Note to As You Like It, 2.3.37: "diverted blood"


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As You Like It,
Act 2, Scene 3, line 37.
diverted blood: perverted kinship. —The word "blood" is used to stand for kinship, the natural, loving feelings of family members for each other. The phrase "diverted blood" means that such feelings have been diverted from their natural course into envy, spite, and hatred, as have the feelings of Oliver, Orlando's brother.