened today…
A hospital worker has become obsessed with one of the long-term patients — a man from a wealthy family who's there following an accident, clearly educated, handsome, way above her pay grade. She knows exactly what she's doing. She says it out loud to herself in the supply closet: 'I can't date him, I definitely can't sleep with him, this is probably going to ruin my career.' Then she walks out and starts making plans to discharge him early.