Note to Much Ado About Nothing, 2.1.271: "harpy"


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Much Ado About Nothing,
Act 2, Scene 1, line 271.
harpy: i.e., creature of prey; literally a mythical monster with the face and trunk of a woman and the wings and claws of a bird. —In heraldry the harpy was used to signify one who had committed man-slaughter, so it seems that Benedick thinks of Beatrice as a man-killer.