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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 3Scene 2
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“doubler tongue”
Wordplay
Act 3,
Scene 2
Lines 68-73

An explanation of the phrase “doubler tongue” in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Hermia

O, once tell true, tell true, even for my sake.
Durst thou have looked upon him being awake?
And hast thou killed him sleeping? O brave touch!
Could not a worm, an adder do so much?
An adder did it, for with doubler tongue
Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.

To speak with a double tongue means to be two-faced and deceitful. All snakes have forked tongues, and Hermia is accusing Demetrius of having more of a double tongue than any snake.