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“I'll slit the villain's nose”
Cultural Context
Act 5,
Scene 1
Lines 111-112

An explanation of Vincentio’s line, “I’ll slit the villain’s nose” in Act 5, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Lucentio

What Tranio did, myself enforcèd him to;

Vincentio

Then pardon him, sweet father, for my sake.    

In Shakespeare’s England, criminals often had their noses or ears slit while in jail so that they could be identified later as convicted felons.