How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the Norton edition.
Quote #10
LANCE
He thrusts me himself into the company of
three or four gentlemanlike dogs under the Duke's
table; he had not been there—bless the mark!—a
pissing while, but all the chamber smelt him. 'Out
with the dog!' says one. 'What cur is that?' says
another. 'Whip him out!' says the third. 'Hang
him up!' says the Duke. I, having been acquainted with
the smell before, knew it was Crab, and goes me to
the fellow that whips the dogs: 'Friend,' quoth I,
'you mean to whip the dog?' 'Ay, marry, do I,'
quoth he. 'You do him the more wrong,' quoth I.
''twas I did the thing you wot of.' He makes me no
more ado, but whips me out of the chamber. How
many masters would do this for his servant? (4.4.17-30)
As Lance recounts how he saved Crab from punishment for peeing under the Duke's table, we learn that Lance took a whipping for his dog. Though we don't see this violence on stage, it seems like much of the humor in the play revolves around Lance's stories about being physically abused by his social "betters." This anticipates the kind of slap-stick humor we see in Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, where the servants (the Dromio brothers) are always being smacked around.