In the Act 2, De Flores reflects bitterly on his love for Beatrice, who hates him and attempts to cause him pain whenever possible. In an aside, he uses a simile, comparing himself to a bull that has been “lugged” (or, in other words, “baited”) into a state of fury:
So; –
[ Aside ] Why, am not I an ass, to devise ways
Thus to be railed at? I must see her still.
I shall have a mad qualm within this hour again,
I know’t; and like a common Garden-bull,
I do but take breath to be lugged again.
What this may bode I know not; I’ll despair the less,
Because there’s daily precedents of bad faces
Belov’d beyond all reason; these foul chops
May come into favour one day, ’mongst his fellows:
Wrangling has proved the mistress of good pastime;
As children cry themselves asleep, I ha’seen
Women have chid themselves abed to men.
First, he notes that he must be an “ass” to continually “devise ways” to talk to Beatrice when she responds with cruel insults and mockery. Nevertheless, he feels he “must see her,” as he is deeply in love with her despite her cruelty. When he sees her next, he notes, he will be “like a common Garden-bull,” who is baited into anger. Beatrice, he implies, makes him angry on purpose, but she also seems to enjoy her role in taunting him. When this play was produced, animal fighting, including bull-fights and “bear-baiting,” were common forms of violent entertainment in London.
Despite the great effort that Beatrice has taken to marry Alsemero, including ordering the assassination of Alonzo, to whom she was betrothed, Beatrice expresses her anxieties in a soliloquy prior to her wedding night:
BEATRICE : This fellow has undone me endlessly,
Never was bride so fearfully distressed;
The more I think upon th’ensuing night,
And whom I am to cope with in embraces,
One that’s ennobled both in blood and mind,
So clear in understanding, – that’s my plague now, –
Before whose judgement will my fault appear
Like malefactors’ crimes before tribunals;
There is no hiding on’t, the more I dive
Into my own distress; how a wise man
Stands for a great calamity!
There’s no venturing
Into his bed, what course soe’er I light upon,
Without my shame, which may grow up to danger.
Reflecting on recent events, Beatrice suggests that De Flores, who took her virginity in exchange for the murder of Alonzo, has “undone” her “endlessly.” Her language here is layered, referring to both the “undoing” or her status as a virgin, and also the “undoing” of her entire life. In this soliloquy, Beatrice registers her fear that Alsemero, who is “ennobled both in blood and mind” and similarly “clear in understanding,” will be able to discern that she is not a virgin on their wedding night. Further, she argues in a simile that her “fault" will be plainly evident, “Like malefactors’ crimes before tribunals.” This simile suggests that Beatrice feels that she is going on trial, and that her beloved Alsemero will be the judge who decides her fate.
