2nd Woman.
My beauty pays for what I get.
Vashti. I would, 'twere not so.
2nd Woman.
Queen, I doubt thee not.
Vashti.
Pert little fool, where lies thy beauty, then?
Thou hast it not: its place is not thy flesh,
But the delighting loins of men, there only.
Thy beauty! And thou knowest not that man
Hath forged in his furnace of desire our beauty
Into that chain of law which binds our lives—
Man, please thyself, and woman, please thou man.
But thou wilt have thy beauty pence, thou sayest?
And what's thy purchase? Listen, I will tell thee:
Just that thou art not whipt and drudged: the rest,
All that thou hast beyond, is gift.
2nd Woman.
Why not?
Vashti. Truly, for thee, why not?
2nd Woman.
Wouldst thou, 'twere yours?
1st Woman. Thou shudderest again; what ails thee, Queen?
Vashti. I would have lived in beauty once.
2nd Woman.
In whose?