"Be better advised, sir:
Our eyes are sentinels unto our judgments
And should give certain judgment what they see;
But they are rash sometimes, and tell us wonders
Of common things, which when our judgments find,
They can then check the eyes, and call them blind."
Early on in the play, when Alsemero falls in love with Beatrice-Joanna, she coyly delivers this speech to him. Here, Beatrice-Joanna cautions Alsemero against believing everything that his eyes see, saying that one's "judgments" can help strip "common things" of the "wonders" that the eyes bestow on them. Ironically, Beatrice-Joanna is warning Alsemero not to trust appearances, which is appropriate given that she herself is not the innocent, pure, and morally righteous noblewoman that Alsemero believes her to be.
"Methinks I love now with the eyes of judgment
And see the way to merit, clearly see it."
Hearkening back to her earlier warning to Alsemero not to trust his eyes, Beatrice-Joanna here expresses her passion for Alsemero by stating that she sees him with "the eyes of judgment." Here, Beatrice-Joanna suggests that her love for Alsemero is true and undeceived; she uses this logic of earnest love to justify her scheme to hire DeFlores to kill Alonzo.
"Why, here is love's tame madness; thus a man
Quickly steals into his vexation."
When Alonzo announces that he will part from his brother to marry Beatrice-Joanna, he expresses his deep love and affection for her, telling his brother that he would be an enemy to anyone who tried to accuse his betrothed of inconstancy. After Alonzo exits, Tomazo makes this remark, emphasizing his lack of trust for Beatrice-Joanna and his concern for his brother whom he believes has fallen under a "vexation." Tomazo's commentary foreshadows Alonzo's imminent demise.
"Y’have a fine trade on’t,
Madmen and fools are a staple commodity."
When Lollio tells Alibius that the patients in the madhouse will perform a dance at the wedding, he tries to explain why madmen make the best performers. Isabella makes this sardonic comment in response, calling out Lollio and Alibius for their commodification of human beings. Alibius defends their behavior on the grounds that he has to afford to live himself, emphasizing the play's overarching motif of using people as pawns in transactions.
"What, salary? Now you move me...
Do you place me in the rank of verminous fellows,
To destroy things for wages? Offer gold?
The life blood of man! Is anything
Valued too precious for my recompense?"
After DeFlores murders Alonzo, Beatrice-Joanna offers him gold in exchange for his services. Here, DeFlores is appalled when he realizes that Beatrice-Joanna expects him to murder for money alone. He portrays himself as more morally upstanding than a hitman. However, ironically, DeFlores instead wants to sleep with Beatrice-Joanna as his "payment," suggesting that he sees her body as part of the transactional economy they have created.
"Look but into your conscience, read me there,
‘Tis a true book, you'll find me there your equal."
In one of the most damning but truthful speeches in the play, DeFlores convinces Beatrice-Joanna to sleep with him by arguing that she and he are one and the same, given her own involvement in Alonzo's murder. DeFlores convinces Beatrice-Joanna that despite her parentage and noble birth, she is base like him because she was the one who orchestrated the killing of Alonzo, thereby linking her to DeFlores forever.
"Vengeance begins;
Murder I see is followed by more sins.
Was my creation in the womb so curs’d,
It must engender with a viper first?"
When DeFlores finally convinces Beatrice-Joanna to sleep with him, she resigns herself to a fate of "more sins" following the murder of Alonzo. Here, Beatrice-Joanna offers the opinion that she has been "cursed" since the get-go, fated to fall rather than acting out of her own agency.
"Are you serious still? Would you resign
Your first night’s pleasure, and give money too?"
When Beatrice-Joanna realizes that Alsemero is going to test her virginity, she asks Diaphanta to spend the wedding night with Alsemero instead. Diaphanta here expresses her shock that Beatrice-Joanna would sacrifice her own wedding night, not yet understanding that Beatrice-Joanna is not a virgin. Here, Diaphanta reveals how innocent she is, but she also suggests that she, too, is interested in the transaction available to her: she mentions the money promised to her, which Beatrice-Joanna remarks in an aside as "but a by-bet to wedge in the honor" (3.4).
"Push, modesty’s shrine is set in yonder forehead.
I cannot be too sure though.—My Joanna!"
Alsemero justifies his use of the "maid" potion on Beatrice-Joanna as a type of insurance for what he is buying into with their marriage – once again positing people and relationships as commodities. Here, Alsemero makes an aside to the audience in which he agrees that Beatrice-Joanna is "modest" (i.e., a virgin), but that he cannot "be too sure." Ironically, Alsemero is heeding Beatrice-Joanna's word of caution from the beginning of the play by not trusting that all appearances are as they seem.
"Already? How rare is that man’s speed!
How heartily he serves me! His face loathes one,
But look upon his care, who would not love him?
The east is not more beauteous than his service."
After the fire breaks out in the castle, Beatrice-Joanna is shocked at DeFlores's swiftness. Here, she expresses her sincere attraction to DeFlores based on his "care" and his "service" to her. Despite his unattractive appearance, Beatrice-Joanna is drawn to DeFlores because of his devotion to her, emphasizing both her own narcissistic wickedness and her shared villainy with DeFlores himself.
