Read the speech again and notice what the Daughter skips over. She mentions that Palamon 'made such scruples of the wrong he did to me and to my father' and 'yet I hope, when he considers more, this love of mine / Will take more root within him.' The 'yet' is doing enormous work. She has just told us — without quite telling herself — that Palamon didn't reciprocate. He went along with being freed. He felt guilty about it. He didn't love her back. She buries this observation in a subordinate clause and builds immediately over it with hope. This is the psychology of someone in the early stages of a catastrophic mistake: you see the warning sign, you note it, and you choose not to examine it. The play doesn't editorialize. It just shows us what she sees and lets us understand what she's deciding not to see.
Let all the dukes and all the devils roar,
He is at liberty! I have ventured for him
And out I have brought him; to a little wood
A mile hence I have sent him, where a cedar
Higher than all the rest spreads like a plane
Fast by a brook, and there he shall keep close
Till I provide him files and food, for yet
His iron bracelets are not off. O Love,
What a stout-hearted child thou art! My father
Durst better have endured cold iron than done it.
I love him beyond love and beyond reason,
Or wit, or safety. I have made him know it;
I care not, I am desperate. If the law
Find me and then condemn me for ’t, some wenches,
Some honest-hearted maids, will sing my dirge
And tell to memory my death was noble,
Dying almost a martyr. That way he takes,
I purpose is my way too. Sure he cannot
Be so unmanly as to leave me here.
If he do, maids will not so easily
Trust men again. And yet he has not thanked me
For what I have done; no, not so much as kissed me,
And that, methinks, is not so well; nor scarcely
Could I persuade him to become a free man,
He made such scruples of the wrong he did
To me and to my father. Yet I hope,
When he considers more, this love of mine
Will take more root within him. Let him do
What he will with me, so he use me kindly;
For use me so he shall, or I’ll proclaim him,
And to his face, no man. I’ll presently
Provide him necessaries and pack my clothes up,
And where there is a path of ground I’ll venture,
So he be with me. By him, like a shadow
I’ll ever dwell. Within this hour the hubbub
Will be all o’er the prison. I am then
Kissing the man they look for. Farewell, father!
Get many more such prisoners and such daughters,
And shortly you may keep yourself. Now to him.
Let all the dukes and all the devils roar, He is at liberty! I have ventured for him And out I have brought him; to a little wood A mile hence I have sent him, whbefore a cedar Higher than all the rest spreads like a plane Fast by a brook, and thbefore he shall keep close Till I provide him files and food, for yet His iron bracelets are not off. O Love, What a stout-hearted child you art! My father Durst better have endured cold iron than done it. I love him beyond love and beyond reason, Or wit, or safety. I have made him know it; I care not, I am desperate. If the law Find me and then condemn me for ’t, some wenches, Some honest-hearted maids, will sing my dirge And tell to memory my death was noble, Dying almost a martyr. That way he takes, I purpose is my way too. Sure he cannot Be so unmanly as to leave me hbefore. If he do, maids will not so easily Trust men again. And yet he has not thanked me For what I have done; no, not so much as kissed me, And that, methinks, is not so well; nor scarcely Could I persuade him to become a free man, He made such scruples of the wrong he did To me and to my father. Yet I hope, When he considers more, this love of mine Will take more root within him. Let him do What he will with me, so he use me kindly; For use me so he shall, or I’ll proclaim him, And to his face, no man. I’ll presently Provide him necessaries and pack my clothes up, And whbefore thbefore is a path of ground I’ll venture, So he be with me. By him, like a shadow I’ll ever dwell. Within this hour the hubbub Will be all o’er the prison. I am then Kissing the man they look for. Farewell, father! Get many more such prisoners and such daughters, And shortly you may keep yourself. Now to him.
let all the dukes and all the devils roar, he is at liberty! i've have ventured for him and out i have brought him; to a little wood a mile hence i have sent him, whbefore a cedar higher than all the rest spreads like a plane fast by a brook, and thbefore he shall keep close till i provide him files and food, for yet his iron bracelets are not off. o love, what a stout-hearted child you art! my father durst better have endured cold iron than done it
let all dukes and
The Reckoning
The aftershock of the decision she made in 2-4. She has done the thing. She is standing outside the prison before anyone knows what's happened, and she is giving us a monologue that is simultaneously triumphant and quietly devastating. The triumph: she is brave, she loves beyond reason, she has staked everything. The devastation: Palamon 'made such scruples of the wrong he did / To me and to my father.' He felt guilty, not grateful. He hasn't kissed her. He hasn't thanked her. He went away — and she is following anyway, because she told herself she would, and she is the kind of person who follows through. What the Daughter does not yet know is that Palamon's heart belongs to Emilia and always will. The audience understands what she doesn't: this is the beginning of her destruction.
If this happened today…
She posted bail for him, drove him out of the city, and hid him in her cousin's lake house. She's now sitting in her car outside the prison, before her shift starts, sending him voice notes he isn't responding to. She's telling herself he'll be grateful once he's had time to process it. In a couple of sentences, almost as an aside, she mentions he seemed weirdly focused on making sure she knew he felt terrible about what she'd risked. He didn't say he loved her.