The Shakespeare Book

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 99 Boccaccio’s De Casibus Virorum including a tendency to weep, and already staged a series of plays on Illustrium (1355–74) (Of the Fates the pragmatism and self-control of this theme: Henry VI Parts One, of Famous Men). The subjects all Bolingbroke. Alternatively, casting Two, and Three, and Richard III. suffered a sudden descent from a Richard and a Bolingbroke who In Richard II, he was returning to good fortune to adversity and death. look very like one another, or an action—the murder of a lawful When Richard calls for a mirror in who share the roles between king—that would change the which to read his downfall, he may them, can also be effective, bringing perception of kingship. At the same have been alluding to a popular out the play’s exploration of what time, however self-aggrandizing English collection of similar tales makes a king. Richard appears, the play supports called The Mirror for Magistrates, his argument that to be a king which included Richard II. Some productions have had two is inevitably to be the hero in actors play the roles of Richard and a tragic cycle. ■ A willing victim? Bolingbroke on alternate nights, Clearly, Shakespeare’s character suggesting the arbitrariness of A romantic engraving depicts imagines himself as a victim—of which man was king, and looking Richard dying heroically at the hands Bolingbroke, of the inherent nature forward to the Wars of the Roses, of Piers Exton. The manner of Richard’s of kingship, of fate, and perhaps of during which power would swing murder is not known for certain. It is his own flaws. But more important from the house of Lancaster to York, possible that he was starved to death. than the cause of his tragic fall is and back again. Shakespeare had the spectacle it makes, to the extent that Richard has been accused of “doom-eagerness,” indulging in fantasies of his tragic abjection before they have become a political necessity. For example, Bolingbroke is ostensibly only pursuing repeal from banishment and restoration of inheritance, but Richard mentions deposition as early as Act 3 Scene 3, when he asks: “What must the King do now? Must he submit? / The King shall do it. Must he be deposed? / The King shall be contented. Must he lose / The name of King? A God’s name, let it go” (3.3.142–145). Bolingbroke needs to do little more than stand there with an army looking menacing. Playing the King The king’s pleasure in wordplay and his self-indulgent loquacity suggest Richard as an early forerunner for Hamlet. Along with Hamlet, this is one of the few Shakespearean tragic roles that has been played by women (most recently by Fiona Shaw and Cate Blanchett). Such casting can heighten the contrast between Richard’s hyperemotionalism,

A PAIR OF STAR-CROSSED LOVERS ROMEO AND JULIET (1595)



102 ROMEO AND JULIET DRAMATIS After the Montagues and Beneath Juliet’s Mercutio is killed by PERSONAE Capulets brawl, Capulet balcony, Romeo Tybalt. Romeo kills overhears Juliet’s MONTAGUES agrees to betroth his avowal of love Tybalt and is banished Montague Head of the daughter Juliet to Paris and by the Prince. Montague household. arranges a ball to celebrate. for him. Romeo The romantically 1.1 2.1 3.1 inclined son of Montague Act 1 Act 2 and Lady Montague. 1.3 2.5 Benvolio Romeo’s cousin, a At the ball, masked Romeo and Juliet are secretly young peacemaker whose Romeo Montague married by Friar Laurence. words go unheard. is overwhelmed Balthasar Romeo’s servant. by Juliet’s beauty. CAPULETS Capulet Head of the Capulet T he chorus sets the scene as and arranges a masked ball to household. Juliet’s father, at Verona, where two families celebrate. Young Romeo Montague least 60 years old. feud. The play will last two and his friends (including the witty hours, Chorus says, and tell the Mercutio) sneak into the ball to get a Lady Capulet Juliet’s mother, story of two of their children whose glimpse of Rosaline Capulet, the around 26 years old. doomed love will end in death, object of Romeo’s unrequited love— reconciling the families at last. but Romeo is instead completely Juliet Capulet and Lady smitten by Rosaline’s cousin Juliet. Capulet’s 13-year-old daughter. The play then erupts onto the streets of Verona, and a brawl Later that night, Romeo, Tybalt Juliet’s cousin, a between the rival families, the lingering in the orchard below hot-tempered young man Montagues and Capulets, is halted Juliet’s balcony, overhears her proud of his skill with a sword. only by the intervention of the declare that she loves him despite Prince of Verona. To appease the his family name, and he makes Nurse Juliet’s old nurse, an Prince, old Capulet agrees to marry himself known to her. Ecstatic, the affectionate and down-to- his 13-year-old daughter Juliet to pair resolve to marry the following earth woman. the Prince’s young kinsman, Paris, night. Friar Laurence and Juliet’s OTHERS Mercutio Romeo’s charismatic, witty, and bawdy friend. Escalus The Prince of Verona. Paris Escalus’s kinsman, an arrogant, upright young man who expects to marry Juliet. Friar Laurence Franciscan friar and apothecary, who marries Romeo and Juliet in secret. Petruccio Follower of Tybalt.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 103 Romeo flees to Juliet takes the Lying next to Juliet’s Horrified by the Mantua, and Juliet’s drug and is found body, Romeo takes discovery of the dead wedding to Paris is apparently dead lovers, the Montagues poison and dies. and Capulets end arranged. in her bed. their feud. 3.5 4.3–4 5.3 5.3 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5 3.5 4.1 5.3 5.3 Romeo and Juliet Juliet is persuaded Returning to Verona, Juliet wakes to find spend their wedding by Friar Laurence to Romeo sneaks into Romeo dead and stabs herself night together. drug herself to Juliet’s tomb but in despair. escape her wedding meets Paris and kills to Paris. him in a fight. nurse agree to help them, hoping for help. The friar advises her to fight and Paris is killed. Romeo lays the union will end the feud. The next escape the wedding by taking a down beside Juliet’s apparently day in the street, Mercutio taunts sleeping-potion, which will make her lifeless body, takes poison, and Tybalt Capulet and the two begin seem dead for 42 hours. The friar will dies. Not long after, Juliet regains to fence. But although only Romeo send a message to Romeo in consciousness and finds Romeo knows it, Tybalt is now his cousin- Mantua, who can then rescue her dead. She tries to take the poison in-law and Romeo tries to break up from the family tomb when she from his lips with a kiss, but death the fight. Tybalt fatally wounds awakens. Juliet goes ahead with the eludes her, so she takes Romeo’s Mercutio. Romeo kills Tybalt in plan, and is found apparently dead dagger, stabs herself, and dies. revenge, and the Prince banishes on the morning of the wedding. Romeo from Verona to Mantua. As the bodies are discovered, The friar’s message does not Friar Laurence explains the sorry Seeing Juliet distraught, reach Romeo and he hears only situation to the Prince, who although not knowing why, old of Juliet’s death. Grief-stricken, lambasts the families whose Capulet decides her wedding to Romeo rushes back to Verona and feuding has brought this tragedy. Paris must go ahead right away. creeps into the Capulet tomb, The old men shake hands and Desperate, Juliet asks Friar Laurence where he meets Paris. The two agree to end their enmity. ❯❯

104 ROMEO AND JULIET R omeo and Juliet is perhaps That which we call a rose the most familiar of all By any other word would IN CONTEXT Shakespeare’s plays: a tale of two young lovers, doomed to be smell as sweet. THEMES kept apart. There are many other Juliet Jealousy, loyalty, betrayal, stories of separated lovers, but the romantic love, male intensity of Romeo and Juliet’s Act 2, Scene 1 friendship romance gives Shakespeare’s drama an emotional charge that stars—and that they will die SETTING has resonated through the ages. before their parents see sense: Verona, Italy “The fearful passage of their death- Romeo and Juliet fall in love marked love / And the continuance SOURCES instantly, marry the next day, and of their parents’ rage—/ Which but 1562 Arthur Brooke’s poem have one brief and precious night of their children’s end, naught could The Tragical History of love before they are forced asunder remove—/ Is now the two-hours’ Romeus and Juliet. by their families’ feud, and plunged traffic of our stage;” (Prologue.9–12). into the spiral of events that brings LEGACY them both to suicide. Few plays To modern audiences, used to 1679 English dramatist have ever captured so well the films whose plots are constructed Thomas Otway resets the play wild and heady energy of youthful to keep the audience guessing, in ancient Rome, with a happy emotion—not only its loves, but its with plot twists right up until the ending that stresses the play’s rage, its vitality, and its volatility end, this is a surprise, and today’s political dimensions. in a fractured world where elders reviewers might feel obliged to fail to provide wise guidance. put in a spoiler alert. Far from 1745 David Garrick and No wonder this play often seems spoiling the play for the audience, Spranger Barry perform rival to speak to contemporary youth however, it gives the drive that versions at Drury Lane and with such startling immediacy. makes Romeo and Juliet a Covent Garden in London. compelling drama. We know Shakespeare makes the fate exactly what is going to happen 1845 American Charlotte that awaits the lovers clear right to the young lovers as they Cushman plays Romeo at the from the start. In the short 14-line come together, even though Haymarket, London, with her opening verse, the Chorus reveals they don’t. We know that their sister Susan as Juliet. the entire plot, telling us that the love is doomed even as they play is about two “star-crossed” embark on it with such beguiling 1935 Actors John Gielgud and lovers—lovers whose sad and charm, innocence, and optimism, Laurence Olivier alternate roles conjoined fate is written in the and we can hardly turn away as as Romeo and Mercutio in an they hurtle blindly toward their acclaimed production at the Did my heart love till now? fateful end. New Theatre, London. Forswear it, sight, Indeed, it is the sense that their 1938 Russian composer Sergei For I ne’er saw true beauty love is so powerful and inevitable Prokofiev’s ballet version opens till this night. that it can only end in death that in Brno, Czechoslovakia. Romeo has made their story captivating ever since the play was first 1957 Leonard Bernstein and Act 1, Scene 5 performed in the 1590s. For Steven Sondheim’s musical West Side Story moves the story to modern New York City. 1994 The exiled Macedonian Romany Company Pralipe stages a version in Bosnia with a Muslim Juliet and a Christian Romeo.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 105 It is perhaps because we must see the pair as innocents that they are so young. Franco Zeffirelli picked up on this in his 1968 film version with Olivia Hussey, just 16 years old, as Juliet. romantics, especially the young, the idea of love flying in the face of a cruel world is intoxicating. Origins of the story Capeletti (Capulets) of Cremona, Shakespeare’s changes The basic story in which young were historical, and the poet Dante Many of the principal characters lovers choose to die together writes of them in his Purgatorio as in Romeo and Juliet are much the rather than live apart is an ancient being at the center of civil strife in same as in Brooke’s poem, but one. The Roman poet Ovid’s 13th-century Italy. Shakespeare’s Shakespeare’s treatment of the Metamorphoses, for instance, immediate source, though, was an story is very different. In Romeo contains the story of the separated English version of the story written and Juliet, the lovers have just one lovers Pyramus and Thisbe, which as a long poem in 1562 by Arthur night together after their wedding; Shakespeare parodied in his next Brooke entitled The Tragical in Brooke’s poem, Romeo visits play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. History of Romeus and Juliet. Juliet every night for a month ❯❯ In the 3rd century CE, the story of Ephesiaca, by the Greek writer Xenophon of Ephesus, sees the 16-year-old Habrocomes and 14-year-old Anthia embark on a suicide pact. The story of Romeo and Juliet in particular became popular in 16th-century Italy in versions such as Luigi da Porto’s 1530 novel Giulietta e Romeo. The two feuding families in the story, the Montecchi (Montagues) of Verona and the Elizabethan feuds Romeo and Juliet was written Catholic Counter Reformation at a time when England was as conspired to bring Protestant divided as it has ever been. King England back into the fold. Henry VIII had split from the Roman Catholic church in 1533, The younger generation, and the wounds this had caused of which Shakespeare was one, were still red raw. The Protestant were indeed caught between regime of the reigning Queen the warring factions—and it Elizabeth I, Henry VIII’s daughter, may be that Romeo and Juliet (pictured) was under attack from was intended as a reminder to Catholics both from within the them of the tragic consequences country and from abroad. The of their bitter conflict for their regime was fighting back, led by offspring. Romeo and Juliet the queen’s first minister Robert could have found counterparts Cecil. Catholic recusants were in England, with Protestants hunted down ruthlessly by Cecil’s and Catholics replacing the henchmen, while agents of the Montagues and Capulets as the feuding neighbors.

106 ROMEO AND JULIET The feuding houses of Verona Montague Married to Lady Capulet Married to Montague Lady Capulet Benvolio Romeo Secretly Juliet Tybalt his nephew their son married to their daughter her nephew Mercutio Petruccio their friend his friend Abraham Nurse Samson Balthasar Gregory House of Montague House of Capulet Friend Servants or two. Shakespeare’s story is and advice of parents and friends.” A stage revolution faster, and this serves to heighten Shakespeare, however, is on their It is hard to appreciate today just the tragic brevity of the romance. side. In Romeo and Juliet, they how revolutionary Shakespeare was Shakespeare has a very different are innocent victims—Juliet is in bringing this story to the English attitude toward the lovers. Brooke just 13—and in the beauty and stage. Italian novels were certainly thoroughly disapproves of them; ardor of their love, they soar becoming increasingly popular they are “unfortunate lovers, far above their parents’ bickering with the younger generation at thrilling themselves to unhonest and bitterness. It is this large- the time—Shakespeare was not desire, neglecting the authority hearted sympathy that gives yet 30 when he wrote Romeo and Shakespeare such wide appeal, Juliet—but no one had put this kind My bounty is as boundless and made his message so of story on stage before. Previously, as the sea, subversive at the time. tragic drama had been mostly about noble lords and mighty My love as deep. The more While the characters in warriors in grand settings. I give to thee Brooke’s poem are largely Here, the hero and heroine are archetypes, in Romeo and Juliet, just two ordinary contemporary The more I have, for both they are much more fleshed out teenagers, distinguished only by are infinite. and real. Shakespeare also brings their love and their way with Juliet minor characters such as the words, in an ordinary city that well-intentioned Friar Laurence happens to be called Verona, but Act 2, Scene 1 and the chatterbox Nurse fully to could be anywhere. The young life. Romeo’s quick-witted and Shakespeare’s play was no earthy friend Mercutio is entirely slowly unfolding, grand epic as Shakespeare’s creation, one of his most earlier tragedies had been, most appealing. It is Mercutio’s but fast-paced, down, and dirty. death in a sword fight at the beginning of Act 3 that wrenches In the brief and measured verse the mood of the play dramatically with which the Chorus outlines from comedy to tragedy. the scenario, Shakespeare seems

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 107 to be setting us up for the same provide a way to transcend the Breaking convention cautionary tale of misbegotten trap of names: “Romeo, doff thy In Verona’s world of false honor, love as appears in Brooke’s version. name, / And for thy name—which even love, to begin with, is a But as soon as this cautionary is no part of thee—/ Take all posture. When Romeo first appears, rhyme is done, we are plunged myself” (2.1.89–91). But ultimately wandering distractedly into the into the anarchic reality of the even their true love is not enough. aftermath of the brawl, he is in love, feud, as the formal poetry gives “In what vile part of this anatomy / not with Juliet—who he has yet to way to a full-scale brawl on the Doth my name lodge?” meet—but with a Capulet girl streets of Verona. In the roughest (3.4.105–106) Romeo asks Friar called Rosaline. She is never fully of prose and with rude gestures, Laurence after his banishment, seen, remaining as insubstantial two pairs of servants, Samson likewise realizing the poison as Romeo’s love for her. and Gregory, Abraham and in his name and desperate to Balthasar, hurl bawdy threats rid himself of it. That name Fittingly, it seems, for a romance at each other. Samson talks of becomes his death sentence. set in Italy, Romeo declares his love cutting off the (maiden) heads for Rosaline in a sonnet—a short ❯❯ of the Montague women. Swords are drawn, fighting begins, and soon the young blades of the families enter the fray, followed quickly by old Capulet, feebly wielding his sword against the equally frail old Montague—as feebly, his much younger wife implies, as he now wields his marital “sword.” This is an unruly world of macho posturing in which even the aged who should know better join in, and wisdom and guidance is left in the dubious hands of Friar Laurence and Juliet’s nurse. What’s in a name? In such a dysfunctional city, “name” is everything, and true substance and feeling is lost. But when Romeo and Juliet later embark on their romance, Juliet realizes a name can be a terrible trap, lamenting famously: “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore [why] art thou Romeo? / ...That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet” (2.1.75–86). Juliet yearns for her love to Contemporary audiences will have identified in Mercutio a portrait of the playwright Christopher Marlowe who, like Mercutio, died in a knife fight, in 1593. This illustration dates from 1903.

108 ROMEO AND JULIET The balcony of a 14th-century building in Verona has been dubbed Juliet’s balcony. The building may have belonged to the Capuleti family on whom the Capulets are based. form of poem in 14 lines, which had such as “cold fire” and “loving shared between the two of them, originated with the 14th-century hate.” Romeo’s sonnet to Rosaline as if to emphasize their miraculous Italian poet Petrarch. By the time is stuffed with conventional connection and linked destiny: Shakespeare was writing, sonnets oxymorons: “Why, then, O “Juliet: Saints do not move, had become the standard literary brawling love, O loving hate, / though grant for prayers’ sake. form for expressions of love, O anything of nothing first create; / Romeo: Then move not while especially unrequited love— O heavy lightness, serious vanity, / my prayer’s effect I take. although Shakespeare was soon Misshapen chaos of well-seeming [He kisses her.]” (1.5.104–105). to invigorate the form himself with forms, / Feather of lead, bright his own verses. Sonnets employed smoke, cold fire, sick health,” From this point on, Romeo a range of rhetorical devices (1.1.173–177). largely abandons rhyme when including oxymoron—the putting speaking to Juliet, and they both together of contradictory words Romeo has yet to learn that now speak mostly in blank verse, love, too, must break from these finding a new and more truthful Parting is such conventions to find something more way of interacting. It is the young sweet sorrow truthful. Even when he sees Juliet Juliet who matures into this newer That I shall say good night for the first time, he speaks of her in expression of love first, and Romeo till it be morrow. formal couplets: “Did my heart love is drawn in her wake. till now? Forswear it, sight, / For I Juliet ne’er saw true beauty till this night” The balcony scene (1.5.51–52). In the balcony scene, a stage Act 2, Scene 1 metaphor for separated love, Romeo Breaking convention speaks to Juliet from the orchard When Romeo and Juliet speak below her balcony. The device of to each other for the first time, separating them on stage by the remarkably, they share the lines of height of the balcony allows them a sonnet with breathless intensity, to talk with a passion that would be and the sonnet, conventionally impossible if they were together, the most personal and unspoken as it could only lead to physicality. of verses, becomes a tender conversation. The final couplet is A plague o’ both your houses. They have made worms’ meat of me. Mercutio Act 3, Scene 1

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 109 Language of love Romeo and Juliet is full of Adaptations Shakespeare finds a new language oppositions—light versus dark, of love that has a freshness and youth versus age, time running At least 30 operas and ballets immediacy that was entirely new fast and time running slow, the have been adapted from in English verse—rich in imagery, moon versus the stars, love versus Shakespeare’s Romeo and yet sincerely personal and new- hate. Juliet describes Romeo to Juliet, including Prokofiev’s minted by this earnest young her nurse as “My only love sprung 1935 ballet Romeo and Juliet couple, with rich poetic allusions from my only hate” (1.5.137), as and Gounod’s opera Roméo such as Juliet’s wish to be a if the oxymorons of Romeo’s et Juliette (1867). Leonard falconer to lure Romeo back like sonnet to Rosaline have taken life. Bernstein and Stephen a trained falcon replacing more Sondheim’s 1957 stage musical formal metaphors. In his language, As we were told it would, it is West Side Story moves the as in his story, Shakespeare the darkness that wins out. Romeo action to New York’s tough moves on from the divisive and Juliet’s love cannot win, for Upper West Side, where rival conventions of the past to a new their romantic ideals prove no gangs, the Sharks and the and more honest and profound match for the force of their elders’ Jets, clash. Many other stage mode of expression. Romeo and quarrels. However, in death, they shows have been adapted Juliet’s lines resonate with real prove the catalyst that brings the from Shakespeare’s play, feeling. Rarely has young love quarrels to an abrupt end. Capulet including French composer been expressed with such reaches out to Montague “O brother Gérard Presgurvic’s musical tenderness and such beauty. Montague, give me thy hand” spectacle Roméo et Juliette: (5.3.295), as each praises the other’s de la Haine à l’Amour (2001). Yet that love is doomed child. The Prince stands lamenting from the start. Juliet urgently over their bodies: “A glooming More than 60 different film wishes for time to rush by to peace this morning with it brings. / versions have been created, bring on the night, “the love- The sun for sorrow will not show beginning with Clemence performing night” (3.2.5) that his head” (5.3.304–305). Those left Maurice’s 1900 production. will allow them to be together. behind feel a profound shame. ■ One of the best known is But the night is both a time of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film, love and a symbol of death, and Adrienne Canterna choreographed which made an impact the urgent race into the dark is and danced in the ballet Romeo and with its beautiful teenage also a headlong charge into the Juliet, directed by her husband Rasta leads, including 16-year-old galloping events that bring them Thomas. Their production mixed Olivia Hussey as Juliet in a to their tragic end. Prokofiev’s score with modern music. controversial nude scene. Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996, pictured above), starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, and set the action in a modern world of edgy youth on California’s “Verona Beach.”

THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE NEVER DID RUN SMOOTH A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1595)



112 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM DRAMATIS Theseus announces his Annoyed with his queen Titania falls in PERSONAE wedding to Hippolyta. Titania, the fairy king love with Egeus demands that his Oberon drops a love ass-headed Theseus The Duke of Athens, daughter Hermia be forced Bottom. conqueror of the Amazons. potion in her eyes. to marry Demetrius. Hippolyta The conquered queen of the Amazons, 1.1 2.2 3.1 betrothed to Theseus. Act 1 Act 2 1.1 2.2 Egeus Father of Hermia. Hermia decides Puck wrongly drops the love Hermia Short, fiery, dark- to elope with potion in the eyes of haired daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander. Lysander. Helena Lysander, who, on waking, tells Demetrius of falls in love with Helena. Lysander Romantic and in love with Hermia. their plan. Demetrius More hard-headed I n Athens, Theseus is artisans resolve to meet in the than Lysander, but also preparing for his wedding to forest to rehearse a play in honor of courting Hermia. Hippolyta, the vanquished the wedding. queen of the Amazons, when in Helena Tall and fair-haired, in bursts Egeus complaining that his In the forest, the fairy king and love with Demetrius. daughter Hermia refuses to marry queen, Oberon and Titania, quarrel Demetrius. He says that she has over a changeling child. Oberon Oberon King of the fairies. been bewitched by Lysander. sends mischievous Puck to find Theseus commands Hermia to the juice of a flower which, when Titania Queen of the fairies. marry Demetrius. Hermia and placed in the eyes of a sleeper, Lysander decide to elope and agree makes them fall in love with the Robin Goodfellow A puck to meet the next night in the forest. first person they see on waking. or mischievous sprite, also Hermia confides in Helena. Helena Oberon drops the juice on Titania’s known just as Puck. is in love with Demetrius. To win eyes. Demetrius and Helena pursue Demetrius’s love, Helena tells him Hermia and Lysander into the Peaseblossom, Cobweb, of the elopement. A band of forest. Oberon orders Puck to drop Mustardseed, and Mote the juice in Demetrius’s eyes so Fairies who tend to Titania. Peter Quince A carpenter who plays the Prologue. Nick Bottom A weaver who plays Pyramus, whose head is transformed to that of an ass. Francis Flute A bellows- mender who plays Thisbe. Tom Snout A tinker who plays the Wall and worries that the lion will be too scary. Snug A joiner, who plays Lion and is a slow learner. Robin Starveling A tailor who plays the Moon.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 113 The lovers fall asleep Oberon removes When the lovers awake in Puck and the after a wild chase the love potion their rightful pairings, fairies bless through the forest. from Titania’s the palace. Theseus ordains a joint eyes and wedding in Athens. Puck restores Bottom’s rightful head. 3.3 3.3 4.1 4.1 5.2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5 3.2 4.1 5.1 Oberon applies the Puck applies an While hunting in the forest, At the wedding in love potion to Demetrius’s antidote to the Theseus and Hippolyta come Athens, the artisans, eyes. Demetrius falls in love potion to to much amusement, Lysander’s eyes to across the sleeping lovers. love with Helena. resolve the confusion. perform the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. that he falls in love Helena—but The boys and girls fight and run him and Hippolyta in a three-way Puck mistakenly gives the juice through the forest before falling wedding. The artisans finish their to Lysander, who wakes and sees asleep. As they sleep, Puck removes rehearsal and all return to Athens. Helena and falls in love with her. the spell from Lysander’s eyes. After the wedding, the artisans As the artisans rehearse, Puck Oberon removes the spell from perform their play Pyramus and changes the head of Bottom the Titania’s eyes, and she is appalled Thisbe, about two parted lovers. weaver for that of a donkey. when she wakes with Bottom in her In the play, Thisbe sees a lion Bottom’s companions flee, but arms. Oberon commands Puck to and flees, dropping her mantle. Titania, sleeping nearby, awakes switch Bottom’s head back, and Pyramus finds the mantle and and falls in love with him. As the Oberon and Titania are reconciled. stabs himself. Thisbe discovers lovers appear, it is clear something Pyramus’s body, so kills herself, too. is awry, and Oberon tries to make Theseus and Hippolyta, out The Court can barely contain its amends by applying the love juice hunting with Egeus, come upon laughter, and as the play ends, to Demetrius’s eyes. But when the sleeping lovers. As the lovers Theseus calls an end to the revels. Demetrius falls in love with Helena, awake, Hermia pairs with Lysander Puck leads a fairy procession too, she thinks it is all a cruel joke. and Demetrius pairs with Helena. through the palace. ❯❯ Theseus ordains that they shall join

114 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM IN CONTEXT A Midsummer Night’s nor yet the shadow of the things.” Dream is unique in Shakespeare simply uses the magic THEMES Shakespeare’s varied of this night to delve into the Love, identity, sense, canon. Full of romance and poetry, interplay between imagination and and madness humor and beauty, it is a flight of reality, madness and reason, love fantasy, a journey into a world and common sense, and tell a story SETTING of magic that explores love in all that is both an enchanting delight Mythical Athens, and a its tenderness, excitement, and and a voyage into the dark places of forest outside Athens danger. Its story has resonated the mind. Spenser’s Faerie Queen, across cultures, and the play is although set in fairyland, was about SOURCES widely performed across the world. the real queen, Elizabeth I, and it is 8 CE The poem Metamorphoses hard not to see Elizabeth, too, in the by the Roman poet Ovid, plus The play is set not just on any strong queens of the Dream, Titania various Greek myths. night, but Midsummer Night. The and Hippolyta. summer solstice had a mystical LEGACY significance dating back to ancient Wedding and marriage 1604 The first recorded times. Shakespeare’s England had It is not known for certain when productions are at the court pagan roots that ran far deeper A Midsummer Night’s Dream was of King James I. than its Christian tradition, and this written, but some suggest that it was the night when magic was felt was a play to celebrate a wedding, 1662 A gutted adaptation is to be in the air, and fairies and performed; and English diarist sprites were abroad. It is not that Tim Supple’s production for the RSC Samuel Pepys describes it as everyone believed in fairies, though. in 2006 set the action in India. The “the most insipid, ridiculous Edmund Spenser, who wrote his lines were spoken in a mix of English play that I ever saw.” poem The Faerie Queene around and six Indian languages. Here, Bottom this time, declared, “the truth is bemoans his ass’s head. 1692 English actor Thomas that there be no such things, Betterton commissions Henry Purcell to write music for a version called The Fairy Queen. 1905 Austrian director Max Reinhardt stages the play in Berlin using a revolving set. 1914 British actor/director Harley Granville-Barker stages a controversial futuristic version. 1960 The play is adapted into an opera by British composer Benjamin Britten. 1970 Peter Brook’s famous minimalist production for the RSC has a white box for a set. 2006 With a production originating in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, British theater director Tim Supple turns the play into an Indian folktale.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 115 O long and tedious night, In many ways, it is an interior An English idyll Abate thy hours. journey—a journey of self- Helena knowledge—but the journey is as The forest in A Midsummer much about society rediscovering Night’s Dream is said to be Act 3, Scene 2 what matters as it is a personal outside Athens, but it is really journey. Clearly, there is much to an English wood, like the possibly the wedding of the learn in Athens about marriage. forest of Arden Shakespeare young Elizabeth de Vere to the At the opening of the play, Theseus knew so well. The play can be Earl of Derby in 1595. Others explains how he won Hippolyta, seen to be a hymn to England, dispute this idea, but the play the queen of the Amazons (a tribe full of magic, yet down-to- does indeed seem to take the of female warriors), by force: earth and real—a reminder, pattern of an elaborate masque. “Hippolyta, I have wooed thee with perhaps, to distant rulers It begins with the announcement my sword, / And won thy love by of what really matters. of a wedding—so often the doing thee injuries” (1.1.16–17). endpoint of a drama—and finishes The wild flowers Oberon, on the night of a triple wedding. Old Egeus calls for the death the king of the fairies, tells penalty if his daughter Hermia of are those of an English The weddings—in Athens, the refuses to marry Demetrius. Even wood, brought to life with a world of reality—are brief scenes Theseus’s “reprieve” only offers tenderness and knowledge that frame the wild and spectacular Hermia the choice of life in a of a writer who had walked journey into the fairy forest. There nunnery instead. It is clear that those woods since childhood. is a symmetry and movement Theseus and Egeus may have the Shakespeare gives Oberon between the world of lovers, fairies, law on their side, but their world these words: and “mechanicals” that is like a of “reason” and “sense” has little “I know a bank where marvelous dance, coming together understanding of human love and the wild thyme blows, in the magical torch-lit procession feelings. Indeed, Theseus’s vision Where oxlips and the that ends the play. The play can be is entirely out of sympathy with nodding violet grows, seen both as an exquisite wedding imagination and poetry, as well as Quite over-canopied with gift and an instruction on the true love, which he equates with a kind luscious woodbine, nature of love that the watching of madness: “The lunatic, the lover, With sweet musk-roses, and couple must learn before embarking and the poet / Are of imagination with eglantine” (2.1.250–253). on married life. all compact” (5.1.7–8). Love, for Theseus, is a frantic delusion. The fogs and sodden City and forest Poetry is a frenzied rolling of fields and the tired ploughman A Midsummer Night’s Dream has the eye. ❯❯ that the queen of the fairies, a triple structure. It begins in the Titania, describe are scenes city, journeys into the forest, and The lunatic, the lover, from England, not from then returns to the city again. The and the poet Athens, and the artisans city is the world of order, reason, who put on the play are and discipline, but order in this city Are of imagination as solidly English as one has broken down. The characters all compact. can imagine. must voyage into the wild in order Theseus to learn lessons for their real work. Act 5, Scene 1

116 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Capulets needed to embark upon if Romeo and Juliet were to have a happy outcome. These are the forgeries A forest of the mind And though she be but little, of jealousy The forest that the four lovers she is fierce. Titania enter, along with the artisans, is Helena a place of the imagination, a place Act 2, Scene 1 of fantasy and dreams, where the Act 3, Scene 2 normal order of things is turned Parallels with Verona upside down. Nowadays, wear masks and costumes, change In some ways, the Athens of psychologists might talk of the roles, behave out of character, suffer Theseus is as unhealthy as the realm of the unconscious, and delusions, swap status or lovers— feuding Verona that brings such critics explore the psychological and even, as in the case of Bottom tragedy to Romeo and Juliet symbolism of the play and its the weaver, acquire the head of (which was written around expression of sexual desires and an ass. Here the world of reason the same time). Like Romeo gender issues. In Shakespeare’s and “common sense”—what is and Juliet, Hermia and Lysander time it is simply the world of normally sensed—vanishes and are star-crossed lovers, doomed dreams and fairies. Indeed, the nothing is certain. Identities to separation by foolish and whole play is presented as a continually shift and transform. tyrannical parents. When dream that we have strayed into. Lysander laments that “The course As Puck says at the end: “If we Troubled identity of true love never did run smooth” shadows have offended, / Think The loss of identity is disturbing, (1.1.134), it is almost as if he is but this, and all is mended: / That and often terrifying. What is love, talking about Romeo and Juliet. you have but slumbered here, / when it can shift so easily? Isn’t The journey into the forest in While these visions did appear; / love attached to a person’s identity? A Midsummer Night’s Dream is And this weak and idle theme, / Hermia, the most constant of the the journey the Montagues and No more yielding but a dream” lovers, begins to question who she (Epilogue.1–6). The forest of dreams is a place where normality is subverted. But it is more of a nightmare than a dream. Characters play parts, Adaptations The play’s unusual structure In the 20th century, adaptors means it has not always been have been more interested in treated gently by adaptors. In the the psychological and sexual 17th century in particular, many symbolism. Peter Brook’s 1970 productions took liberties, for version was performed in a plain example by staging the comic white box, and focused on the elements alone. The pageant-like adult themes over spectacle. nature of the play has inspired Benjamin Britten’s 1960 opera many to add music. One of the had a fairy chorus of boy trebles best was the Fairy Queen by as a chaste counterpoint to the English composer Henry Purcell libidinous adults. Film versions (1692), which inserted exquisite have included Max Reinhardt’s musical masques between each epic and visually sumptuous scene. In 1842, Felix Mendelssohn rendering of 1935 and, more wrote beautiful incidental music recently, Michael Hoffman’s to a production that includes the 1999 soap opera-like version famous Wedding March. set in Tuscany (pictured).

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 117 A Midsummer Night’s Dream relationships Egeus Asks for help Theseus Engaged to Hippolyta King of Athens Former Queen of the Amazons Hermia Truly loves Puck Lieutenant to His daughter Mischievous fairy Lysander Oberon King of Fairyland Helena Loves because Demetrius Her friend of potion Courting Hermia Married to Truly loves Transforms Titania Loves because of potion into an ass Queen of Fairyland Given love potion by Puck Nick Bottom Loves because Given love potion by Oberon Weaver of potion really is, as Lysander, who once tender in the play. Indeed, it The fairies reinhabit the house as professed to love her, suddenly is Bottom who has the sanest protective dreams: “But all the story seems to hate her: “Am I not insight into love, telling Titania: of the night told over, / And all their Hermia? Are you not Lysander?” “Methinks, mistress, you should minds transfigured so together, / (3.2.274). Yet Helena lamented at have little reason / for that [loving More witnesseth than fancy’s the beginning of the play that she me]. And yet, to say the truth, reason images, / And grows to something would have been happy if she could and love / keep little company of great constancy; / But, howsoever, only be Hermia and so be loved by together nowadays” (3.1.135–137). strange and admirable.” (5.1.23–27). ■ Demetrius—that she would give the world to be Hermia “translated.” Happy resolution Now the hungry lion roars, The artisans show the truest And the wolf behowls In the forest, they are all understanding of love, and pass the moon, “translated” under the influence through the madness of the forest Whilst the heavy of mischievous, shape-shifting with their identities intact. Even ploughman snores, Puck, and the effect is decidedly when they are playing characters nightmarish. The magic love in their play, they stay steadfastly All with weary task fordone. juices turn them this way and themselves. Snout doesn’t become Puck that, love to hate, hate to love, in the Wall, he simply, as Snout, an extreme fashion. Bottom is the “presents” it. Act 5, Scene 2 most dramatically translated of all, yet he is the one who stays most It is only fitting that these constant. He may gain the head simple men bring the drama down of an ass, but he is unfailingly to earth and good humor again courteous to Titania and to all the at the end, leaving the realm of fairies who tend to him, and the dreams to the fairies, with proper relationship between him and separation restored. At the end, Titania, though in some ways an everyone retires to bed, thankful to illusion, is the gentlest and most put this wild night behind them.

THERE IS NO SURE FOUNDATION SET ON BLOOD THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN (1596)



120 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN DRAMATIS King Philip of France Cardinal Pandolf The English side is PERSONAE challenges King John to excommunicates victorious. John orders renounce his throne in King John for his Hubert to murder Arthur. King John King of defiance of the Pope. England. He is vain, favor of Arthur, but John King Philip breaks cruel, and indecisive. defies him. their alliance. Queen Eleanor King John’s mother. 1.1 3.1 3.3 Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Philip the Bastard Illegitimate son of 2.1 3.2 John’s eldest brother, Richard I. He is later renamed The French and In the battle with the French, Sir Richard Plantagenet English fight an Philip the Bastard beheads inconclusive battle King Philip of France before the gates of the Duke of Austria and He backs Arthur’s claim Angers. Peace is rescues Queen Eleanor after to the English throne. she is captured by the French. made by the Louis the Dauphin King marriage of Blanche, Philip’s son. John’s niece, to King Philip’s son, Louis. Lady Blanche of Spain Niece of King John. E ngland and France prepare to them. A battle is waged, with for war. Robert Falconbridge both sides claiming victory. Peace Cardinal Pandolf quarrels with his brother, is made by the marriage of the Papal legate. Philip. They both claim to be dauphin to John’s niece, Blanche, the heir to their father’s estate. with all of England’s French Duke of Austria Previously Robert insists that his brother territories, except Angers, as her killed Richard I, now defender is the illegitimate son of Richard I, dowry. The arrival of Cardinal of Arthur. “the Lionheart.” Queen Eleanor Pandolf, the Pope’s legate, causes recognizes her son’s features in renewed conflict. When King John Arthur Son of John’s elder Philip and renames him Sir Richard defies the Pope’s authority, Pandolf brother, Geoffrey, later he Plantagenet, although he continues excommunicates him. King Philip becomes Duke of Brittaine. to be known as the Bastard. breaks his allegiance with England. Lady Constance Arthur’s Outside the city of Angers (in The Bastard decapitates the mother. France, but owned by the English), Duke of Austria (who had killed the French and English kings his father, Richard I), and rescues Prince Henry John’s son, demand that the gates be opened Queen Eleanor. Arthur is taken later King Henry III. Hubert A loyal follower of King John. Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Salisbury Nobles who rebel against John. Lady Falconbridge Philip the Bastard’s mother. Robert Falconbridge Lady Falconbridge’s legitimate son.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 121 Hubert prepares to burn out Arthur tries to King John’s King John dies, Arthur’s eyes with hot irons, escape, but falls to disaffected nobles apparently poisoned by but Arthur’s pleas move him to his death from the swear loyalty to the a monk. The nobles are be merciful and spare the boy. Dauphin and prepare to castle walls. reconciled to the new fight on his side. king, Henry III. 4.1 4.3 5.2 5.7 Act 4 Act 5 3.4 4.2 5.1 5.4 Lady Constance mourns King John learns that King John submits to In the battle, the loss of Arthur. French troops are the authority of the Pope. Salisbury and Pembroke discover Cardinal Pandolf advises preparing to that the French are Louis to claim the English invade, and both planning to put them throne after Arthur’s murder. Queen Eleanor and to death afterward, Lady Constance are and return to King dead. Hubert reveals John’s side. that Arthur is still alive. prisoner by King John and placed the king that French troops are John resigns his crown into in the custody of Hubert, who about to land on English soil. The Pandolf’s hands, only to have it is ordered to murder him. The Bastard brings in Peter of Pomfret returned. The Bastard condemns Cardinal is cheered by the fact that who prophesies that John will give this and insists that the king King John will have to kill Arthur, up the crown by noon on Ascension should continue to defy the which will turn the English against Day. John throws him in prison. dauphin. The latter is eager to him. He recruits Louis the Dauphin John is relieved when Hubert fight, and refuses to be deflected to march on England. confesses that the prince is still by the Cardinal. The French are alive. But Arthur falls to his death. weakened by a loss of supplies and Hubert cannot bring himself to His body is found by Pembroke, the defection of English nobles. kill Arthur and instead promises Salisbury, and Bigot, who don’t As fortune turns in the favor of the to tell King John that he is dead. believe the death was accidental. English, King John is ill. He dies in John has had himself crowned for the presence of his son, now King a second time. When the king John submits to the authority Henry III. English nobles offer their announces that Arthur is dead of a of the Pope, on condition that allegiance to the new king, and the sudden sickness, the nobles angrily Cardinal Pandolf disarm the Cardinal negotiates a truce. ❯❯ renounce him. A messenger tells French. It is Ascension Day when

122 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN IN CONTEXT W hen King John asserts is the joke that is being played that there is “No certain against the king when he makes THEMES life achieved by others’ this assertion, for, as the audience Inheritance, identity, death” (4.2.105), he alludes to his already knows, Arthur isn’t really kingship, loyalty decision to kill Arthur—the young dead. The audience is allowed to rival to his throne. Rather than think that John has won a lucky SETTING confirming John’s authority, the reprieve. But at the very moment The English court, Angers murder has undermined it, for when Hubert is hurrying after the in France England’s nobles will no longer earls to tell them that Arthur is follow “the foot / That leaves the not dead, they discover his body SOURCES print of blood where’er it walks” at the foot of the prison walls. 1587 Holinshed’s Chronicles of (4.3.25–26). This episode illustrates one of England, Scotland, and Ireland. the distinct features of King John; Blood follows blood why it appears to stand alone c.1589 Anonymously authored The doctrine that blood follows tonally as well as structurally. play The Troublesome Reign of blood, and that murdering other King John may have been an royal claimants does not secure The play undermines the influence on Shakespeare. one’s grip upon the throne, ambitions and actions of the great, resonates throughout Shakespeare’s wrong-footing them at every turn. LEGACY English history plays. For example, For example, the motives of the 1737 First known performance in Richard II, the murder of King King of France may be morally at Theatre Royal, London. Richard continues to generate new suspect when he makes peace enemies for the usurper Henry IV. with England, as the Bastard 1899 King John’s death What is unusual about King John points out, but an Anglo-French scene from Herbert Beerbohm marriage at least prevents further Tree’s production of King John The play includes John’s disputes with bloodshed. However, Philip’s represents the first example his nobles, but omits the resolution— vows of allegiance have barely of Shakespeare on film. forcing him to sign the Magna Carta in been made before he is forced by 1215. John died a year later at Newark Cardinal Pandolf to declare war 1936 A Hindi film adaptation, Castle, Nottinghamshire, shown here. once again. It seems impossible for Saed-e-Havas (King John) is the major characters to maintain a made in India, directed by Sohrab Modi. 1953 At the Old Vic in London, Richard Burton plays a swashbuckling Bastard. 1980 The Weimar National Theatre in Germany stages an acclaimed production with a tough, uncompromising image of warfare. 2012 King John is staged in Armenian in London by the Gabriel Sundukyan National Academic Theatre. The production highlights the boisterous humor of the play, portraying King John as a clown-like figure.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 123 consistent policy on anything, and, I am amazed, methinks, Philip The Bastard as a result, the play struggles to and lose my way achieve any kind of tragic effect Philip Falconbridge has more (it may be worth noting that the Among the thorns and lines than any other character term “Tragedy” is absent from the dangers of this world. in King John, and is often title). Tragedy depends on a kind Philip the Bastard described as the play’s hero. of heroic consistency and self- Bastards in Shakespeare assertion in the face of cosmic Act 4, Scene 3 are usually villains (Don John, opposition or unlucky chance—and Iago, Edmund). The status of this is not the story of King John. in order to be recognized as “bastard” was equated with Richard’s son. He chooses the a moral deficit, his inability Disputed succession latter, but the arbitrariness of his to inherit wealth leaving John’s assertion that “There is choice reinforces the point that him with a ruthless streak. no sure foundation set on blood” “all men’s children” (1.1.63) must However, the Bastard of King (4.2.104) also relates to ideas of doubt their paternity. In the verbal John is a comic figure: “Why, identity and inheritance. The play’s battle between Eleanor and what a madcap hath heaven opening dispute is about who Constance (2.1), both Arthur lent us here!” (1.1.84). He acts stands next in line to the throne and Richard the Lionheart stand as both a satirical chorus, after the deaths of Richard and accused of being bastards. exposing the protagonists’ Geoffrey, Queen Eleanor’s elder true motives, and a heroic sons. There is disagreement about It seems then that neither ruthless figure. In Maria Aberg’s 2012 whether a son (Arthur) or a brother political action nor an unquestioned production for the RSC, Philip’s (John) should inherit, with even blood right to the throne are enough gender was changed, and he Eleanor implying that Arthur to render kingship secure. The was played with a mixture of might have the superior claim. play advises the necessity of tenderness and scorn by Pippa maintaining loyalty, particularly Nixon (above, left). The situation is made more among one’s nobles. The new complicated by the larger difficulty King Henry III is brought to tears Philip is aware of the irony of determining paternity. This by the sight of Salisbury, Pembroke, of a bastard defending the anxiety is focused on Philip the and Bigot kneeling before him. moral order, and at the end of Bastard, who is proven to be A cynical response to this the play Salisbury advises the the illegitimate son of Richard the display—given their betrayal of new King Henry that it is his Lionheart by physical resemblance. King John and then the dauphin— duty “to set a form upon that Philip is left in the position of seems to be deliberately averted by indigest” (5.7.26). That Philip choosing his identity—whether the Bastard’s final words, which speaks the play’s final lines to inherit Sir Robert’s estate, or emphasize the need for unity: may testify to his charisma suffer the stigma of illegitimacy “Naught shall make us rue / If and rapport with the audience, England to itself do rest but true” or to the difficulty that Mad world, mad kings, (5.7.117–118). It is one of the play’s subsequent kings will find mad composition! deepest ironies that the man who in imposing this ideal “form.” carries the blood of Richard the Philip the Bastard Lionheart in his veins is denied the chance to rule the nation he loves Act 2, Scene 1 more than its legitimate kings do. ■

IF YOU PRICK US DO WE NOT BLEED? THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (1596)



126 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE DRAMATIS In Venice, Antonio, The Jew Shylock lends Shylock’s daughter PERSONAE a merchant whose Bassanio money he Jessica runs off ships are all at sea, needs to woo Portia but with a Christian, Antonio A merchant of agrees to help his demands a pound of Lorenzo, and with Venice, he guarantees a loan friend Bassanio. Shylock’s money. to his friend Bassanio “with Antonio’s flesh as security. a pound of my flesh.” 1.1 1.3 2.6 Bassanio Antonio’s friend, Act 1 Act 2 and suitor to Portia. 1.2 2.2 Leonardo A servant to Bassanio. In Belmont, Portia, a rich The clown heiress, is depressed by her Lancelot Gobbo Graziano, Salerio, suitors, who, by her father’s decides to leave Solanio Friends of will, must choose one of three Shylock’s service Antonio and Bassanio. and joins Bassanio. caskets to win her hand. Lorenzo Friend of Antonio and Bassanio, I n Venice, the merchant In Belmont, the Prince of Morocco in love with Jessica. Antonio is sad, but agrees to arrives to try his luck with Portia. help his friend Bassanio raise In Venice, Shylock’s servant Lancelot Shylock A rich Jewish the money he needs to woo the decides to leave his master and moneylender, father of Jessica. beautiful heiress Portia. In Belmont, serve Bassanio. Shylock’s daughter meanwhile, Portia is sad too. By her Jessica is sad that Lancelot is Jessica Daughter of Shylock, father’s will, she must marry the leaving and decides to run away. in love with Lorenzo. man who chooses the correct one She gives Lancelot a message of three caskets—gold, silver, and for Lorenzo, who is staying with Tubal A Jew, Shylock’s friend. lead. When Shylock hesitates to Bassanio. Shylock is invited to lend Bassanio money, Bassanio dinner with Bassanio, and while Lancelot A clown and servant promises Antonio as guarantor. he’s out, Jessica steals his money to Shylock. Shylock sees a chance of revenge and escapes to Belmont disguised on Antonio, who has previously as a boy. In Belmont, the Princes of Gobbo Father of Lancelot. mocked him. He stipulates that the Morocco and Aragon fail the casket bond be a pound of Antonio’s flesh. test, choosing gold and silver. Portia A rich heiress. She disguises herself as a doctor of law, “Balthasar,” to save Antonio’s life. Nerissa Portia’s maid, in love with Graziano. Balthasar, Stefano Portia’s servants. Later, the names of Portia and Nerissa in disguise. Prince of Morocco Suitor to Portia. Prince of Aragon Suitor to Portia. Duke of Venice He must uphold Venetian law.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 127 Shylock is incensed by his As Bassanio speeds Balthasar demands Shylock Back in Belmont, runaway daughter, but takes to Venice to help be punished for trying to Portia reveals her role as Balthasar and solace in the chance of Antonio, Portia and take a Christian’s blood, and all ends happily for revenge on Antonio, whose Nerissa resolve to Shylock is forced to give Portia and Bassanio, Nerissa and Graziano, ships are sunk. follow disguised up all his property. as lawyers. and Jessica and Lorenzo. 3.1 3.4 4.1 5.1 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5 2.7/9 3.2 4.1 4.1 In Belmont, the Bassanio chooses the Portia as Balthasar argues Bassanio is prevailed princes of Morocco lead casket and wins that Shylock may take upon to give and Aragon choose the hand of Portia, Antonio’s flesh, but only the wrong caskets if he spills no blood. Balthasar Portia’s who gives him a ring in payment and fail to win ring; Graziano woos for his help. Portia’s hand. her maid Nerissa. In Belmont, Portia asks Bassanio to In a Venice courtroom, Shylock wealth. The Duke pardons him, delay choosing caskets to prolong demands his pound of flesh. providing he pay half his wealth to their time together. But to his and Balthasar (Portia in disguise) Antonio. Antonio simply asks that Portia’s joy, he chooses the lead arrives to adjudicate. Balthasar Shylock give the money to Jessica casket containing a portrait of says Shylock should be merciful, and Lorenzo on his death. Balthasar Portia. Bassanio’s friend Graziano but the law is in his favor. Shylock asks in payment from Bassanio only and Portia’s maid Nerissa decide delightedly prepares to take his the ring Portia gave him. to marry. This happiness is marred pound of flesh. Then Balthasar by news that Shylock is claiming informs him that in doing so he Lorenzo and Jessica bask in their his flesh from Antonio. Portia may not spill Antonio’s blood. love as Portia and Nerissa return. offers to repay the debt “twenty Stunned, Shylock accepts The girls berate Bassanio and times over,” and Bassanio sets Bassanio’s money. But Balthasar is Graziano for giving their rings to off for Venice. Portia follows relentless. As an alien threatening other women. Antonio defends them, Bassanio disguised as a male a Venetian, she tells Shylock, he and Portia and Nerissa admit the lawyer, accompanied by Nerissa faces the death penalty, which can truth. Portia tells Antonio his boats disguised as “his” clerk. only be averted by giving up all his are safe, and Nerissa gives Lorenzo and Jessica Shylock’s new will. ❯❯

128 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE IN CONTEXT F ew of Shakespeare’s plays Shylock, whose Jewishness have caused quite as much is so crucial to his portrayal, and for THEMES disquiet as The Merchant of whom the play does not end well, Prejudice, revenge, justice, Venice. The story is a blend of two continues to arouse deep anxiety money, love old folk tales—that of the mean among audiences and performers. moneylender who demands an SETTING extreme payment, a pound of flesh, The stereotypical Jew Venice and the fictional from his creditor, and that of the The anxiety hinges on whether the town of Belmont, in Italy young princess who finds her play is anti-Semitic. A rapacious, true love through the test of three skinflint moneylender, Shylock SOURCES caskets. The Merchant of Venice certainly conforms to a negative The main elements of the plot, has a happy ending for most, with the flesh-bond and the story the young lovers united, and in In the 16th-century, Venetian Jews of the caskets, are taken from Portia, Shakespeare creates an were confined to a ghetto, and Shylock folk tales. The character Shylock appealing heroine, humble and would have been forced to live here. In is inspired by the following: loving yet brilliant and incisive in this early 17th-century map of Venice, the court scene. But the moneylender the ghetto is marked with a star. 14th century Italian Giovanni Fiorentino’s collection of tales Il Pecorone (“The Dunce”). 1589 Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta. LEGACY 1605 The play is performed for James I on Shrove Tuesday. 1959 Tyrone Guthrie directs a production in Israel, with Aharon Meskin as Shylock. The action is moved to the present day, portraying Shylock as a capitalist financier. 1970 At the National Theatre, London, Laurence Olivier portrays Shylock as a Jew trying too hard to assimilate, as the action is moved to Venice in the 1880s. 1992 In his book Shylock, critic John Gross feels there is “a permanent chill in the air” in the play’s treatment of Jews. 2004 A film adaptation directed by Michael Radford casts Al Pacino as Shylock, Jeremy Irons as Antonio, and Lynn Collions as Portia.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 129 stereotype of a Jewish character on Shakespeare, or those who Dustin Hoffman took on the role of that was already well used by the misuse the play. Many critics Shylock in a 1989 production directed time Shakespeare wrote his play defend Shakespeare against by Peter Hall. Hoffman portrayed the around 1597. Indeed, Christopher the charge of anti-Semitism by moneylender as a good man driven Marlowe had a huge hit with such underlining the play’s nuances. beyond endurance by mistreatment. negative stereotypes around 1590 Others have suggested that we with The Jew of Malta. There are should bear in mind the context anger of the whole Hebrew clear parallels between Shylock of Shakespeare’s age, when few race. But perhaps it is not and Marlowe’s Jew, Barabas, people had the political and racial quite so simple as that. When who, like Shylock, is a widowed awareness we do now. Shakespeare Shylock says, “If you prick us, father with a single beautiful was writing, as when he wrote of do we not bleed?” he is not daughter who rejects her father’s Othello, about storybook figures in just saying that Jews have the “misplaced” Judaism and converts tales from abroad. The problem, same blood, but also referring to Christianity. It is likely that perhaps, is more for us today—how to the common test for a neither playwright was writing do we deal with characters such as witch, which was to prick the from direct experience, however, Shylock with our awareness of the thumbs to see if they bleed. ❯❯ since Jews had been banned from dangers such stereotypes pose? England long before. As a result, But love is blind, and lovers both Barabas and Shylock are The victim of prejudice cannot see perhaps best seen as stock villains. Since the Holocaust, most stagings of the play have been The pretty follies that There is no doubt that The acutely aware of the dangers of themselves commit Merchant of Venice has done a portraying Shylock simply as a great deal to reinforce negative villain and have instead looked Jessica stereotypes of Jews over the at the character more as a tragic centuries. Originally, perhaps, victim of racial and religious Act 2, Scene 6 this was in a mostly comic prejudice. Shylock is seen as an vein, with Shylock played as outsider who is abused by the a pantomime villain. But more Christians of Venice, robbed and disturbingly, The Merchant of abandoned by his daughter, and Venice was staged deliberately in finally humiliated by the loss of his Nazi Germany in the late 1930s to fortune and good name and forced help justify the attacks on Jews. to convert to Christianity. Such is Critics, however, have been divided Shakespeare’s skill as a playwright over whether this can be blamed that this tragedy can be found in the play. In a famously telling In sooth, I know not why speech, Shylock rails against the I am so sad. abuse he has suffered: “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a It wearies me, you say it Jew hands, organs, dimensions, wearies you senses, affections, passions; fed Antonio with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same Act 1, Scene 1 diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?” (3.1.54–59). This speech is often quoted out of context as a heartfelt cry against racial prejudice—or the bitter cry of

130 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Tell me where is fancy bred, merchant in the play’s title. But of This night, methinks is but Or in the heart, or in the head? course Shylock is a moneylender, the daylight sick. not a merchant. The merchant of Portia Singer the title is Antonio. He plays a comparatively peripheral role in Act 5, Scene 1 Act 3, Scene 2 a play that is mainly a comedy about the nature of love. both plays, too, a misanthrope— Is this speech a plea for human Malvolio in Twelfth Night and rights or a justification for revenge— In the very first line of the play, Shylock in The Merchant of another stereotype of Jewish Antonio laments: “In sooth, I know Venice—is left out of the general villainy? Either way, Shakespeare’s not why I am so sad.” His friends happiness at the play’s end. audiences may have been surprised try to find an explanation for his by how much they were moved by sadness, but there is none. In a So what is the reason for this the words he placed in the mouth telling parallel, Portia opens the gloom? It may be no accident that of the play’s stock villain. very next scene saying: “By my Shakespeare’s play is set in Venice, troth, Nerissa, my little body is the commercial capital of Europe The melancholic merchant aweary of this great world.” at the time, and the play focuses Shylock often draws so much on a merchant. It is perhaps the attention from critics that he is There is something that has restless quest for money and the sometimes assumed to be the cast a gloom over the world, and commodification of relationships the comic journey of the play that has robbed the world of joy. is to lift this gloom through the When his daughter Jessica leaves, redeeming power of love, just as it what is uppermost in Shylock’s is in Twelfth Night, in which it is mind is the financial cost, and Viola’s task to lift the gloom into the plot of the play hinges on which Orsino and Olivia have sunk. Bassanio’s need to borrow In both plays, the heroines, Portia money to even woo Portia. and Viola, must dress as men to win out, released by their disguise to reveal their true brilliance. In The value of life In the test of the three caskets, Portia will not find true love in the precious gold or silver caskets, but only the poor lead casket. When Bassanio makes the right choice of the lead casket, Portia explains that she has herself has little monetary value: “the full sum of me / Is sum of Darko Tresnjak’s 2007 production had a futuristic setting. At the end, it hints that the marriages will not turn out well, so it is not only Shylock (F. Murray Abraham) who will suffer.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 131 something which, to term in gross, / The friends in Venice Is an unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpractiséd, / Happy in this, she is Friends Friends not yet so old” (3.2.157–160). Graziano Lorenzo For Shylock, this would make her utterly worthless. For him, Love each other Antonio Love each other without money, there is no life. “Nay, take my life and all,” he Nerissa Jessica wails when the Duke threatens to Daughter to take all his wealth in punishment Friends Guarantees for his crime, “you take my life / Bassanio’s When you do take the means whereby I live” (4.1.373–374). debt But the Christians in Venice Lady-in- Bassanio Shylock are perhaps only slightly less waiting obsessed with the making and spending of money. To achieve and a happy ending, all the couples confidante must leave the commercial world of Venice behind entirely and Portia Owes money to escape to the paradise of Portia’s Defeats in court home in Belmont. Only there can Christian Jewish Lorenzo and Jessica see that the real riches are in the beauties of Back in Venice, Shylock is a lonely remains. Elizabethan audiences the night and music: “the floor and broken man, humiliated and may have seen this outcome of heaven / Is thick inlaid with vilified, with most of his money as just deserts for the Jew. patens of bright gold” (5.1.58–59). gone, his renegade daughter absent But Shakespeare manages to It is also in Belmont that Antonio and waiting upon his death, when portray Shylock’s fall as an all receives the happy news that his she will inherit what wealth of his too human event. ■ ships are safe, after Portia assures him with a letter that she has mysteriously acquired. But this happiness has come at a cost. Demonized Jewry Jews had been banished from 1594, accused of conspiring England since 1290, and they to poison the Queen. Some remained banished until scholars believe Lopez was the 1655, when the Jewish scholar inspiration for Shylock, but there Manasseh ben Israel gained was no shortage of negative role Oliver Cromwell’s assent for Jews models for Shakespeare to draw to return. There were a handful on, not least Marlowe’s Barabas. of Jews in London in Elizabethan With the Christian ban on usury, times, but none would have been Jews had long been forced able to profess their religion into the role of moneylenders. openly, on pain of death. London Prejudice was rife, partly Jews in the 1590s were mostly because Jews were blamed Marranos—descendants of forced by Christians for the betrayal Jewish converts from Portugal of Christ. Jews were demonized and Spain—including the queen’s in many ways—blamed for doctor Rodrigo Lopez, who was spreading the plague and hung, drawn, and quartered in associated with witches.

HONOUR IS A MERE SCUTCHEON HENRY IV PART 1 (1596–1597)



134 HENRY IV PART 1 DRAMATIS Henry learns that Hal speaks in soliloquy At Gad’s Hill, Hal and PERSONAE rebellion in the north of his rebellious Poins steal back the and west will postpone Henry IV King of England, reputation and long-term stolen money from also known as Bolingbroke. his crusade to the plan to reform himself. Falstaff and company. Holy Land. Harry, Prince of Wales Eldest son of the King, also 1.1 1.2 2.1 known as Hal. Act 1 Earl of Worcester Leader 1.2 1.3 of the rebel warlords. Ned Poins recruits The barons Percy, Earl of Falstaff to rob travelers and Worcester and Northumberland The Earl pilgrims at Gad’s Hill in Kent. Northumberland of Worcester’s elder brother and fellow rebel. recruit the enthusiastic Henry Percy Son of Hotspur to their Northumberland, also rebel cause. known as Hotspur. T he troubles that plague Henry to the throne, led by the Kate Lady Percy, Henry IV’s reign begin Earl of Northumberland, fear his Hotspur’s wife. with his overthrow and appropriation of their feudal rights. murder of Richard II in the earlier Henry has already demanded the Sir John Falstaff play of that name. Plagued by guilt, Scottish prisoners captured for A disreputable knight, which he longs to expiate with a ransom by Hotspur. Faced with and drinking companion crusade to the Holy Land, Henry Henry’s ultimatum, the fiery Hotspur of Prince Hal. is kept frustratingly at home by vents his fury. The barons harness the threat of rebellion in Wales the young man’s anger by recruiting Mistress Quickly Hostess and in the north. him to their cause. Stung by Henry’s of the Boar’s Head Tavern in ingratitude, they plan to join with Eastcheap, London. In Wales, the warlord Owain Mortimer and the Scots against him. Glyndwˆ r has thrown his forces Owain Glyndwˆ r A Welsh lord behind the claim of Glyndwˆ r’s Henry’s son, Prince Hal, adds to and Lady Mortimer’s father. son-in-law, Edmund Mortimer, to his father’s woes. He sidesteps all be Richard’s rightful heir. In the responsibility as Prince of Wales Lady Mortimer Glyndwˆ r’s north, those barons who helped and wastes his time in the seamy daughter and Mortimer’s wife. Lord Edmund Mortimer Earl of March, Hotspur’s brother-in-law. Sir Richard Vernon A rebel executed after the Battle of Shrewsbury. Sir Walter Blunt A noble loyal to the king, who dies fighting the Percys. Ned Poins A follower of Falstaff.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 135 In Wales, Hotspur, Hotspur learns that Henry talks with Henry sends his son John Mortimer, and neither Glyndwˆ r the rebels but offers north and Hal west as them no compromise. rebellion threatens Glyndwˆ r plan to divide nor his father once more. the realm in three once will send him Henry is defeated. necessary reinforcements. 3.1 4.1 5.1 5.5 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5 2.5 3.2 4.2 5.4 In the Boar’s Head Tavern, At court, Hal Falstaff helps At Shrewsbury, Hal and Falstaff assures his father the royal cause by Hal fights and kills that he’ll prove himself accepting bribes to rehearse Hal’s future Hotspur, although interview with his father. a worthy prince dismiss good Falstaff steals the glory. against Hotspur. soldiers from the army. underworld of Eastcheap. There he’ll banish Falstaff one fine day. sides fight at the Battle of his surrogate father, Sir John He seems to speak both as the Shrewsbury, where Hal fights Falstaff, holds sway over a tavern- king and as himself in this. Hotspur one-to-one. After killing his court of drunkards, thieves, and rival, the prince praises his nobility. prostitutes. Hal joins in the revelry, With the rebellion gathering Then, seeing the body of Falstaff, but only, he tells us, to shine the pace, Hal returns to court and plays he grieves the loss of his less noble brighter when, like the prodigal the out the tavern scene with his friend. True to form however, Falstaff son, he turns away from fleshly father. When he promises to defeat is feigning. Once Hal has left, the pursuits to take up his royal role. Hotspur and appropriate his honors, wily knight sees the chance for Henry is reassured, finally seeing profit and takes the body of Hotspur Hal’s eventual return to face something of his own ambition in his off as his own kill. Meeting Hal his father is rehearsed in the tavern son. Together they meet the rebels in as he goes, Falstaff persuades where, speaking as Hal, Falstaff a parley. Hal offers to fight Hotspur in the Prince to condone the lie. defends his own licentiousness single combat but the unbending Meanwhile, news of further rebellion as a celebration of life. But Hal, Henry refuses, dismissing the rebels’ leaves the resolution of Henry IV’s speaking as his father, calls such claim of broken promises and political difficulties to Part 2. ❯❯ vice life-threatening, and admits repeating his demands. The two

136 HENRY IV PART 1 T here is little honor in the So shaken as we are, so deposition of a king. The wan with care IN CONTEXT crown that Henry IV wears King Henry is one he took from the weak King THEMES Richard II, with the help of a group Act 1, Scene 1 Deception, usurpation, of independent warlords led by the honor, disorder Earl of Northumberland. Now he of a politician. Such shrewd tactics wants to unite England as a nation cut clean across the chivalric code SETTING marching “all one way” (1.1.15). of honor with its escutcheons Court of Henry IV, and the Unfortunately, this means replacing (shields bearing coats of arms) and Boar’s Head Tavern; rebel those same warlords’ feudal powers heraldic etiquette on which the camps in England and with a centralized form of rule, court of his predecessor, Richard II, Wales; Shrewsbury and they are not pleased. Their was built. threatened rebellion challenges SOURCES Henry in the north and the west. Among the rebels, Richard is 1587 Holinshed’s Chronicles of remembered as the perfect king. England, Scotland, and Ireland. Henry doubly needs the support They conveniently forget his self- of these barons—not only to defend interested neglect of England, and 1594 The Famous Victories the borders but, importantly, to now heap blame on his usurper for of Henry V, an anonymous maintain his right to rule. He destroying the ideal. This illusion play probably known to cannot claim to have inherited the of chivalry fires the imagination of Shakespeare. throne. His right depends on might, young Hotspur to pursue honor and therefore on their support. wherever it lies: “To pluck bright 1595 Samuel Daniel’s poem Henry’s dilemma as king is how honour from the pale-faced moon… “The First Four Books of the legitimately he can quell their And pluck up drownèd honour by Civil War Between the Two rebellion when his legitimacy the locks\" (1.3.200, 203). But the fact Houses of York and Lancaster.\" is derived from rebellion itself. that it is unreachable shows how vulnerable it is. LEGACY Politics and chivalry 1597–1613 The play is a big Shakespeare reinvents Henry here success—five quarto editions as a Renaissance prince rather than of the text are published. the medieval monarch that he was. His attempt to forge a nation-state 1600 References to parts 1 and under the crown, which was in fact 2 as “The Hotspur” and “Sir a later Tudor project, is the strategy John Falstaff” attest to the popularity of these characters. I’ll so offend to make Old men and the young offence a skill, The play presents the conflict 1642–60 Falstaff is kept on between this imagined past and stage during the Puritan Redeeming time when men Henry’s coldly realistic present period in a drollery entitled think least I will. through a series of real and “The Bouncing Knight.\" Prince Hal surrogate father-son relationships. Northumberland and Worcester, 1951 Richard Burton plays a Act 1, Scene 2 those powerful warlords who want heroic Hal in a Stratford-upon- to reinstate the past, are happy to Avon production. recruit their valiant young kinsman Hotspur to the cause. They see a 1966 Orson Welles directs and political naivety in his idealism that stars in Chimes at Midnight, they can use. But they keep him an artistic film adaptation. well away from policy decisions 1982 Trevor Nunn’s RSC set presents Henry’s England as a precarious wooden scaffolding.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 137 and, doubting the king’s word, whom Henry needs to conform, for Censorship deny him the details of Henry’s a noble heir would let him reinstate terms for peace. In the end, though, the line of legitimate inheritance Sir John Falstaff (above right, it is Northumberland who can’t be that he himself usurped, and played by Antony Sher in a trusted. He and Glyndwˆ r fail to send restore England’s true order. 2014 RSC production) is one Hotspur essential reinforcements of Shakespeare’s bawdiest before the battle at Shrewsbury. For the present, Hal chooses dramatic creations. His comic Typically, Hotspur puts a brave disorder. He spends his days far profanities were part of a long face on this, arguing that it adds a from the uneasy court, in the tradition of stage swearing. “larger dare to our great enterprise” stews of the Eastcheap taverns, However, by the late 16th (4.1.78). But single-minded valor is where excess, licentiousness, century, this was increasingly no substitute for political strategy. and dissipation are the norm. offending Puritan sensibilities. And the consequence is fatal. The whole is epitomized in the Shakespeare had already got expansive and unconstrained into trouble by originally Henry sees in Hotspur the man fleshiness of Falstaff, the emblem naming the character Sir John he’ll never be. He represents the of physical, moral, and spiritual Oldcastle, which was also the knightly virtue that Henry stepped disorder and of occasionally ❯❯ name of a Protestant martyr. away from when he seized the The outraged lord chamberlain crown. In this respect he is Henry’s An RSC production in 1951 saw (a descendant of Oldcastle’s) lost ideal, and the son that he would Richard Burton (center), play an aloof, forced Shakespeare to change wish for: “A son who is the theme of heroic Hal. Critics remarked upon the name and apologize. honour’s tongue” (1.1.80). His own Burton’s eyes, which seemed to hold son, Prince Hal, is a rebellious youth a vision of Hal’s own destiny. Players came under pressure to clean up their language, then the 1606 “Act to Restrain the Abuses of Players” formally banned all onstage ribaldry and cursing. From then on, the plays were purged of any off-color or irreligious language, a legacy that continued into the 20th century. The most drastic clean-up was, perhaps, the 1818 Family Shakespeare edited by the Reverend Thomas Bowdler, whose cuts were so severe that some plays, in particular Othello, were rendered nonsensical.

138 HENRY IV PART 1 letting go. If Hotspur is true honor, then Falstaff, as his name suggests, is its opposite. He sees honor as an empty word, a symbol that serves no material good. In this respect, Falstaff is a parody of Henry. Wit and low cunning are his tools, as political craft is the king’s. And both of them are thieves. Three worlds life, as we see in the second scene In a rowdy Boar’s Head Tavern, Shakespeare constructed his (1.2). Some directors have made Falstaff (Roger Allam) plays the lute own narrative using details this clear in the scene transition, as as Hal (Jamie Parker) dances in this from Holinshed’s account of the court figures leave by passing 2010 production at the Globe Theatre. Henry’s “unquiet reign” but much through the entering tavern folk, of the plot is his own invention. and Falstaff sits on what was himself when the moment’s right. The result is a tightly structured, Henry’s throne. Where the court He’ll shine the brighter because of three-part story focusing on the is factional and serious, in the what he seemed to be. Critics are relationships between a troubled tavern laws are joyously broken divided as to how we might respond monarch, his ambitious warlords, and honor mocked. And while to this, and much depends on and his wayward heir. This gives the infestations of Eastcheap individual performance. Should us three clearly defined worlds in parody the uneasiness of Henry’s princes know their subjects’ lives the court, the rebel camp, and the court, in Falstaff they indicate a in order to govern better? If so, then Boar’s Head Tavern. The first two greed for pleasure more than power. Hal’s calculation is wise. It shows present events in historical time him following a path between while the third, a wholly invented Hal’s destiny Hotspur’s unquestioning pursuit comic alternative to recorded Hal may prefer to spend his of honor and Falstaff’s selfish history, acts as a foil. It’s both a time in Eastcheap, but he’s not dismissal of it. The opposite view rebel space, and a topsy-turvy entirely unlike his royal father. is that Hal is as crafty as his father court, and offers a subversive His appearance as the wayward and knows precisely how to make commentary on the two. Falstaff’s prince is part of a long-term plan, a show. In a world where chivalry principles are the same as Henry’s as he tells us privately at the scene’s is dying and honor a “mere but applied to the realm of private close. He’s wasting time with the scutcheon” (5.1.140), Hal deploys common people in order to reform the tactics of a politician. But sirrah, there’s no room for faith, truth, nor honesty in this bosom of thine; it is all filled up with guts and midriff. Prince Hal Act 3, Scene 3

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 139 I can teach thee, coz, to shame use Hotspur and appropriate his father. But once he’s gone, the fat the devil—By telling the truth reputation for himself: “Percy is knight rises from the ground in but my factor, good my lord, / To high indignation at Hal’s farewell. Hotspur engross up glorious deeds on my This comic coda alters the tone of behalf” (3.2.147–148). Hal’s language the ending. We laugh, happy that Act 3, Scene 1 of commodity sounds more like Falstaff only pretends death. But a Renaissance merchant than a we are also invited to consider The Eastcheap world extends Hal’s medieval knight. The politician Falstaff’s feigning as a comment range of roles. Mimicking the tavern prince will fashion his heroic image on Henry’s tactical success. For the drawer (barman), he shows that out of Hotspur’s coat of arms. king used decoys in the battle, men he can “drink with any tinker in dressed as him and carrying his his own language” (2.5.18–19). The two meet at Shrewsbury escutcheon. It’s a ploy that only The multi-layered tavern scene in battle. On stage, it’s a chance to confirms the rebels’ view of him (2.5) draws the clearest parallels thrill the audience with swordplay. as a counterfeit king. between kingship and acting when The opponents are equally matched he and Falstaff rehearse Hal’s and by the end almost admire each When Falstaff then heaves interview with his father. Playing other’s fighting skills; this makes Hotspur’s body on his back and the king with a cushion for a crown, Hotspur’s death all the more goes off to spin tales of how he Hal responds to Falstaff’s appeal poignant, as Hal admits: “Fare killed the hero, we watch story- against banishment with simple thee well, great heart…When that telling take up what’s left of honesty: “I do; I will” (2.5.486). The this body did contain a spirit, / chivalry. And as Hal meets Falstaff moment is rich with possibilities, A kingdom for it was too small a taking off with the body, he agrees not least that Hal speaks for himself bound” (5.4.86, 88–89). to “gild” (5.4.155), the old man’s lie, here and the threat of banishment which makes for an ambiguous, is real. The knocking at the door Ambiguous ending downbeat ending. It’s a sign that that follows underlines the cold As Hal turns to leave, he sees Hal has yet to separate himself from reality of Hal’s words: that time Falstaff’s body nearby and bids his former life, and both his less- will intrude upon this comic world a brief farewell to his surrogate than-honorable father figures. ■ and judgment will catch up with them all. Prince Hal is caught Royal Court between, and is under This parallel between politics pressure from, the and performance is acknowledged “three worlds” of the by the king himself when he and play—the tavern and his son meet for real. He tells Hal his surrogate family, that, as Bolingbroke, he rationed his the royal court and appearances, and was so courteous duty to his father, in public that he soon had Richard’s and the rebel camp, audience in his hands. He fears that where Hotspur the Prince is too familiar with his represents an ideal people and will be as vulnerable as of knightly honor Richard was. But Hal already has Hal knows he his plan. He assures his father that, cannot attain. as Henry used Richard, so he will Prince Hal Boar’s Head Tavern Hotspur

WIVES MAY BE MERRY AND YET HONEST TOO THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1597–1598)



142 THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR DRAMATIS After Justice Shallow In need of money, Mistresses Page PERSONAE pompously threatens Falstaff resolves to and Ford find they legal action against seduce mistresses have both received Mistress Margaret Page Falstaff, Falstaff gleefully Page and Ford, who he the same letter from The first “wife.” admits poaching deer. Falstaff. They decide thinks fancy him. to play along and Master George Page Margaret’s husband. bankrupt him. Anne Page Their daughter. 1.1 1.3 2.1 Act 1 William Page Their young son, a schoolboy. 1.1 1.3 Mistress Alice Ford Shallow instructs his Caius finds out from The second “wife.” nephew Slender to Mistress Quickly that court young Anne parson Evans is backing Master Frank Ford Alice’s Page, who is due to Slender’s suit of Anne and husband, sometimes inherit 700 crowns. disguised as Brooke. challenges him to a duel. John, Robert Ford’s servants. I n Windsor, Justice Shallow Young Fenton then arrives, also The Host of the Garter Inn threatens Falstaff for poaching hoping to marry Anne. Mistresses deer. Falstaff cheerily admits Page and Ford receive identical Sir Hugh Evans his misdemeanors and trouble is love letters from Falstaff and decide A Welsh parson. averted. Shallow’s nephew Slender to teach the fat knight a lesson. is advised to marry young Anne Pistol, annoyed by being sacked by Doctor Caius A French Page for her money. At the Garter Falstaff, tells Ford about Falstaff’s physician. Inn, Falstaff laments his lack of letter to his wife, while Nim tells funds, and plans to send letters to Page. Page is not bothered, but the John Rugby His servant. mistresses Page and Ford in a bid enraged Ford disguises himself as to get at their husbands’ money. “Brooke” to meet Falstaff at the Mistress Quickly Garter Inn. Housekeeper of Doctor Caius, Dr. Caius is enraged when he and Anne Page’s go-between. sees a letter from parson Evans Mistress Ford invites Falstaff to backing Slender’s hopes to marry her house when her husband is out. Robert Shallow Anne Page. Caius is hoping to Brooke pretends to be a suitor of A justice of the peace. marry Anne himself. Mistress Ford himself and offers to Master Abraham Slender Nephew of Robert Shallow, Anne’s unlikely suitor. Master Fenton A young gentleman, Anne Page’s lover. Peter Simple Slender’s servant. Sir John Falstaff The fat knight of the Henry IV plays. He is lodging at the Garter Inn. Bardolph, Pistol, Nim Followers of Falstaff.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 143 Falstaff boasts As instructed by Mistress Falstaff tries to Falstaff dressed as to Master Ford Ford, Falstaff hides in a escape Mistress Herne is attacked by (disguised as basket of stinking laundry “fairies” in the forest Brooke) that he to escape her husband and is Ford’s house and mocked by all. will show how dressed as an Mistress Ford dumped in the river. old woman. Ford is can be seduced. baffled about how he could have missed Falstaff once again. Act 2 2.2 3.3 4.2 5.5 2.2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5 4.4 3.2 3.5 Mistress Quickly tells The Host of the While pretending to Mistresses Ford Falstaff that Mistress Garter sends Evans support all three of and Page tell their husbands Ford wishes him to and Caius to Anne’s suitors, about Falstaff and plan a visit her at home. different locations Mistress Quickly final lesson for him encourages Anne in in Windsor Forest. for their duel. her own choice of young Fenton. pay Falstaff to seduce his wife on old woman in order to escape Ford, forest dressed in white. Mistress his behalf. Unaware of the plans but Ford thinks it’s his hated aunt Page tells Caius that Anne will be the mistresses Ford and Page have and beats him black and blue. in the forest dressed in green. for Falstaff, Ford angrily follows him on his assignation with Mistresses Ford and Page tell In the forest, Falstaff is terrified Mistress Ford. As Ford comes their husbands what has been by “fairies” (really children trained home, Mistress Ford (as planned) going on, and together they plot by Evans), who pinch him while tells Falstaff to hide in a basket of Falstaff’s final humiliation. They Pistol and Nim tease him with filthy linen, which is then dumped invite him to dress as the mythical burning candles. Caius runs off in the river. Recovering later at the stag spirit Herne the Hunter, and with a boy dressed in green and Garter, Falstaff is told by Mistress to meet them at night in the forest. Slender with a boy dressed in white. Quickly that it was all a big Page arranges for Slender to elope The wives reveal their pranks to mistake and Mistress Ford wants with Anne, while Mistress Page, Falstaff who admits he has been to meet again. Ford (as Brooke) unaware, arranges for Caius to made a complete ass—as Caius and finds out. At Mistress Ford’s house, elope with Anne. Meanwhile, Slender return to acknowledge that Falstaff is persuaded to dress as an Anne elopes with Fenton. Page tells they too have been made fools of. Slender that Anne will be in the Fenton arrives, married to Anne. ❯❯

144 THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR IN CONTEXT T he Merry Wives Of Windsor Why then, the world’s is one of the most enjoyed mine oyster, THEMES but least celebrated of Love, fidelity, forgiveness Shakespeare’s plays. Its tale Which I with sword will open. of a lovable rogue getting his Pistol SETTING comeuppance at the hands of the Windsor, a town on the women he hopes to take advantage Act 2, Scene 2 River Thames near London of is a comic formula that has been recycled again and again, SOURCES in everything from Restoration There are no direct sources for comedies to stage farces and TV the play, which was largely a sitcoms. The rogue is, of course, spin-off from the Henry IV plays. Shakespeare’s unique creation, It is one of the very few of the “fat knight” Sir John Falstaff. Shakespeare’s plays to be set wholly in England, and much Suburban comedy The Merry Wives was Shakespeare’s of the comedy draws from The remarkable thing, however, rather off-beat response. There is no English in-jokes of the period. is that Shakespeare’s play was one reliable source for this story, however. of the originals, the blueprint for all Another speculative theory is that LEGACY these later comedies. At the time the play was performed in front 1597 The play was probably Shakespeare wrote The Merry of the queen in April 1597 in first performed in April before Wives, plays were mostly about Windsor, prior to the annual feast Elizabeth I at Windsor. aristocratic, mythical, or heroic for the knights of the Garter at figures. The idea of a comedy about Windsor Castle, or that The Merry 1623 The Folio version purges the foibles of a “suburban” middle Wives makes good the promise in the play’s “profanities.” class was unheard of. Although the epilogue for Henry IV Part 2 younger English playwrights such to “continue the story, with 1786 A Russian adaptation, as John Fletcher and Ben Jonson Sir John in it.” by Catherine the Great herself, quickly followed with sharp “city” is one of the rare non-English satires, the suburban comedy was The fat knight’s frolics successes of the play. Shakespeare’s idea. Scholars have debated the question of when in Falstaff’s life the story is 1799 Italian court composer A story goes that Elizabeth I set. It’s clearly before his reported Antonio Salieri adapts the play so liked the character of Sir John death in Henry V, but is it before his as an opera, as does Guiseppe Falstaff in Henry IV part 2 that she drinking days in Eastcheap with Verdi in 1893. wanted to see “Falstaff in love,” and Prince Hal in Henry IV, or after? It probably doesn’t matter, because 1902 A spectacular London …here will be an old abusing Shakespeare omits any reference production celebrates the of God’s patience and the to 15th-century historical events in coronation of Edward VII. King’s English! The Merry Wives—it really feels as Mistress Quickly if Falstaff has been plucked from 1985 British theater director his own century and dropped amid Bill Alexander stages an RSC Act 1, Scene 4 the citizens of Shakespeare’s time. “new Elizabethan” production set in 1950s suburbia. Falstaff is definitely the star of the play, and the comedy comes 2012 The play is performed from this rambunctious character, in Kiswahili at the Globe to who drops into the dull world of Globe Festival in London, Windsor life and causes chaos. He which hosted 37 productions imagines he is going to lord it over of Shakespeare’s plays in this provincial backwater with his 37 different languages.

THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN 145 knighthood and his eloquence on with her men; they mistook their In this 2008 production at the but he’s in for a surprise. The very erection” (presumably meaning Globe Theatre, London, Christopher biddable housewives who he thinks “direction”), to which Falstaff Benjamin’s self-deluding Falstaff thinks will make easy pickings, mistresses ruefully responds, “So did I mine, he sees the “leer of invitation.” Page and Ford, quickly turn the to build upon a foolish woman’s tables on him and he is humiliated promise” (3.5.39–40). While when A triumph for love again and again. Hugh Evans is teaching the boy Yet even as the wives come out on William his Latin, he talks of the top with their husband’s apologies What makes Falstaff so appealing “focative” case, not the vocative, and Falstaff’s humiliation, they are is the manner in which he bounces saying, “Remember, William, caught by surprise, as Fenton and back from each setback with focative is caret”—to which Anne show the real victor to be irrepressible optimism. Even at Mistress Quickly knowingly replies, love. While the wives have been off the end, when made a complete fool “And that’s a good root” (4.1.48–49). teaching the men a lesson and the in the forest, he has a comeback— Pages have been trying to set up “Have I lived to stand at the Most of the play is about the their daughter Anne in marriages taunt of one that makes fritters of wives asserting their control over she doesn’t want, Anne has eloped English?” (5.5.141–142). Throughout the town. They are not easily with Fenton. “You would have the play, his wit shines while fooled, and they are worthy of more married [Anne], most shamefully, / all the other men mangle language respect than their husbands give Where there was no proportion held so badly that it is often impossible them. They show, too, that they in love” (5.5.213–214), Fenton tells for modern audiences to follow. have a great sense of fun. But them, and stresses how their love having fun does not make them match will save Anne from “A Mangled words disreputable; they do not have to thousand irreligious cursèd hours / There are malapropisms and be melancholy nuns or unattractive Which forcèd marriage would have mispronunciations galore—and prudes to be good wives. As brought upon her” (5.5.221–222). they are frequently bawdy. Mistress Mistress Page says, “Wives may be The message still resonates today. ■ Quickly laments, “she does so take merry, and yet honest, too” (4.2.95).

WE HAVE HEARD THE CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT HENRY IV PART 2 (1597–1598)



148 HENRY IV PART 2 DRAMATIS Rumour introduces The Lord Chief Hotspur’s widow PERSONAE the play’s themes of lies Justice rebukes persuades his father Rumour Presenter of the play. and deception. Falstaff for to flee to Scotland misleading Hal. rather than reinforce Henry IV King of England. the rebels. Prince Harry Eldest son of the king, known as Hal and INDUCTION 1.2 2.3 later Henry V. Act 1 Act 2 Earls of Warwick, Surrey, and Westmoreland; 1.1 2.1 Harcourt, Gower, Sir John Blunt Supporters of the king. Northumberland Accused of breach of learns of Hotspur’s promise by Mistress Prince John of Lancaster; death and agrees to Humphrey, Duke of Quickly, Falstaff Gloucester; Thomas, Duke renew the placates her of Clarence Hal’s brothers. rebellion. sufficiently to Lord Chief Justice of borrow more funds. England Falstaff’s nemesis. T he presenter Rumour Northumberland has fled to Percy, Earl of begins the play by Scotland and left his fellow rebels Northumberland revealing the lie that’s on vulnerable. They agree to a parley, Rebel warlord. its way to old Northumberland: that and present their grievances to Hotspur has defeated King Henry’s Prince John who promises redress Scrope, Archbishop of forces at the Battle of Shrewsbury. on behalf of his father. Although York; Lord Bardolph; Lord This happy news reaches him Mowbray remains unsure, the other Mowbray; Lord Hastings; moments before it is contradicted lords dismiss their troops and Sir John Coleville by the truth: that Hotspur was prepare for peace. No sooner have Rebellious nobles. killed, the rebels routed, and the their men dispersed than John king’s men are marching north arrests the rebels for high treason Sir John Falstaff Drinking toward him. Despite his grief, and condemns them all to death. companion of Hal. Northumberland agrees to join the Archbishop of York’s forces Deception also flourishes Ned Poins, Bardolph, in a renewed fight. By the time elsewhere. Falstaff should be Ensign Pistol Followers the forces gather, however, with Prince John in the north of Falstaff. but consumption, physical and Mistress Quickly Hostess of the Boar’s Head Tavern. Doll Tearsheet A prostitute. Kate The widow of Henry Percy, Hotspur. Robert Shallow Justice of the Peace in Gloucestershire. Silence A colleague of Shallow.