The Shakespeare Book

THE KING’S MAN 299

Marina, played here by Ony Uhiaria,
defends herself from the bawd, played
by Linda Bassett, in this production at
Stratford-upon-Avon (2006).

Why do you weep? It may be /
You think me an impostor. No,
good faith, I am the daughter to
King Pericles, / If good King Pericles
be” (21.158–167). Pericles’ tears begin
to fall during Marina’s speech,
although Marina has yet to realize
the importance of her story. When
she confirms that her mother was
called Thaisa, her father shares the
knowledge he has determined: “Now
blessing on thee! Rise. Thou art my
child” (21.200). Marina’s thoughts
about this are not put into words, but
her silence is touchingly truthful.

is filled with dramatic irony: “I am (21.149). When it eventually comes, Closing scenes
great with woe, and shall deliver the revelation also serves as a plot- There are similarities between
weeping. / My dearest wife was reminder for the audience: “The Pericles and The Winter’s Tale.
like this maid, and such / My King my father did in Tarsus leave Rather than staging the reunion
daughter might have been. My me, / Till cruel Cleon, with his between King Leontes and his
queen’s square brows, / Her stature wicked wife, / Did seek to murder daughter Perdita, Shakespeare
to an inch, as wand-like straight, / me, and wooed a villain / To conveys this information through
As silver-voiced, her eyes as jewel- attempt the deed; who having reported speech. Both plays end
like, / And cased as richly, in pace drawn to do’t, / A crew of pirates with another revelation and a
another Juno, / Who starves the came and rescued me. / To reunion. In The Winter’s Tale,
ears she feeds, and makes them Myteline they brought me. But, Shakespeare created a moving
hungry / The more she gives them good sir, / What will you of me? scene in which Leontes stares at a
speech” (21.95–102). lifelike statue of his wife; and father
and daughter are stunned when it
Building tension O come, be buried begins to move. There is a similar
Pericles’ yearning to see his A second time within effect in Pericles. Pericles finds
daughter again is palpable, but himself unwittingly before his wife
Shakespeare delays the revelation, these arms. Thaisa at the Temple of Ephesus.
thereby increasing the audience’s Pericles She listens as his story unfolds:
desire to see this moment. With “I here confess myself the King of
every speech the pair edge closer Scene 22 Tyre, / Who, frighted from my country,
to their mutual understanding. did espouse / The fair Thaisa at
When Pericles discovers Marina’s Pentapolis. / At sea in childbed died
name, he fears that the gods are she, but brought forth / A maid child
mocking him; when he discovers called Marina, who, O goddess, /
that her mother died at sea while Wears yet thy silver liv’ry” (22.22–27).
giving birth, he believes he is As Pericles reunites mother with
experiencing “the rarest dream” child, despair is replaced with hope;
the “ceaseless storm” (15.71) of ill
fortune has been abated. ■

WHAT IS THE

CITY

BUT THE PEOPLE?

CORIOLANUS (1608)



302 CORIOLANUS

DRAMATIS A rioting mob of Caius Martius Volumnia persuades
PERSONAE plebeians revolt against returns victorious from her son to address the
the patricians and call for
Caius Martius A fearsome Caius Martius’s death. battle, and is plebeians and seek
Roman general and proud honored. their vote.
patrician. He is honored with
the surname “Coriolanus” for 1.1 1.3 2.1
acts of bravery in battle. Act 1 Act 2

Menenius A Roman patrician 1.2 2.1
who advises Coriolanus. He
also attempts to calm the The Volscian Coriolanus is
rioting citizens of Rome. army, under made a consul.
their leader
Volumnia Coriolanus’s
mother, who raised her son to Aufidius,
be a warrior and delights in prepares to
his prowess on the battlefield. attack Rome.

Virgilia Coriolanus’s wife. I n Rome, a mob of plebeians with the title “Coriolanus.” Two
She accompanies Volumnia gather to discuss with each tribunes, Sicinius and Brutus, fear
and her own son to plead other their grievances with that he will be promoted into a
forgiveness when Coriolanus the patricians, who they believe position of political power. As the
threatens to destroy Rome. are hoarding grain during a time tribunes feared, the Senate decides
of famine. Having resolved to kill to make Coriolanus a consul, but in
Cominius A Roman general Caius Martius, thought to be the order to assume this role he must
and consul, who proposes worst of the patricians because first receive the plebeians’ vote.
the title “Coriolanus” for of his pride and arrogance, the Coriolanus is reluctant to pander
Caius Martius. plebeians are calmed by Menenius, to the people and show them the
who suggests that they reconsider. scars they wish to see, but is
Titus Lartius A Roman persuaded to do so by his mother.
patrician and admirer of Caius Martius returns covered Although the people give him
Coriolanus, who is appointed in blood from a battle with the their voices, the tribunes Sicinius
a general. Volscian army, and his mother, and Brutus persuade them to
Volumnia, revels in her son’s honor change their minds.
Sicinius and Brutus and courage. Caius is rewarded
Two tribunes who ensure
Coriolanus’s unpopularity
among the plebeians, and
mastermind his banishment
from Rome.

Aufidius General of the
Volscian army and Coriolanus’s
great enemy and respected
rival. He wins Coriolanus’s
respect on the battlefield,
but ultimately destroys him.

Roman plebeians Rioting
citizens angered by the
patricians’ misgovernment.

THE KING’S MAN 303

Tribunes Sicinius and Brutus Coriolanus joins the Coriolanus’s mother, Coriolanus is murdered
turn the people against Volscian army and wife, and son travel by the Volscian people,
Coriolanus. plans Rome’s to plead with him
destruction with but given a military burial.
Aufidius. for mercy.

3.1 4.4 5.3 5.6

Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

2.3 3.3 4.5 5.4

Coriolanus Coriolanus scorns the The Volscian Coriolanus calls off the
unwillingly shows common people and is army, along attack. The people of
banished from Rome. with Coriolanus, Rome are delighted at
the people his prepares to the news.
wounds to win attack Rome.

their votes.

Coriolanus is outraged that he Coriolanus’s wife and son visit the It is held
must appear before the people Volscian camp to plead with the That valour is the chiefest
once more, and cannot contain soldier to spare them and the
his disdain. He gladly leaves the city. Coriolanus is steadfast at virtue, and
city that has shown him ingratitude first, but his resolve melts when Most dignifies the haver.
and joins the enemy Volscian his mother pleads on her knees
army. Together with Aufidius, before her son. In sparing Rome, Cominius
his old enemy, he plots Rome’s Coriolanus sacrifices his own life
destruction. Aufidius secretly by betraying the Volscian army. Act 2, Scene 2
plans Coriolanus’s downfall. While the people of Rome rejoice,
Coriolanus’s mother acknowledges
When the people of Rome hear the sacrifice her son has made.
about Coriolanus’s intention to burn He is brutally murdered by the
the city, they send Menenius to Volscians, but Aufidius states
discourage him, but Coriolanus’s that he should be given a
mind is resolved. In a final attempt warrior’s burial. ❯❯
to change his mind, Volumnia and

304 CORIOLANUS C oriolanus is a play about Control of the city of Rome is a
power, politics, personality, central question in Coriolanus. Does
IN CONTEXT and the fraught relationship the city belong to its people, or do the
between Rome’s plebeians and patricians have a right—and duty—to
THEMES its proud patricians. The play rule as they see fit?
Class struggle, identity, opens with a scene of riotous
pride, honor, masculinity, discontent. The citizens are fickle mob worthy only of
power, politics, family appalled with a governing class disdain—a herd of “boils and
that shows little concern for the plagues” (1.5.2) in his words.
SETTING people’s welfare during a time of
Ancient Rome famine. Ten lines into the play we Undeserving people
hear the first rallying call for the This play pits an individual against
SOURCES murder of a patrician: “Let us kill society. Coriolanus’s greatest battle
1579 Thomas North’s English him” (1.1.10). The plebeians hate is not against invading forces, but
translation of Plutarch’s Lives the city’s leaders in general for against his own people, who are
of the Ancient Greeks and their greed and profligacy, but fighting for equality and against
Romans. target Caius Martius as “chief injustice. The citizens perceive
enemy to the people” (1.1.7–8). themselves as being the lifeblood
LEGACY Of all the patricians who place of the city itself, but Coriolanus
1681 Nahum Tate adapts their own needs above those of sees them merely as a blot on the
Shakespeare’s Coriolanus to the people they govern, Caius landscape. In his mind they are
create a royalist propaganda Martius (later Coriolanus) is rioting “To curb the will of the
piece called The Ingratitude most despicable: “He’s a very nobility” (3.1.41), rather than, as
of a Commonwealth. dog to the commonality” (1.1.27). their appointed tribunes would
argue, fighting for their liberties
1941 Coriolanus is Although some of the plebeians and their human rights. The
championed in Germany recognize that Coriolanus has patrician Menenius presents the
and taught in schools there. fought valiantly in battle to protect ruling class as compassionate and
The protagonist is identified the city and its people from harm, paternal: “most charitable care /
with Adolf Hitler as a model most resent his “nature,” which Have the patricians of you”
of charismatic leadership. they perceive to be scornful and (1.1.63–64). He argues that the
self-important. For Coriolanus, the famine should be blamed on the
1959 Laurence Olivier plays people of Rome represent little gods, and discourages accusations
Coriolanus in Stratford-upon- more than a stinking, cowardly,
Avon, portraying him as a
spoiled, incorrigible boy. All the contagion of the
south light on you,
1964 The Berliner Ensemble
performs an adaptation You shames of Rome!
by Bertolt Brecht, which You herd of—boils
emphasizes the plebeians’ and plagues
class struggle. Caius Martius

1990 Michael Bogdanov’s Act 1, Scene 5
production for the English
Shakespeare Company sets
the play in Eastern Europe
during the politically turbulent
era of the 1980s.

2011 Ralph Fiennes directs
and stars in a British film
adaptation of Coriolanus set in
a modern-day version of Rome.

THE KING’S MAN 305

of grain-hoarding by the patricians. citizens respect Coriolanus for His sword, death’s stamp,
Coriolanus, however, has no talent his valor, others mock him as a Where it did mark, it took.
as, or desire to be, a political spin- mama’s boy who fought only to
doctor; as Menenius suggests, “His please his mother. The divergent From face to foot
heart’s his mouth” (3.1.257). As opinions voiced by Shakespeare’s He was a thing of blood,
Coriolanus sees it, the plebeians mob complicates the audience’s
“Did not deserve corn gratis” experience of the play. Should our whose every motion
(3.1.128) because they performed sympathies lie with this rioting Was timed with dying cries.
poorly in battle: “Being i’th’ war, / throng intent on violent acts? Is the
Their mutinies and revolts, wherein mob’s murderous intent justifiable Cominius
they showed / Most valour, spoke and based on accurate information?
not for them” (3.1.128–130). Act 2, Scene 2
Over the centuries, readers and
In other words, Coriolanus audiences have also been inclined An 18th-century print depicts
champions meritocracy (reserved to interpret the play in a wide Coriolanus with his mother, Volumnia.
for patricians) and the status quo, variety of ways, producing a string She is a key influence, first persuading
while the “tongues o’th’ common of alternative and often politically him to run for the Senate, and later to
mouth” (3.1.23) favor democracy. divergent readings. Coriolanus abandon plans to destroy Rome.
has been interpreted as both the
Opposing views hero and the villain of this drama,
Coriolanus is structured around and the plebeians have been
argument and debate. Shakespeare accused of being dangerously
introduces alternative perspectives fickle, as well as morally justified
from the outset. While some in their behavior. The mob ❯❯

306 CORIOLANUS

also proves a dangerous force, cannot dissemble; he can only Let me have war, say I.
threatening to turn their fury on speak as he feels. Ultimately, It exceeds peace as far as day
their own tribunes by the close. Coriolanus’s stinging and unbridled
tongue, combined with the does night. It’s sprightly,
Bad politician machinations of two power-hungry walking, audible, and full of
Diplomacy is not a quality for tribunes, will lead to his banishment vent. Peace is a very apoplexy,
which Coriolanus is renowned. from Rome. Although the citizens lethargy; mulled, deaf, sleepy,
This character makes enemies very view this as a victory, their safety insensible; a getter of more
easily, and it is perhaps surprising is no longer assured. In a typical act bastard children than war’s a
that he avoids assassination for of arrogant defiance Coriolanus
as long as he does. He is at once “banishes” Rome, and looks to destroyer of men.
one of Shakespeare’s most revenge the people’s ingratitude. First servingman
unattractive and most compelling
characterizations. The patrician Firm voice Act 4, Scene 5
soldier is courageous and awe- Although there are many citizens’
inspiring on the battlefield, but voices to be heard in this play, dead carcasses of unburied men /
has little success when he enters it is Coriolanus’s distinctive tone That do corrupt my air: I banish
the world of politics, for which he that will remain in the audience’s you” (3.3.124–127). Coriolanus’s
requires the citizens’ approval. ears. Coriolanus carries with him speech is gritty, muscular, and
both the charisma of a celebrity often monosyllabic. Every word he
Coriolanus is larger than life, and the terror of a mythological
a killing machine; he would monster. There is crispness and
always prove a misfit in public bite in the phrasing of his angry
life. “Rather say I play / the man I dismissal of the Roman mob:
am,” (3.2.13–14) he declares when “You common cry of curs, whose
his mother urges him to play the breath I hate / As reek o’th’ rotten
role of the diplomat in receiving the fens, whose loves I prize / As the
citizen’s voices of election. He

Do the people of Rome
control Rome’s freedom
and independence, or are
such notions in the gift
only of a strong and
decisive leader whose
protection may crush
the collective will?

the role played by the city’s people. THE KING’S MAN 307
Coriolanus is alarmingly self-
assured and self-reliant, forever A German hero?
acting “Alone” (5.6.117).
Shakespeare’s Coriolanus is
Coriolanus, played here by Toby A play for all time an ambivalent hero, and the
Stephens in a 1995 RSC production, In following Thomas North’s audience is never entirely
is covered in blood following the translation of Plutarch’s Lives of certain whose side to take.
battle at Corioli. He is a man of the Noble Greeks and Romans, This ambivalence has left
action, not a man of words. Shakespeare presented a fractious space over the centuries for
and politically explosive period of Coriolanus to be appropriated
speaks distances him from the Roman history. In recent years, for political purposes by
citizens, until he seems to tower historians have questioned both right- and left-wing
above them, delivering his words whether Coriolanus ever existed, ideologies. This was never
of condemnation as if they were but certainly Plutarch viewed him more true than in 20th-century
bolts of lightning: “Despising / as a historical character, whose Germany, where Shakespeare
For you the city, thus I turn my lineage could be traced back to was the most performed
back. / There is a world elsewhere” early kings of Rome. playwright, and all sides
(3.3.137–139). sought to claim his legacy.
Shakespeare and his
No matter how objectionable contemporaries were living through Under the Nazi regime
Coriolanus’s words may be, his a similar era of social and political in the 1930s and 1940s,
magnetism is undeniable. Before unrest, in which insurrections and Coriolanus’s position as a
leaving for exile, he tells his mother, corn riots were similarly a feature powerful leader battling
“I shall be loved when I am lacked” of their own world. Shakespeare’s against a failing democratic
(4.1.16), and these words mirror choice of subject matter was system was emphasized.
most people’s experience of characteristically full of controversy, Germans were encouraged to
watching the play in performance; contemporary relevance, as well see Hitler as a similar figure—
the play loses some of its zest as commercial interest: the play with the implication that, to
whenever he leaves the stage. exemplifies Ben Jonson’s statement, avoid the play’s tragedy, it
While the people of Rome believe in the Preface to the First Folio in was necessary for the masses
themselves to be the city’s core, 1623, that Shakespeare’s works are to follow him unwaveringly.
Coriolanus asserts the power of the “not of an age, but for all time.” ■
individual, and it is his character In the 1950s, an adaptation
that dominates this play, dwarfing O mother, mother! by Bertholt Brecht called
What have you done? Coriolan stressed the class
Behold, the heavens do ope, warfare in the play. It
The gods look down, and this highlighted the attack by the
people on their corrupt Roman
unnatural scene leaders. Brecht was working
They laugh at. in Communist East Germany,
Coriolanus and the play was dedicated
to the German proletariat.
Act 5, Scene 3

THOU METST WITH THINGS

DYING

I WITH THINGS

NEW-BORN

THE WINTER’S TALE (1609–1610)



310 THE WINTER’S TALE

DRAMATIS King Leontes accuses Leontes separates Leontes orders
PERSONAE his wife, Hermione, of his son from Antigonus to abandon
having an affair with his
Leontes King of Sicily and best friend, Polixenes. Hermione and insists the baby in “some
boyhood friend of Polixenes. that the father of her remote and desert place.”
baby-to-be is
Hermione Wife of Leontes, Polixenes.
wrongly accused of adultery.
1.2 2.1 2.3
Mamillius Young son of Act 1 Act 2
Leontes and Hermione.
1.2 2.2
Perdita Daughter of Leontes
and Hermione, abandoned as Ordered to kill Hermione is sent to
a baby and brought up by the Polixenes, prison where she gives
Old Shepherd. Her name birth to a daughter.
means “the lost one.” Camillo instead
warns him, and
Camillo Adviser to Leontes, the two escape
who flees with Polixenes
to Bohemia. from Sicily.

Antigonus Sicilian lord, P olixenes, King of Bohemia, proof of Hermione’s guilt, orders
married to Paulina. has been staying with his Mamillius to be kept from his
boyhood friend Leontes, mother. He asserts that the baby on
Cleomenes and Dion King of Sicily. When his pregnant the way is Polixenes’s and sends
Sicilian lords, sent to the wife, Hermione, persuades Hermione to prison. Messengers
oracle at Delphi. Polixenes to stay longer, Leontes are sent to the oracle at Delphi to
becomes jealous, convinced of an confirm her guilt. Hermione gives
Paulina Wife to Antigonus, attraction between Polixenes and birth in prison, and her friend
outspoken friend of Hermione. his wife. Leontes orders his adviser Paulina takes the baby girl to
Camillo to kill Polixenes. Camillo, Leontes hoping to soften his
Emilia Attendant to Hermione. sure of Hermione’s innocence, attitude. Instead, he turns on her.
warns Polixenes, and he and Paulina defies him, but he accuses
Polixenes King of Bohemia Polixenes escape from Sicily. her husband Antigonus of egging
and boyhood friend of Leontes. her on, and tells Antigonus to take
Leontes’s son Mamillius starts the baby far away and abandon it.
Florizel Son of Polixenes. He to tell his mother a story when Messengers return from Delphi.
is in love with Perdita in the Leontes, taking Polixenes’s flight as
guise of Doricles, a peasant.

Archidamus Bohemian lord.

Autolycus Charming rogue,
once in Florizel’s service.

Old Shepherd He finds and
raises Perdita.

Clown Old Shepherd’s son.

Mopsa and Dorcas
Shepherdesses who sing at
the sheep-shearing fair.

Time A chorus.

THE KING’S MAN 311

Leontes’s son The baby abandoned When Polixenes forbids his A statue of the
Mamillius dies, by Antigonus and son to marry a shepherd long-dead Hermione
followed shortly by named Perdita is
found by a girl, Florizel and Perdita comes miraculously
Hermione. Shepherd. sail for Sicily. to life and the tale

ends happily.

3.2 3.3 4.4 5.3
Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

3.2 3.2 4.4 5.2

Hermione is put on Leontes is deeply Sixteen years later, Perdita’s identity is
trial and the oracle remorseful and Polixenes’s son revealed to Leontes,
promises to do
proclaims her penance all his life. Florizel woos the and Leontes and
innocence. Shepherd’s Polixenes are
reconciled.
“daughter” Perdita.

Leontes puts Hermione on trial. killed by a bear. Sixteen years later, In Sicily, Leontes, still mourning
When the oracle’s words proclaim Polixenes talks with Camillo of his Hermione, vows never to remarry.
Hermione innocent, Leontes son Florizel’s love for a shepherd Florizel and Perdita arrive, bearing
declares the oracle false. Then girl. They decide to go to a festival Polixenes’s message of forgiveness.
comes news that Mamillius, pining incognito. On a country road, the Leontes is moved, but then comes
for his mother, has died. Hermione clown Autolycus sings of his way of news that Polixenes has arrived in
faints and is carried out. Paulina life. Perdita and Florizel (known to Sicily. Autolycus reveals how Leontes
tells Leontes bitterly that Hermione Perdita as Doricles) appear dressed has found his long-lost daughter.
is now also dead from the shock of in festival costume. At the festival, They all go to a chapel in Paulina’s
losing both her children. Leontes, Polixenes (in disguise) is charmed house to see a lifelike statue of
remorseful, sees this as a sign of by Perdita. But when “Doricles” Hermione. Paulina orders the statue
the gods’ wrath. Meanwhile, says that he will wed Perdita, to descend, and Hermione comes
Antigonus abandons the baby Polixenes threatens to disinherit alive miraculously. She embraces
(whom he calls Perdita) on the Florizel. Florizel decides to take a Leontes, then finds that Perdita is
shores of Bohemia, where she is ship, and Camillo tells him to go to alive. All is forgiven, and Paulina
found by a Shepherd. Antigonus is Sicily to make peace with Leontes. and Camillo are told to wed. ❯❯

312 THE WINTER’S TALE T he Winter’s Tale combines Sir, spare your treats.
the pastoral humor and The bug which you would
IN CONTEXT romance of As You Like It
with the dark power of Othello. Yet fright me with, I seek.
THEMES the play is something of an enigma. Hermione
Jealousy, suffering, hope, In Shakespeare’s day, a winter’s
love, redemption tale was something told by old Act 3, Scene 2
wives at the fireside. It was a
SETTING fanciful story, typically with adultery, with the “forked one” the
Winter in Sicily, and a simple salutary lesson. As horns of a cuckold, a husband
summer 16 years later Leontes’s son Mamillius says when cheated in adultery. But the
in Bohemia and Sicily he proposes to tell his mother a imagery is phallic and lewd.
story, “A sad tale’s best for winter”
SOURCES (2.1.27). And in many ways that As he becomes increasingly
1588 Robert Greene’s romantic is what The Winter’s Tale is: a sad obsessed, Leontes behaves
prose tale Pandosto. story with a happy ending, a tale erratically, like Othello, but he
of loss and redemption. has no need of an Iago to feed his
LEGACY suspicion; it is all there in his
1611 The first performance is Winter and tragedy fevered imagination. It is what he
at The Globe in May. The first three acts of the play are memorably calls the spider in the
not like a fairy tale at all; they cup—you might swallow it happily
1754 An adaptation, The are an emotional drama as grim in ignorance, but you will throw up
Sheep-shearing, or Florizel and as any classical tragedy. King if you see it.
Perdita, by McNamara Morgan Leontes of Sicily finds his wife
is staged at Covent Garden. Hermione so successful in His rage escalates, and Leontes
persuading his boyhood friend proceeds to destroy those closest
1802–11 Actor John Philip Polixenes to stay longer that he to him. Separation from his mother
Kemble stages a series of suspects they are having an affair. kills Mamillius, and the shock of
grand productions in London. His mind is eaten up with jealousy, her son’s death kills Hermione. Only
expressed in language so sodden with the loss of all his family does
1881 The Duke of Saxe- with sexual innuendo that it almost Leontes come to his senses and
Meiningen’s famous company loses sense: “Gone already! / Inch- realize the horror he has wrought.
tours Europe with an thick, knee-deep, o’er head, and
acclaimed production. ears a fork’d one!” (1.2.187–188) He The play’s first part is almost
is talking about wading deeper into a full-blown tragedy. And yet the
1912 Director Harley Granville- action all takes place in just three
Barker’s psychologically Too hot, too hot: short acts, not the conventional five.
realistic production opens To mingle friendship farre Leontes’s jealousy seems to erupt
at the Savoy Theatre, London. out of nowhere and takes just a few
is mingling bloods. hundred lines to explode to the
1958 Christopher Plummer Leontes point of no return. Some audiences
plays Leontes as a victim in find the abruptness and extremity
a Canadian production. Act 1, Scene 2 of his reaction difficult to accept. In
barely an hour of stage time, the
2001 Nicholas Hytner’s entire tragedy has been played out.
National Theatre production Yet this mini-tragedy’s ending is
sets the sheep-shearing
contest at a rock festival.

2009 Sam Mendes opens his
Bridge Project, an Anglo-
American theater partnership,
with The Winter’s Tale. Simon
Russell Beale plays Leontes
and Ethan Hawke is Autolycus.

THE KING’S MAN 313

A production of The Winter’s Tale at
the Deutsches Nationaltheater, Weimar,
Germany (2012), presented the Sicilian
court as a harsh place reminiscent of
an earlier, reactionary Germany.

subtly different from the other In true fairy tale style, the lost baby his son, with their good-natured
tragic plays. In the longer tragedies, is discovered by an Old Shepherd— rustic quirks, the play suddenly
the extremity of suffering in the but not before Antigonus meets his shifts from darkest tragedy to
protagonist’s self-discovery means end with one of the most famous romantic comedy.
that the only way out is death. In stage directions of all time, “Exit,
The Winter’s Tale, Leontes is utterly pursued by a bear” (Act 3, Scene 3). A pastoral idyll
distraught—but he is alive, and will (In the play’s first production, a real When the play recommences in
go on living with the knowledge of bear may have been used—there Act 4, it is in a different world.
his mistake for another 16 years. was a famous bear pit near the Time has moved on 16 years.
theater. Now, almost always, The scene is the countryside of
As he leaves the stage, not to however they enact the bear, Bohemia in early summer. The
reappear for an hour, Leontes vows directors play it for laughs.) With mood is wholeheartedly comic and
to do penance every day—“…tears the entry of the Old Shepherd and romantic, as the baby Perdita, ❯❯
shed…” he says, “Shall be my
recreation” (3.2.238, 239). He will
have no pleasure, but the word
“recreation” has another meaning—
tears will be his re-creation, his
rebuilding and redemption.

The tragedy does not end with
Leontes’s grief. A brief final scene
shows Antigonus laying Leontes’s
baby daughter on the shores of
Bohemia, and naming her Perdita,
the “lost one.” It is the last disaster
made by Leontes’s folly—and yet it
seems like the beginning of a fairy
tale, with an abandoned princess.

Geography and the play In moving the action of The and The Merchant of Venice
Winter’s Tale from Sicily to the probably derived from travel
shores of Bohemia—in reality a books and novels such as
landlocked region of central The Unfortunate Traveler by
Europe—the modern reader may Thomas Nashe, published in
wonder at the vagueness of some 1594. The portrayal of Troy of
of Shakespeare’s geographical Troilus and Cressida was taken
settings. There is no evidence that from The Iliad.
Shakespeare ever left England.
He relied on a variety of sources However, not all the locations
for the locations, mostly around in the plays are meant to be
the Mediterranean, where the taken too literally. Bohemia in
plots of 31 of his 38 plays are The Winter’s Tale, like Athens
set. His Rome and Egypt in in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Julius Caesar and Antony and and Ardennes in As You Like It,
Cleopatra were gleaned from represented, to Shakespeare’s
Plutarch; his Venice in Othello audience, an exotic idyll
and escapism.

314 THE WINTER’S TALE

now 16 and a shepherdess, is are sometimes described as into nature begins. Indeed, it is a
courted by Polixenes’s son Florizel “romances” because they have problem so deep that it cannot be
at a sheep-shearing festival. something akin with the poems of solved by Leontes or Polixenes
the Middle Ages that told stories of themselves. It can only be solved
Few plays experience such a courtly love in fantastical settings. by their children.
dramatic change in genre. Indeed,
the shift is so sudden that some The marked midplay shift in The shift from Sicily to Bohemia
critics have labeled The Winter’s The Winter’s Tale is quite unique. is in some ways a regeneration, a
Tale one of Shakespeare’s “problem Even so, the play has the same reflection of the fact that nature is
plays.” To some extent, it reflects simple three-part structure as always renewing itself. After the
the contemporary vogue for many of Shakespeare plays, harshness of winter, spring brings
“tragicomedies” developed by including As You Like It and A forth new life, and nature is a
playwrights such as John Marston, Midsummer Night’s Dream. These continuous cycle of death and
but none of the tragicomedies of plays begin with a problem in the rebirth. The Old Shepherd who
the day feature the stark midstream ordered “real” world of the court. finds the lost baby Perdita sums up
shift of The Winter’s Tale. They then move into the fantasy this rebirth when he says: “Thou
world of nature for the problems to metst with / things dying, I with
The play is often grouped be worked out before returning to things new-born” (3.3.110–111).
with The Tempest, Pericles, and the court where everything is
Cymbeline as a “late” play. These resolved. The Winter’s Tale works Summer and rebirth
in the same way. The key difference The Bohemian section of The
A romantic painting (1845) by is how fully the problem in the real Winter’s Tale, then, symbolizes a
Augustus Leopold Egg depicts roguish world, the world of Leontes’s court, rebirth. The structure of the play
peddler Autolycus singing in Act 4, is developed, growing into a full mirrors, intentionally or not, the
Scene 4. A British production that year tragedy before the healing journey story of the European rebirth, the
omitted some of the play’s indelicacies.

THE KING’S MAN 315

Winter death Summer rebirth Renewal,
Leontes’s jealousy of The daughter, Perdita, life continues
Polixenes sets in motion grows up in a happy land of Perdita and Florizel
a series of disasters. festivals and revelry. She falls return to Sicily to heal.
Mamillius and Hermione die. in love with Florizel, who is As if through the power of
But the tragedy leaves the Polixenes’s son. They are a youth and love, a statue
seed of a resolution—in new generation unmarked of Hermione is brought to
the form of a banished by the sins of the old. life. Leontes is forgiven,

baby daughter. and harmony
is restored.

The play’s distinct parts follow nature’s Sicily Bohemia
cycle of death, rebirth, and renewal. Winter’s
tragedy is replaced by summer’s rebirth,
problems are solved, and life continues.

Renaissance. The Leontes story is a Hermione been in hiding for instance, we know that Othello has
dark, Greek-style tragedy set in the 16 years, waiting for this moment? been duped by Iago and are on the
classical Mediterranean. Perdita Hints emerge that she has been edge of our seats until the moment
and Florizel’s story is a romance of hiding, when it is said that Paulina Othello learns what we already
the kind developed in Europe, and has been visiting the hidden house knew. But Hermione’s coming to life
set in Bohemia. Shakespeare is ever since she died. But this whole is a plot twist out of the blue. At the
perhaps showing how the classical moment is unusual in that we, end of Act 3 Paulina tells us that
flame has been renewed by a new the audience, don’t see it coming. Hermione died, and such is
European generation. Most of Shakespeare’s plays employ Paulina’s forthrightness that we
dramatic irony. We know what have no reason to doubt her word.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, some characters in the play don’t,
the star-crossed lovers escape into and the drama comes as they finally Some critics find this twist so
the woods to fulfill their romance. discover the truth. In Othello, for unbelievable that they feel it
In The Winter’s Tale, however, when weakens the play. Yet the surprise
Polixenes forbids his son Florizel Daffodils, of the living statue is deliberately
from marrying the apparently lowly That come before intended by Shakespeare. He
shepherdess Perdita, the young the swallow dares, and acknowledges through Paulina
lovers flee from the summer fantasy Take the winds of March that the resurrection is scarcely
world of Bohemia to the wintry believable: “That she is living, /
Sicilian court. It is this reversal that with beauty Were it but told you, should be
enables them to be the bearers of Perdita hooted at / Like an old tale”
redemption, bringing warmth and (5.3.117–119). And herein lies an
life back to the chill of Leontes’s Act 4, Scene 4 answer. Are we meant to “hoot” at
Sicily. In fact, their return literally it, provoked to laughter, so that we
restores life, because at the leave the theater not lost in gloom
extraordinary climax of the play, a but chuckling at the wonderful
statue of Hermione comes to life. absurdity? Maybe, then, Paulina’s
words “You precious winners all”
Statue of limitations (5.3.132) are addressed to us.
There has been much debate about Shakespeare has given us hope
the statue. Is it a statue that comes that even the very worst errors
miraculously to life, or has can be redeemed. ■

HANG THERE LIKE

FRUIT

MY SOULTILL THE

TREE DIE

CYMBELINE (1610–1611)



318 CYMBELINE

DRAMATIS Cymbeline banishes his Hiding in her room, After urging Cymbeline
PERSONAE adopted son Posthumus for Giacomo sees the to defy Rome, the queen

Cymbeline King of Britain marrying his daughter partly naked obtains “poison” for
at the time of Jesus’ birth. Innogen in secret. Innogen sleeping Posthumus.

Innogen Cymbeline’s and steals a love
only daughter and wife to token given to her
Posthumus, later disguised
as the youth Fidele. by Posthumus.

Guiderius Known as 1.1 2.2 3.1
Polydore, one of Cymbeline’s Act 1 Act 2
two lost sons.
1.4 2.4
Arviragus Known as Cadwal,
Cymbeline’s other lost son. In Rome, Posthumus Believing that
bets Giacomo that Giacomo has slept
Queen Cymbeline’s second Innogen will resist all
wife, and stepmother to attempts at seduction. with Innogen,
Innogen. A wicked woman. Posthumus sends
a letter to Pisanio
Cloten The Queen’s oafish
son by her first husband. asking him to
kill her.
Belarius A banished
British lord, living in Wales K ing of Britain, Cymbeline bracelet given to her by Posthumus.
and calling himself Morgan. banishes Posthumus, his In Rome, Giacomo shows Posthumus
adopted son, who has the bracelet and describes Innogen’s
Dr. Cornelius A good-hearted married his daughter Innogen. body to prove he has slept with her.
physician. Cymbeline’s queen wanted her Posthumus gives Giacomo Innogen’s
idiot son Cloten to marry Innogen. ring and swears vengeance on her.
Posthumus Leonatus An Posthumus flees to Rome where
orphan adopted and brought Giacomo bets him he can seduce Cymbeline refuses the tribute
up by Cymbeline, husband Innogen, but when Giacomo arrives imposed by Rome, so the Roman
to Innogen. in Britain, Innogen resists his ambassador Lucius declares that
efforts. The wicked Queen asks Rome is at war with Britain. In
Pisanio Posthumus’s servant. Dr. Cornelius for a poison but the Wales, the exiled Belarius tells tales
doctor gives her a sleeping potion. of the old days to Cymbeline’s two
Filario Friend to Posthumus. sons Guiderius and Arviragus, whom
Giacomo smuggles himself into he has stolen. Pisanio receives a
Giacomo A sly, self-confident Innogen’s bedroom in a trunk. He letter from Posthumus asking him
Italian friend of Filario. sees her half-naked and steals the to kill Innogen, but Pisanio flees

Caius Lucius Ambassador
from Rome, later Roman
general.

Helen Lady in waiting to
Innogen.

A Frenchman, a Dutchman,
and a Spaniard
Friends of Filario.

THE KING’S MAN 319

Fleeing from court Disguised as Innogen, waking and The Romans are
with Innogen, Pisanio Posthumus, Cloten believing the corpse is defeated, Giacomo
is beheaded in a Posthumus, asks the confesses, Innogen
shows her fight by Belarius’s invading Romans to is reunited with
Posthumus’s letter. help her bury him. Posthumus, and
son Guiderius. Cymbeline finds

his lost sons.

3.4 4.2 4.2 5.6
Act 3 Act 4 Act 5
3.3 3.6 4.2
5.1

In a remote cave, Persuaded by Pisanio Innogen appears to Arriving in Britain with
banished Belarius to travel in disguise as die from the poison the Roman army, a
reveals that his two and is laid to rest
sons are Cymbeline’s a boy, Innogen is beside Cloten’s desolate Posthumus
taken in by gives himself up as
lost sons. Belarius and headless body.
his sons. a prisoner to the
Britons.

with her to Milford Haven, where returns with Cloten’s head. Arviragus dreams of his dead family and the
she hopes to meet Posthumus finds Innogen, apparently dead, in god Jupiter urges justice. Belarius
with the Roman army. The queen the cave. Belarius lays her next to and his sons are rewarded. The
has given Pisanio “poison,” for Cloten’s headless body. Innogen queen dies and her wickedness is
Posthumus. In Wales, Pisanio shows wakes to see the corpse. She thinks exposed. The Roman captives are
Innogen Posthumus’s letter. She it is Posthumus and that she has brought before Cymbeline. Innogen,
begs Pisanio to kill her but he been betrayed by Pisanio and Cloten. still in disguise, sees Giacomo with
persuades her to follow the Roman Posthumus’s ring. Giacomo admits
army in disguise. Cloten pursues Lucius, now general of the he lied to Posthumus. Posthumus
Innogen, disguised as Posthumus. Roman army, makes Innogen his confesses his part in Innogen’s
Disguised as the youth Fidele, an servant. Posthumus rues that he “death.” Innogen shows she is alive,
exhausted Innogen is given shelter urged Pisanio to kill Innogen and but Posthumus does not recognize
by Guiderius and Arviragus. joins the British disguised as a poor her. Pisanio verifies it is Innogen,
soldier. Thanks to Belarius and his and she and Posthumus are
Innogen takes the “medicine” sons, the British beat the Romans. reunited. Belarius reveals that the
given her unwittingly by Pisanio. Posthumus dresses as a Roman and two boys are Cymbeline’s lost sons.❯❯
Cloten challenges Guiderius, who offers himself as a prisoner. He

320 CYMBELINE C ymbeline is one of the Pardon’s the word to all.
strangest of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline
IN CONTEXT plays. This darkly romantic
tale tells the story of the misguided Act 5, Scene 6
THEMES king of ancient Britain, Cymbeline,
Jealousy, deception, whose misjudgment loses him two ancient Britain, for instance, he
suffering, hope, love, sons and his remarkable daughter ends up in Rome at the time of the
redemption Innogen, before, in the end, all is Renaissance. There, Posthumus’s
restored. The plot is so convoluted companions, who have Italian
SETTING that commentators have ridiculed names like Filario and Giacomo,
Cymbeline’s court in it as a mess, although now most talk anachronistically of France
ancient Britain, Rome, a critics acknowledge that on stage and England. And when the Roman
cave, and later, Milford it is a captivating masterpiece. general Lucius lands with his army
Haven in Wales in Britain, he lands in Milford
The play is based, in part, on the Haven, the port in west Wales where
SOURCES historical king Cunobelinus, who Henry Tudor landed in 1485 to claim
1353 The wager plot in ruled over southern England at the throne of England as Henry VII.
Bocaccio’s Decameron. around the time Jesus was born. The British court physician is
Shakespeare found the story of named Doctor Cornelius, which calls
1587 Basic historical Cunobelinus in Holinshed’s famous to mind the famous 15th-century
background is taken from Chronicles, where he is known as German magician Cornelius
Holinshed’s Chronicles. Kymbeline. However, the story Agrippa, while the Latin name
Shakespeare weaves in his play Posthumus is an odd one for an
LEGACY Cymbeline is almost entirely ancient Briton, or for anyone.
1610 It is possible that the divorced from any historical truth.
first performances take place Indeed, Shakespeare seems
at the indoor Blackfriars completely unconcerned with any
Theatre, London. historical consistency. When the
hero Posthumus is banished from
1611 The first recorded
performance takes place. Fear no more the Patchwork of influences
heat o’ th’ sun, This apparent mishmash is surely
1634 A performance for Nor the furious winter’s rages. not carelessness on the part of
Charles I is staged on New Thou thy worldly task Shakespeare but a deliberate act of
Year’s Day in Whitehall Palace. association to create a play that has
hast done, both contemporary relevance and
1770 American actress Home art gone, and mythical power. It is part fairy
Nancy Hallam makes a tale—with a wicked stepmother,
famous Innogen. ta’en thy wages. lost princes living in a cave, and a
Golden lads and girls all must, sleeping beauty—and part tragedy.
1837–67 Popular actress
Helen Faucit plays Innogen As chimney-sweepers, Shakespeare brings in a variety
as a paragon of calm virtue. come to dust. of elements from his earlier plays.
Guiderius When Posthumus, fooled by the lies
1896 Ellen Terry’s portrayal of Giacomo, becomes disastrously
of Innogen is of a more Act 4, Scene 2 jealous of Innogen, it recalls Othello’s
forthright woman. murderous jealousy of Desdemona
fueled by Iago. And Innogen’s
1988 Three major productions
in the UK, including Peter
Hall’s at the National Theatre,
confirm Cymbeline’s place
as a great play.

THE KING’S MAN 321

In London-based company
Cheek-by-Jowl’s emotionally charged
2007 production, Tom Hiddleston took
on the dual roles of Posthumus and
Cloten. Jodie McNee played Innogen.

in disguise, to try to put matters
right. No wonder many critics have
heaped scorn on Posthumus as an
unworthy husband for the peerless
Innogen. Feminist critics have
highlighted the male stereotyping
that portrays women as either
virgins or whores, which the wager
seems to play out. But perhaps
there is another theme here.

discovery of what seems to be her and resourceful. At the beginning A middle ground
dead husband when she wakes of the play, Posthumus is described The British court is torn between
from her deathlike sleep echoes as a worthy hero, a more than the decadent corruption and false
Juliet waking to the dead Romeo. suitable companion for her. Yet honor of Rome and the rough
as soon as he is away from her in innocence of wild Wales, where
The complex plot is not easy to Rome, his nobility drops away and Cymbeline’s lost sons Guiderius
follow, but its three main strands— he falls prey, much too easily, to and Arviragus are brought up in a
the story of Innogen and Posthumus; foolish machismo. He not only cave by Belarius. Even the heroic
the loss of Cymbeline’s two sons; agrees to Giacomo’s bet that he can Posthumus’s moral compass is set
and the conflict between Britain and seduce her, but also readily believes spinning in the competitive world
Rome—all echo earlier plays by that Giacomo has succeeded. Then, of Rome, where men trade verbal
Shakespeare, brought together in in an act of stomach-churning blows over empty ideas of honor—
this work by a fast-moving plot. duplicity and cruelty, he sends two such as whose country’s women are
letters, one to Innogen declaring the purest. Away from corrupting
A matchless heroine undying love and the other to influences in the natural world,
The story of Innogen and Pisanio asking him to kill her. Guiderius and Arviragus grow up
Posthumus is the emotional heart Fortunately, Pisanio, perhaps the honest and true. “Great men / That
of the play. In Innogen, Shakespeare play’s true hero, refuses Posthumus’s had a court no bigger than this
created one of his most admired bidding and helps Innogen escape cave, / …Could not outpeer these
heroines—steadfast, loyal, brave, twain” (3.6.79–84), exclaims
Innogen when she meets them for
the first time. She has no idea, of
course, they are her lost brothers.

The opposition of the court and
the country is a common theme in
several of Shakespeare’s plays.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As
You Like It, and The Winter’s Tale,
characters all journey into the wild
to learn to see things afresh before
they can return to the court with
sense restored. What’s different in
Cymbeline is the third place that
lies between civilized Rome and ❯❯

322 CYMBELINE

wild Wales—the British court. It is The Protestant Reformation had Kneel not to me.
as if Cymbeline, or Britain, must the upper hand, but Catholicism The power that I have on you
make a choice between the two. still had an immense presence, and
there was a real threat of a Catholic is to spare you,
In the end, Cymbeline doesn’t comeback, as the Gunpowder Plot The malice towards you to
have to make a choice. He makes of 1605 had demonstrated. In
peace with Rome and welcomes Rome, Posthumus is played upon forgive you. Live,
his Welsh-raised sons back into the by a Frenchman, a Spaniard, and And deal with others better.
fold. The queen, who fomented the an Italian (Giacomo)—one man
discord by encouraging him to defy from each of the major Catholic Posthumus
Rome and trying to set up her son countries—and the Dutchman, from
Cloten in place of the lost twins, is the largely Protestant Netherlands Act 5, Scene 6
dead. Reconciliation may be the then fighting for independence
message of the play. Its relevance from Catholic Spain, remains silent. at that very moment was, like
would not have been lost on Cymbeline at the close of the play,
audiences when the king says: There is every chance that entering into negotiations with
“Let / A Roman and a British Cymbeline would have been Rome to find peace.
ensign wave / Friendly together… performed in front of King James I
Never was a war did cease, / Ere of England (James VI of Scotland), Contemporary audiences would
bloody hands were washed, with and the resonances would surely not have missed the point that the
such a peace” (5.6.480–486). not have passed him by. James, crucial intervention in Cymbeline
like Cymbeline in the play, was
Contemporary resonances king of all Britain, uniting England,
The purpose of the play may Scotland, Wales, and Ireland for the
become clearer if it is seen in its first time under a single monarch.
historical context. The battle for He also, like Cymbeline, had two
the soul of Britain was still fierce. sons and a daughter. And James,

The court of Cymbeline

Cymbeline Married to Queen
His second wife
Father to
Mother to

Innogen Arviragus Guiderius Kills
Disguises herself Disguises himself Also known as
Lord Cloten
as Fidele as Cadwal Polydore
Married to

Posthumus Friends Takes in Belarius
Leonartus Friends Banished Lord,
Filario calling himself
Servant to Friends
Morgan

Pisanio Giacomo

THE KING’S MAN 323

In a Japanese production of
Cymbeline at the Barbican, London,
in 2012, Yukio Ninagawa (center)
brought an epic grandeur to the role
of Cymbeline. The production was a
big, bold, and brash telling of the story.

comes from Wales, the home of gods—and it is the Roman god improbability, though now critics
the Tudor dynasty that had ruled Jupiter who appears to Posthumus agree that it works dazzlingly well on
England until James’s accession and promises justice and the return stage. It is almost impossible not to
on the death of Elizabeth I in of Innogen. In fact, Innogen’s be moved by Giacomo’s confession
1603. The focal point of the deliverance comes from a Wales and Posthumus’s howls of anguish as
action is Milford Haven in west steeped in Celtic myth. At the end, he lashes out at Innogen—before all
Wales. This town had nothing Cymbeline promises to march is revealed, the lovers are reunited,
whatsoever to do with ancient through Lud’s town—London, Cymbeline finds his lost sons, and
Roman or ancient British history, named after the Celtic king of Britain everyone is reconciled, but for the
but as the place where Henry and mythical god Lud—to the wicked queen who, conveniently,
Tudor landed to start the Tudor temple of the classical god Jupiter. is dead. The message seems to be
dynasty, finally ending the Wars that, however improbable it seems,
of the Roses, it was a name The final scene, in which all peace and forgiveness is possible
that still resonated strongly the convoluted knots of the plot if it is looked for. ■
in Shakespeare’s England. untangle, was once scorned for its

History and myths
Of course, Rome is not just the
contemporary city that Posthumus
finds, but it also signifies ancient,
classical Rome, the Rome of
Augustus when much of Europe,
including Britain, was united in
the comparative peace of the
Roman Empire, the Pax Romana.
It was also the time of the classical

Giacomo and Innogen Giacomo’s soliloquy as he creeps The distinguishing mark on
around Innogen’s chamber has a her breast, the evidence for his
tenderness that seduces the ear— claim to have seduced her, “the
and, some critics argue, makes the crimson drops / I’ the bottom of
audience complicit in the act. a cowslip”—is an image of such
natural purity that it is easy to
Having emerged from a trunk forget the intrusion he is making.
in her room, he describes the
sleeping Innogen in memorably Giacomo, with his seductive
exquisite poetic language: “Tis her language, tries to twist even
breathing that / Perfumes the rape into something beautiful.
chamber thus: the flame o’ the He likens his deed to the ancient
taper / Bows toward her, and Roman king Tarquin’s brutal
would under-peep her lids, / rape of the noblewoman Lucrece
To see the enclosed lights, now in such a way that it sounds like
canopied / Under these windows, an act of tenderness. This poetic
white and azure laced / With blue pornography makes for a deeply
of heaven’s own tinct” (2.1.20–25). disturbing speech.

WE ARE SUCH

STUFF AS

DREAMS

ARE MADE ON

THE TEMPEST (1610–1611)



326 THE TEMPEST

DRAMATIS Antonio, Alonso, and his Prospero tells how the Antonio and Sebastian
PERSONAE son Ferdinand are cast spirit Ariel and the plot to kill Alonso
ashore on an apparently
Prospero Exiled Duke deserted island. beast Caliban while he sleeps, but Ariel
of Milan, living on a became his servants. wakes him.
magical island where he
was shipwrecked with his 1.1 1.2 2.1
daughter, having been cast out Act 1 Act 2
to sea by his brother, Antonio.
1.2 1.2
Miranda Prospero’s
15-year-old daughter, driven Prospero reveals Ferdinand, enticed
into exile with him. to his daughter from the others by
Prospero’s magic,
Antonio Prospero’s brother, Miranda how his meets Miranda and
the usurping Duke of Milan. brother Antonio they fall in love.
acquired a taste for
Alonso King of Naples. power and exiled

Sebastian Alonso’s them.
scheming brother.
T he ship carrying Alonso spirit Ariel and the monster
Ferdinand Alonso’s son, who and Antonio is caught in Caliban, son of the witch Sycorax,
falls in love with Miranda. a storm and wrecked on who is being punished for trying
a strange island. From the shore, to rape Miranda.
Gonzalo An honest the wizard Prospero assures his
Neapolitan courtier, who worried daughter Miranda that the Alonso’s son Ferdinand
allowed Prospero to take his storm was conjured by his own meets Miranda and they fall
books with him into exile. magic and that all aboard are safe. in love, despite Prospero’s feigned
Prospero then tells her how he disapproval. Fearing that Ferdinand
Adrian and Francisco was once Duke of Milan, until his drowned, Alonso and most of his
Neapolitan lords usurping brother Antonio drove company are lulled to sleep by
him to sea in a storm 12 years Ariel. Antonio and Sebastian plot
Trinculo Alonso’s jester. ago, when Miranda was an infant. to murder Alonso and the good
Washed up on the island, Prospero courtier Gonzalo, who dreams of
Stefano Alonso’s drunken used his knowledge to make a commonwealth where all might
butler. servants of the island’s magical be happy. But Ariel wakes up
the company before Antonio
Master and Boatswain
Sailors aboard the storm-
tossed ship.

Ariel A magical spirit of
air, trapped by the dead
witch Sycorax, but freed
by Prospero to serve him.

Caliban Sycorax’s monstrous
son, enslaved by Prospero.
He finds a new master
in Stefano.

Iris, Ceres, and Juno
Spirits appearing in the
masques as nymphs.

THE KING’S MAN 327

Ferdinand is willingly At a magical banquet, Ariel confuses All are forgiven by
and terrifies Stefano Prospero; he renounces
enslaved to Prospero Ariel condemns Antonio his magic and Ariel and
and Trinculo.
for love of Miranda. for deposing Prospero. Caliban are released.

3.1 3.3 4.1 5.1
Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

2.2 3.2 4.1 5.1

Elsewhere, Caliban Caliban plots with Stefano Prospero admits that Prospero reveals his identity
meets Stefano and Trinculo to murder the tasks he set and shows off Ferdinand and
Ferdinand were Miranda as a couple in love.
and Trinculo and Prospero so that Stefano can
offers to serve them have Miranda. simply to test his
in order to escape love, and now blesses

Prospero’s his marriage to
control. Miranda.

and Sebastian can do any harm. company to the sound of music, but transformed into dogs. As Prospero
Elsewhere, Caliban meets the before they can eat, he condemns dons his magic regalia, Ariel tells
drunken Stefano and Trinculo Antonio for usurping his brother. him that Alonso and his court are
and believes they are gods. full of remorse. Moved by Ariel’s
Prospero admits he was merely gentleness, Prospero decides to
Prospero enslaves Ferdinand testing Ferdinand, and gives his forgive. He traps them all in a
and makes him carry logs, which blessing to the marriage. He magic circle, explains his true
he does willingly out of love for conjures a magical masque to identity, and then reveals, to
Miranda. Ferdinand and Miranda celebrate with song and dancing their amazement, Miranda and
pledge to marry. Caliban tells nymphs. Suddenly remembering Ferdinand playing chess. Stefano,
Stefano and Trinculo how he is that Stefano, Trinculo, and Caliban Trinculo, and Caliban are forgiven,
Prospero’s slave, but will be theirs, are plotting to kill him, Prospero too. As they all take ship to Naples
and Stefano may have Miranda, halts the masque and orders for the wedding, Prospero frees
if they help him kill Prospero. Ferdinand and Miranda to hide. Ariel and renounces his magic, and
Ariel gets them all to argue by Stefano and Trinculo are lured by then asks the audience to set him
impersonating each. He conjures up Prospero’s magical robes, then free by clapping their hands. ❯❯
a magical banquet for Alonso and chased off in terror by spirits

328 THE TEMPEST S et on an enchanted island “Our revels now are ended. These
ruled by the wizard-like our actors, / As I foretold you, were
IN CONTEXT Prospero, The Tempest is a all spirits, and / Are melted into
play of magic and wonder, beautiful air, into thin air; / And like the
THEMES poetry and fantastical imagery. It baseless fabric of this vision, / The
Loyalty, servitude, has the most spectacular opening cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous
freedom, love, magic of any of Shakespeare’s plays— palaces, / The solemn temples, the
in the form of the mighty storm of great globe itself, / Yea, all which
SETTING the play’s title. Yet it is one of the it inherit, shall dissolve; / And,
A magic island, probably hardest plays to fathom, a mystery like this insubstantial pageant
in the Mediterranean that has absorbed countless hours faded, / Leave not a rack behind”
of debate, and inspired radically (4.1.148–156).
SOURCES different interpretations. It is
8 CE The play is original, but perhaps this very mystery that This does indeed sound
draws inspiration from Ovid’s is key to the play’s power. like a poetic goodbye for a great
Metamorphoses. magician of the theater. But this
The Tempest was probably the is not actually the end of the
1603 Michel de Montaigne’s last play Shakespeare wrote by play. Prospero’s words here are a
essay “Of the Cannibals.” himself, and some interpretations conjuring trick to lull Ferdinand and
have hung on this biographical Miranda into sleep while he deals
1610 News of the shipwreck detail. Critics a century ago began with another plot against him.
of the Sea Venture. to describe it as a “late” play, Neither Prospero nor Shakespeare
arguing that it was the culmination are quite yet done. And if Prospero
LEGACY of the Bard’s work, his swansong to really is Shakespeare, then he has
1610 First performance is the theater. Prospero, they believed, painted an unflattering portrait
possibly at the Blackfriars was a portrait of Shakespeare of himself. It is not until his magic
Theatre, London. himself, creating the storm and the spirit Ariel shows Prospero the
island’s magic out of the air just as
1611 The play is performed Shakespeare creates his magic on A 19th-century etching by Robert
before King James I in the stage. Prospero’s evocative Dudley shows the alarmed Alonso,
Whitehall Palace. speech, which ends the magical Antonio, Sebastian, and Gonzalo as
wedding masque, was read as they stumble upon banqueting spirits.
1667 John Dryden and William Shakespeare’s own rueful farewell: Invisible to them, Prospero watches on.
Davenant stage a spectacular
called The Tempest, or the
Enchanted Island.

1857 Charles Kean’s staging at
London’s Princess Theatre has
a storm sequence that wows
Hans Christian Andersen

1930 John Gielgud plays
Caliban at London’s Old Vic.
Gielgud goes on to become a
highly acclaimed Prospero, too.

1945 Canada Lee is the first
black Caliban, in New York,
as audiences begin to see
parallels with slave history.

2004 A major opera of the play
by British composer Thomas
Adès opens in London.

THE KING’S MAN 329

Tempestuous relationships

Trinculo Plot together Caliban Plot together Stefano
Alonso’s jester Prospero’s slave Alonso’s butler

Seeks to Hates Seeks to
murder murder

Alonso Respects Prospero Hates and Antonio
King of Naples Exiled Duke of Milan envies Prospero’s brother
Seeks to
murder Father to Father to Enslaved to Live on
the island
Sebastian Ariel Shipwrecked
His brother Spirit of the air by the storm

Ferdinand Loves Miranda

value of kindness at the end of the age, was the highest expression study that he delved into deeper
play that he learns the wisdom of of humanity. Art is what lifts arts, and neglected the real world.
forgiveness. Up until then he is humanity above “base” nature— This is, in some ways, an echo of
proud, vengeful, and something of what separates Prospero from the Doctor Faustus in the famous play
a tyrant. When Prospero conjures raw, unprocessed beast Caliban. of that name by Christopher
the tempest to trap Alonso and Marlowe, written in the 1590s.
Antonio on the island, he is bent Shakespeare puns on the Faustus, whose name, like
on revenge, not reconciliation, and two meanings of “art”—art as a Prospero’s means “fortunate,” ❯❯
uses his magic to enslave Ariel and noun meaning skill, and art as
Caliban, not to liberate them. a verb meaning “be.” “Thee,” Full fathom five thy father lies.
Prospero tells Miranda, “…who / Of his bones are coral made;
Art or nature? Art ignorant of what thou art”
Few critics today would argue (1.2.18–19). Then a few lines later Those are pearls that
that Prospero is a direct portrayal of he says, “Lie there, my art” (1.2.25) were his eyes;
Shakespeare, or that The Tempest to his magic robe as she helps him
is autobiographical. Nonetheless, remove it. The question of which Nothing of him that doth fade
there are parallels between forms the essence of humanity— But doth suffer a sea-change
Prospero’s role and the work of a the magic arts of a master scholar Into something rich and strange.
dramatist. The key word is “art.” like Prospero, or art as simply
Just as it is Prospero’s “art” to “being”—is at the heart of the play. Ariel
control Ariel and Caliban through
magic and bring his abusers to the Liberal and occult arts Act 1, Scene 2
island, so it is the dramatist’s “art” Since classical times, students had
to create an enchanted island learned the liberal arts, the skills
on a simple wooden stage. needed to play an active role in
civic life, and Prospero was, as
The play asks what it means Duke of Milan before his exile, “for
to be human—and art, according to the liberal arts / Without a parallel.”
the humanist philosophers of the But he became so absorbed in

330 THE TEMPEST

A 2009 production by the Baxter
Theatre Centre of Cape Town, with
Antony Sher as Prospero and Atandwa
Kani as Ariel, mixed racial politics with
playful African mythology.

is also a brilliant scholar who, alchemist John Dee, perhaps sympathy from the inhuman Ariel:
becoming bored with the liberal another inspiration for Prospero, “Hast thou, which art but air, a
arts, plunges into hidden, secret spent much of his life trying touch, a feeling / Of their afflictions,
methods, until finally selling his to communicate with angels. and shall not myself, / One of their
soul to the devil in exchange for kind, that relish all as sharply /
ultimate knowledge and power. The loss of human feeling Passion as they, be kindlier moved
Yet the problems with Prospero’s than thou art?” (5.1.21–24).
Even the most serious absorption in this other world are
philosophers of the age believed apparent from the start. As the Prospero’s treatment of Ariel
that there was another realm ship founders in the storm he has and Caliban is even more dubious.
beyond Nature, an occult realm conjured, and the sailors cry in He tells the story of how he freed
of the spirit, and that its discovery terror, only Miranda has the Ariel from the tree in which he was
was the goal of philosophy. The humanity to empathize: “I have trapped by the witch Sycorax, but
word “Magic” was used to describe sufferèd / With those that I saw he keeps Ariel in servitude. His
the knowledge and mastery of this suffer!” (1.2.5–6). Prospero’s blithe treatment of Caliban is worse.
hidden dimension. Shakespeare’s reassurance that there’s “No harm” Caliban, the product of his mother
contemporary Francis Bacon (1.2.16) done seems barely adequate Sycorax’s night with the devil, is
was the great pioneer of modern in the face of such anguish, and enslaved by Prospero, and turned
scientific method based on brings Miranda’s all-too-human from an innocent child of Nature,
physical evidence, yet even he response: “O, woe the day!” (1.2.15). who willingly showed his visitors
believed that magic was “sublime It is with a shock that Prospero the wonders of the island, into a
wisdom,” while the brilliant at last learns human feeling and resentful beast. As Caliban retorts,
16th-century mathematician and schooling has brought him no
benefits: “You taught me language,
and my profit on’t / Is I know how
to curse” (1.2.365–366).

One of Shakespeare’s sources
for The Tempest was Michel de
Montaigne’s essay “Of the

We are such stuff
As dreams are made on;

and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

Prospero

Act 4, Scene 1

Cannibals,” which is quoted almost resonance in the play may be no THE KING’S MAN 331
word for word in Gonzalo’s plea accident. Explorer Sir Walter Raleigh
for a commonwealth based on had tried to establish a colony at An American play?
humanity. In the essay, Montaigne Roanoke, Virginia, in the 1590s,
describes the “noble savage” and Shakespeare was in contact In September 1610, a
of the New World, untouched with the Virginia Company that sensational story reached
by the corruption of the old, and founded the first successful English London of a storm that had
Caliban, it seems, was once such settlement at Jamestown in 1607. engulfed the Sea Venture,
a creature. Caliban retains traces a ship carrying settlers to
of a sensitivity to the island’s Letting go Jamestown, Virginia. All 150
natural spirit that he expresses In the end, though, Prospero learns aboard were washed onto a
more poetically than Prospero; the folly of his attempts to control reef off Bermuda, and there
it is Prospero whose schooling everything. He breaks his staff to found an exotic island, seas
turns Caliban to a “piece of filth.” end his magic power, “drowns” teeming with fish, and skies
his books, forgives his foes, and at filled with gorgeous birds.
For all Prospero’s knowledge, last sets Caliban and Ariel free. Helped by the natives, the
he has learned only mastery. He survivors lived on the island
is, then, not so different from As Prospero admits in the while they built a new ship.
Antonio who usurps his rule, or Epilogue, with all his magic gone, That Shakespeare was partly
Sebastian who plots with Antonio he has only his own faint human inspired by this story is clear,
to kill Alonso. More tellingly, strength to rely on. But he, like and The Tempest has been
mastery is the lesson he teaches Shakespeare the playwright, called the “American” play,
Caliban, who plots to kill Prospero. acknowledges that the real power even though Prospero’s island
lies not with him but with the was in the Mediterranean.
Prospero the colonial audience, who can either approve
Over the last half century, more or disapprove of the play. Their There was a Spanish
and more critics have focused applause will set him free from empire in the Americas at the
on Prospero as a forerunner of a the bondage of expectation. ■ time that, in the 15th century,
European colonist and have seen had enslaved the indigenous
in his enslavement of the island’s A 2010 US fantasy film, The Tempest, people with the godlike power
original inhabitants, Ariel and based on the play, cast Helen Mirren as of its technology. Whether
Caliban, an exploitation of native “Prospera,” and Djimon Hounsou as a Shakespeare intended it or
people by European masters. This powerfully physical Caliban. not, the play has found
such a resonance with the
colonial past that this has
become a key thread in many
interpretations. Caliban,
not Prospero, is often the
focus. Black actors have been
cast to emphasize the way
European colonials enslaved
native populations.

FAREWELL A LONG

FAREWELL

TO ALL MY

GREATNESS!

HENRY VIII (1613)



334 HENRY VIII

DRAMATIS Resenting Wolsey’s Henry dances with Anne pities
PERSONAE ambition, Buckingham Anne Boleyn at Wolsey’s Katherine and denies
any ambitions of her
Henry VIII King of England. plans to denounce banquet and kisses her.
him to Henry, but He is entranced. own, but then is
Katherine of Aragon made Marchioness
Queen of England, later the cardinal will
Princess Dowager. bring him of Pembroke.
down first.
Cardinal Wolsey Archbishop
of York and Lord Chancellor. 1.1 1.4 2.3
Act 1 Act 2
Thomas Cromwell Wolsey’s
secretary. 1.2 2.2

Duke of Buckingham Katherine asks Henry Buckingham is sent
A noble fiercely opposed to rescind the to be executed.
to Wolsey.
damaging taxes Rumors reveal Henry’s
Duke of Norfolk A noble imposed by Wolsey. wish to separate from
more moderately opposed Queen Katherine, for
to Wolsey. which Wolsey is blamed.

Duke of Suffolk, Lord B uckingham vents his anger Katherine loses status when
Sands, Sir Thomas Lovell, at Cardinal Wolsey’s pride Henry falls in love with Anne
Sir Anthony Denny, Sir and ambition, displayed in Boleyn. Brought before a court
Henry Guildford, Sir his extravagant celebration of a whose judges, especially Wolsey,
Nicholas Vaux, the Lord hollow peace treaty with France. she denounces as biased, the
Chamberlain, and the But before he can denounce Wolsey queen defends her marriage. In a
Lord Chancellor Nobles, to the king, the cardinal lays false private meeting with Wolsey, she
officials, and gentlemen of accusations against him. The duke continues her spirited defense, but
the royal court. is arrested. At the same time we finally accepts defeat. Katherine’s
hear of the impending fall of Queen hostility toward Wolsey, however,
Cardinal Campeius Katherine who, a few scenes earlier, persists until her final hour, in exile
Ambassador of the Pope. had successfully intervened with at Kimbolton. Having been told of
the king against harsh taxes the cardinal’s death she gives a
Thomas Cranmer secretly imposed by Wolsey. The scathing verdict of his character,
A Protestant cleric, later crafty cardinal gives out that he yet allows her gentleman usher to
Archbishop of Canterbury. is responsible for this reprieve. enumerate his virtues.

Bishop of Lincoln
Cranmer’s colleague.

Stephen Gardiner
Henry’s new secretary, later
Bishop of Winchester.

Anne Boleyn Queen
Katherine’s maid of honor,
later Henry’s queen.

Griffith Katherine’s usher.

Old Lady Anne’s confidante.

THE KING’S MAN 335

Wolsey’s disloyalty Anne is crowned Anne gives birth The infant Elizabeth
to Henry is revealed in an elaborate to a daughter. is christened.
and he is arrested. coronation.
Henry has secretly

married Anne.

3.2 4.1 5.1 5.4

Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

2.4 3.2 4.2 5.2

Strongly defending her Wolsey advises Katherine learns Gardiner arraigns
marriage, Katherine Cromwell to learn of Wolsey’s Cranmer, who
rejects the court’s from his disloyalty, which death, and
authority. Henry sets was brought on by pride. supports the king’s
predicts her own divorce, but Henry
out his reasons for imminent death. intervenes, forcing
seeking a divorce.
a reconciliation.

As Katherine falls, Anne rises. Katherine over the unfair taxes, Yet I am richer than
Soon after meeting the king at quickly adapt to the new power my base accusers,
Wolsey’s banquet, she is awarded balance, welcome Henry’s secret That never knew what
the title Marchioness of Pembroke. marriage to Anne, and appear
The cardinal, however, favors a newly raised to the titles of Earl truth meant.
marriage with the French king’s Marshal and High Steward at Buckingham
sister and fears Anne’s Lutheran Anne’s subsequent coronation.
faith. Publicly he pretends to Act 2, Scene 1
advance the divorce, thus securing Henry becomes his own man
the king’s favor. Secretly, with Wolsey’s fall. He replaces the
he asks the pope to delay the cardinal’s men with councilors of
proceedings as long as possible. his own choice. The christening
When Henry learns of this double- of Henry and Anne’s daughter
dealing, Wolsey loses power, and Elizabeth closes the play, with the
shortly after dies. The dukes of archbishop predicting that her
Norfolk and Suffolk, who supported golden reign will justify Henry’s
dubious dynastic dealings. ❯❯

336 HENRY VIII C o-written by Shakespeare
with John Fletcher, Henry
IN CONTEXT VIII, or All is True, explores
a decisive period of the king’s
THEMES long and famous reign: his divorce
Integrity, royal marriage, from Katherine of Aragon, his
political ambition marriage to Anne Boleyn, and the
birth of the future Elizabeth I.
SETTING Against a background of ceremony
Court of King Henry VIII; and spectacle, the action maps the
York Place, Cardinal rise and fall of some of Henry’s
Wolsey’s London home; closest courtiers and, as the play’s
Westminster Abbey; alternative title suggests, casts
Kimbolton Castle an ironic light on the motivation
of all concerned.
SOURCES
1548 Edward Halle’s The Union Wolsey’s power Herbert Beerbohm Tree played
of the Two Noble and Illustre Henry is presented as the source Wolsey in a lavish 1910 London
Families of Lancaster and York. of greatness. Like the sun, his royal production that boasted a huge cast.
beams gild life by granting status The play went on to have a long and
1563 John Foxe’s Acts and and power to those he favors. successful run on Broadway, New York.
Monuments. When this light is withheld for
whatever reason, the individual without his knowledge, as when
1587 Holinshed’s Chronicles of withers and declines. For the first he initiates the harsh taxes against
England, Scotland, and Ireland. part of the play, the king’s favor which Katherine appeals. As
is strongly influenced by Wolsey. custodian of the king’s great seal
LEGACY By carefully controlling access to (the stamp of royal authority),
1613 On June 29, a stage the king, he is able to mediate Wolsey thinks he has Henry in his
cannon accidentally sets the what Henry sees and hears, and so pocket. These gatekeeping powers
roof thatch alight and burns selectively shape what he believes make him a dangerous enemy, as
down the Globe Theatre during to be the truth. It is a privileged the Lord Chamberlain points out:
a performance of Henry VIII. position that allows Wolsey to “If you cannot / Bar his access to
replace courtiers he distrusts with th’ king, never attempt / Anything
1742–68 Garrick’s production those who will do his bidding. He on him” (3.2.16–18).
plays to the enthusiasm for even acts on the king’s behalf
pageantry with 140 actors on
stage for Anne’s coronation. This imperious man Fall from favor
will work us all Buckingham is the first to fall from
18th–19th centuries Textual grace. Furious at Wolsey’s abuse of
cuts make room for added From princes into pages. power, he wants to denounce him
spectacle and end the play Norfolk to Henry. But Wolsey blocks his
when Wolsey leaves the stage. move with lies, priming the duke’s
Act 2, Scene 2 surveyor to give false testimony so
1969 Trevor Nunn’s RSC that, before Buckingham can speak
production focuses on Henry’s out, he is arrested as a traitor and
maturation as father and man. executed. Katherine seems secure
in Henry’s favor when, kneeling,
1983 Also for the RSC, Howard she petitions him against Wolsey’s
Davies explores the accretion
of power to Wolsey.

2010 The play is revived at
the Globe Theatre, London,
with ceremonial cannon fired
as in the 1613 production.

THE KING’S MAN 337

taxes, and he raises her to sit in the king’s favor, Wolsey had Love thyself last. Cherish
beside him as he rescinds that law. feared that her Lutheran faith those hearts that hate thee.
But when she next appears, Henry would work against his ambition Corruption wins not more
fails to repeat the gesture, leaving to become pope. He needed more
her on her knees before the court of time to persuade the king away than honesty.
the divorce hearing. It seems that from her and toward a possible Wolsey
Wolsey’s carefully sown doubts French marriage. It is a satisfying
about Henry’s divorce now trouble twist that such a concealer of Act 3, Scene 2
the royal conscience. truths and manipulator of events
should be brought low by this only partly fits the truth. Wolsey’s
Wolsey has risen from a humble momentary failure to control either. Field of the Cloth of Gold (a lavish
butcher’s son to become Lord Only when his glories are gone peace conference near Calais),
Chancellor of England; and his fall does Wolsey recognize that Henry we learn, celebrates a short-lived
from greatness, when it comes, is has outwitted him: “The King has treaty. The trial of Katherine can’t
just as far. Proud and arrogant, he is gone beyond me” (3.2.409). This is a afford her the “right and justice”
detested by those who know of his turning point in the play, for after (2.4.11) its ceremony promises
double-dealing. But as long as he Wolsey’s fall Henry exerts his will because, as is evident from her
has the king’s ear, his position is with far greater authority. position on her knees before the
secure. It is ironically appropriate court, Henry intends a specific
that, unwittingly, Wolsey himself Variable truths outcome. And her refusal to
betrays his deception to Henry. Henry VIII presents historical truth continue the charade makes
An incriminating letter asking the as relative, and dependent on more this plain. Even in the elaborate
pope to delay the divorce as long than a single point of view. This is closing ceremony celebrating
as possible, along with an inventory evident in the way the audience is the christening of Elizabeth, a
of his personal wealth, get mixed positioned to read the drama’s state noticeable, ominous absence is
up in some state papers sent by the ceremonies. It is made clear that that of the new Queen Anne.
cardinal to the king. Wolsey’s own each one conveys a message that
hand undoes him. With Anne rising Shakespeare and Fletcher
convey these shifting perspectives
by altering historical chronology
to create a moral pattern of rise
and fall, which they set alongside
a secular pattern of political
stratagem masked by theatrical
show. Thus, as the Prologue
admits, their play is as much
a “chosen truth” (Prologue: 18)
as the history it portrays. ■

A 2009 production in Ashland,
Oregon stayed true to the
play’s original stage directions,
with elaborate, crowd-pleasing
ceremonies and pageants.

IS THERE RECORD OF ANY TWO

THAT LOVED

BETTER

THAN WE DO ARCITE?

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN (1613)



340 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN

DRAMATIS The wedding of King Creon loses to Theseus, Arcite leaves prison
PERSONAE Theseus and and Palamon and and disguises

Palamon Best friend and Hippolyta is disrupted Arcite are captured and himself in order to
cousin to Arcite, nephew of by grieving queens, imprisoned in Athens. be near Emilia.
King Creon. His friendship whose husbands have
with his cousin turns to hatred
when they both fall for Emilia. been denied burial rights
by their enemy, King
Arcite Best friend and Creon of Thebes.
cousin to Palamon, nephew
of King Creon. He enters and 1.1 1.4 2.3
wins the Athenian games for Act 1 Act 2
which he is made “master of
the horse.” 1.2 2.2

Theseus Duke of Athens. Debating whether Palamon and Arcite spy
He arranges a tournament to flee Thebes, the Emilia gathering flowers
between Palamon and Arcite through their prison window
in which the winner will two kinsmen and immediately begin to
marry Emilia and the loser (Arcite and
will be executed. argue over who saw
Palamon) stay to her first.
Hippolyta Queen of the fight when
Amazons and wife to
Theseus. She encourages Theseus attacks
him to postpone their the city.
wedding until after he
defeats Creon of Thebes. T he wedding of Theseus, While in jail, Palamon and
Duke of Athens, and Arcite surprise their captors by
Emilia Sister of Hippolyta. Hippolyta, Queen of the consoling one another with their
The object of desire for both Amazons, is disrupted by three close friendship. However, their
Palamon and Arcite. Palamon grieving queens who plead with relationship is tested when
ultimately wins her hand after Theseus to attack Thebes and its Palamon looks out of the prison
Arcite’s death. evil ruler Creon, who has killed window and sees the Amazonian
their husbands in battle and denied princess Emilia gathering flowers.
A jailer Duke Theseus’s them burial. In Thebes, cousins He proclaims instant love for her,
prison keeper. Arcite and Palamon are disgusted as does Arcite, and the two friends
by their corrupt uncle Creon and argue over a woman they do not
The jailer’s daughter She is contemplate fleeing the city when know, nor seemingly have any
driven mad by her unrequited news comes of Theseus’s imminent hope of attaining.
love for Palamon. attack. Despite their anxieties, they
remain and fight, but are captured, Arcite is suddenly released from
Three queens Widows taken to Athens, and imprisoned. prison and banished to Thebes,
of kings killed in the but disguises himself, determined
siege of Thebes.

A wooer He is in love with
the jailer’s daughter.

A doctor He is summoned to
cure the jailer’s daughter.

THE KING’S MAN 341

Palamon confronts Theseus condemns Before fighting Arcite falls from his horse.
Arcite in the Athenian the kinsmen to over Emilia’s hand, With his dying breath he
woods, where they agree Palamon prays to
death for fighting in Venus for success bestows Emilia to
to a duel over Emilia. the woods, but in love and Arcite Palamon, who is saved.
Emilia pleads for prays to Mars for
their lives.
victory.

3.1 3.6 5.2 5.6

Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

2.4 3.2 4.3 5.5

Hopelessly in love with The jailer’s A doctor suggests that News arrives that
him, the jailer’s daughter daughter loses in order to “cure” the Arcite has won
secretly arranges Palamon’s her mind out in jailer’s daughter of her Emilia’s hand and
madness, a former Palamon is prepared
escape from prison. the Athenian for execution.
woods looking wooer should
for Palamon. pretend to be

Palamon.

to get close to Emilia. Palamon condemns them both to death. cannot bring herself to attend the
becomes the object of affection Pleading for their banishment contest between Palamon and
for the jailer’s daughter, who plans rather than death, Emilia is forced Arcite and the progress of the fight
and executes his escape in hope by Theseus to choose one of the is reported back to her. She prays to
of winning his love. cousins as her suitor. When Emilia the Goddess Diana that whoever
is unable to choose, Theseus loves her best should win. Arcite
Arcite enters a sporting contest agrees to organize one final fight is the winner and claims Emilia
hosted by Theseus in which he between the cousins—the winner for his own, regretful that his
wins a wrestling match and is will receive Emilia’s hand, the friend must die.
rewarded by being made Emilia’s loser will be executed.
servant and “master of the horse.” News arrives, just as Palamon is
On a May Day outing in the Meanwhile, the jailer’s about to be executed, that Arcite
Athenian woods, Arcite encounters daughter goes mad searching has fallen from his horse and is
Palamon; an argument ensues for Palamon in the woods and is fatally wounded. The kinsmen are
over Emilia, and the kinsmen treated by a doctor, whose cure momentarily reunited in friendship,
decide to duel for her. Their duel is to have a would-be-suitor pretend and with his last breath Arcite
is interrupted by Theseus who to be Palamon and bed her. Emilia bestows Emilia to Palamon. ❯❯

342 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN

IN CONTEXT T he Two Noble Kinsmen is Friendship tested
a collaborative work by Trials of friendship feature
THEMES William Shakespeare throughout Shakespeare’s works.
Love, loss, friendship, and John Fletcher, who also In charting the deterioration of
madness, war, death, collaborated on Henry VIII and the relationship between friends,
identity Cardenio (now lost). Shakespeare Shakespeare dramatized a rich
is believed to have written the range of emotional responses:
SETTING following scenes: Act 1 / 2.1 / 3.1 / resentment, disappointment,
Athens and Thebes 3.2 / 5.1 / 5.3 / 5.4, although he may frustration, and anger. From a
not have been responsible for all the dramatic perspective, it is far more
SOURCES writing in some of these scenes. interesting (and entertaining) to
14th century The “Knight’s Scholars believe that Fletcher present conflict between friends
Tale” from Geoffrey Chaucer’s was entirely responsible for the than contentment. Major obstacles
The Canterbury Tales is the character of the jailer’s daughter, must be overcome if feuding friends
main source for the play. who in her madness echoes are to be reconciled. Little wonder
Shakespeare’s Ophelia. The Two then that Shakespeare’s career
c.1340 It is possible that Noble Kinsmen was not among the opened and closed with tales in
Shakespeare and Fletcher plays included in the First Folio of which friends momentarily
were familiar with Chaucer’s 1623, and was unpublished until transform into rivals.
source, Boccacio’s Teseida. 1634. The play is notable for its use
The jailer’s daughter does not of theatrical effects and spectacle, Although 20 or more years
appear in this source and may common features in plays written for passed between his writing of The
be an original creation of indoor theaters such as Blackfriars. Two Gentlemen of Verona and The
the authors. Two Noble Kinsmen, Shakespeare’s
A highly physical production by the belief that tests of friendship made
LEGACY iconoclastic Cherub Company at the for good drama remained firm.
1634 The play is published Young Vic, London, in 1979, had an all- He and Fletcher went to some
for the first time. male cast. Anthony Rothe and Daniel lengths to emphasize the bond of
Foley played the dueling kinsmen. friendship between Palamon and
1664 William Davenant Arcite, a bond that would be broken
creates an adaptation of the
play called The Rivals.

1795 F. G. Waldron calls
his musical adaptation Love
and Madness; or, The Two
Noble Kinsmen.

1986 Barry Kyle’s production of
The Two Noble Kinsmen opens
the new RSC Swan Theatre in
Stratford-upon-Avon.

2000 The Two Noble Kinsmen
is performed at the Globe
Theatre in London, directed
by Tim Carroll. Jasper Britton
plays a hot-headed Palamon,
while Will Kean’s Arcite is
more worldly wise.

THE KING’S MAN 343

In Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale, Arcite confident assertion is filled with Palamon: We shall be the nimbler.
and Palamon joust in chivalric fashion dramatic irony. The heightened Arcite: But use your gauntlets,
to win the hand of Emelye. Arcite wins language of devotion will soon turn though—those are o’th’ least.
but then is fatally injured. Before he into exclamations of contempt: “Why Prithee take mine, good cousin”
dies he tells Emelye to marry Palamon. should a friend be treacherous? If (3.6.63–65).
that / Get him a wife so noble and
with the entry of Emilia into their so fair, / Let honest man ne’er love Arcite’s dying words express
lives. When imprisoned, the two again” (2.2.233–235). Having his love for Palamon, which rivals,
men take comfort from the fact that established the bond between the if not supersedes his love for
they will be locked up together, men, the dramatists overturn their Emilia: “Take Emilia, / And with
shut away from the world, “enjoying courtly gentility within a few lines: her all the world’s joy” (5.6.90–91).
of our griefs together” (2.2.60). “Palamon: You love her then?
Rather than revolting against their Arcite: Who would not? Bonds between maids
captivity, the cousins embrace the Palamon: And desire her? While Palamon and Arcite doubt
opportunity to enjoy one another’s Arcite: Before my liberty. that there is a record of “any two
company; the jailer’s daughter is Palamon: I saw her first.” that loved” (2.2.113) more than they,
surprised to see that “they eat well, (2.2.159–163). audiences may disagree. Emilia’s
look merrily, discourse of many love for her childhood friend Flavina
things, but nothing of their own Palamon’s closing line, “I saw rivals the intimate bond enjoyed
restraint and disasters” (2.1.37–39). her first,” which can be amusing in between the two noble kinsmen.
The chivalrous men look upon their performance, marks the beginning Remembering her dead friend,
prison as a “holy sanctuary” (2.2.71) of the rift between the two men. Emilia speaks with a passion and
that will help preserve them from Before the cousins part, Arcite tenderness that she cannot muster
worldly vice and corruption: “We reprimands his rival for dealing “so to describe her feelings for Palamon
are young, and yet desire the ways cunningly, / So strangely, so unlike or Arcite: “That the true love ’tween
of honour / That liberty and a noble kinsman” (2.2.193–194). maid and maid may be / More than
common conversation, / The poison sex in sex dividual” (1.3.81–82).
of pure spirits, might, like women, / Although they become rivals for
Woo us to wander from” (2.2.73–76). Emilia’s affections, the men’s At the close of the play, Emilia
respect for one another remains. and Palamon are bonded by the fact
Friendship broken Their conflict is enacted in a courtly that they have both endured the
Given occasion to reflect upon his fashion throughout, providing “loss of dear love” (5.6.112). The
relationship with Arcite, Palamon great comic potential on stage. couple are thrown together leaving
is moved to utter “I do not think it As the cousins arm one another Theseus to ruminate upon this
possible our friendship / Shall ever for combat, their conversation surprising turn of events: “O you
leave us” (2.2.114–115). Palamon’s befits their gallant refinement: heavenly charmers, / What things
“Arcite: Will you fight bare-armed? you make of us!” (5.6.131–132). ■
Dear Palamon, dearer in
love than blood Is this winning? O all you
Arcite heavenly powers, where is

Act 1, Scene 2 your mercy?
Emilia

Act 5, Scene 5

344

INDEX

Numbers in bold indicate main entries. Antony, Mark Barry, Spranger 104
Antony and Cleopatra 278–85 Bartlett, Keith 46
A Julius Caesar 18, 172–77 Barton, John 38, 39, 58, 236
Bassett, Linda 299
Aaron 50–51, 53, 244 Antony and Cleopatra 18, 230, 276–85, Bassiano 126–27, 130–31
Aberg, Maria 182 313 Bassianus 50–51, 52
Abraham, F. Murray 130 Beale, Simon Russell 150, 161, 254, 265,
Achilles 208–13 Apemantus 262–65
Ackroyd, Peter 225 Apollonius of Tyre (Gower) 72 312
Adam 180, 187 The Arabian Nights 34 Beatrice 19, 156–61
Adès, Thomas 328 Aragon, Prince of 126–27 Beaufort, Cardinal 36–37
Admiral’s Men 22 Aravind, Ramesh 72 Beckett, Samuel 254
Adonis 74–77 Arcite 340–43 Beckinsale, Kate 159
Adriana 70–73 Arden, forest of 115, 182, 183, 184, 185 Bedford, Duke of 44
Aeneas 212 Arden, Mary 12, 184 Belarius 318–19, 321, 322
Agamemnon 208–09, 212 Ardennes 182, 184, 185, 313 Belch, Sir Toby 200–01, 203–05
Agincourt, Battle of 18, 149, 153, 166, Ariel 326–31 Belleforest, François de,
Ariosto, Ludovico, Orlando Furioso 158
167, 168, 169 Aristophanes 264 Histories Tragiques 192
Agrippa, Cornelius 320 Armado, Don Adriano de 88–91 Benedick 16, 19, 156–61
Aguecheek, Sir Andrew 200–01, 203–04 Armagnac, Earl of 45 Benjamin, Christopher 145
Ajax 208–10, 212 Arthur, Duke of Brittany 120–23 Benson, Frank 46, 166
Alagna, Roberto 248 Artois, Robert, Comte de 64 Benson, John 222
Albany, Duke of 252–53, 258 Arviragus (Cadwal) 318–19, 321–3 Benvolio 102, 106
Alcibiades 262, 263, 265 As You Like It 12, 17, 91, 178–87, 259, Bergner, Elisabeth 187
Aldridge, Ira 52, 244, 245 Berlin Wall 39
Alexander, Bill 144 312, 314, 321 Berlioz, Hector 158
All is True see Henry VIII Ashcroft, Peggy 39, 247 Bernstein, Leonard 104, 109
Allam, Roger 138 Athens see Greece, ancient Bertram, Count of Roussillon 288–93
All’s Well That Ends Well 17, 19, 230, Auden, W. H. 219, 223 Betterton, Thomas 114, 150
Audrey 180, 186 Bhardwaj, Vishal 270
286–93 Aufidius 302–03 Bianca
Alonso, King of Naples 326–29, 331 Augustus, Emperor see Octavius Caesar
Amiens 180, 184 Aumerle, Duke of 94–95, 98 Othello 242–43, 248
Amin, Idi 175 Austria, Duke of 120 The Taming of the Shrew 32–35
Andersen, Hans Christian 328 Autolycus 310–12, 314 Bieito, Calixto 43
Andromache 208, 212 Auvergne, Countess of 47 Bigot 121, 123
Angelo 234–39 Biron 88–91
Anne, Lady 56–57, 59–61 B Bishop’s Ban 85
Anne of Denmark, Queen 22 Blackfriars Theatre 231, 342
Antenor 209, 212 Bacon, Francis 330 Blackwood, Gary 290
Antigonus 310–11, 313 Bagot 94–96 Blanche of Spain, Lady 120
Antioch 296–99 Balthasar 126–27 Blanchett, Cate 96, 99
Antiochus, King of Antioch 296–97 Bandello, Matteo, Novelle 158 Boas, Frederick 213
Antipholus of Ephesus 70–73 Banquo 268–69, 271, 273–75 Boccaccio, Giovanni
Antipholus of Syracuse 70–73 Baptista Minola 32 De Casibus Virorum Illustrum 98–99
Antonio Barber, Samuel 280 Decameron 28, 290, 320
Bardolph Teseida 342
The Merchant of Venice 126–31 Bogdanov, Michael 38, 46, 166, 304
Much Ado About Nothing 156, 161 Henry IV Part 2 148, 152 Bohemia 310–15
The Tempest 326–39, 331 Henry V 164–66, 168 Bokassa, Jean-Bédel 175
Twelfth Night 200–21, 205 The Merry Wives of Windsor 142 Boleyn, Anne 226–27, 334–37
Barnet, Battle of 43 Bolingbroke, Henry see Henry IV, King
Bona, Lady 40–41
Booth, Edwin 246

INDEX 345

Borachio 156–60 Catherine the Great 144 Cranko, John 254
Bosworth, Battle of 57, 59 Catholicism 22, 23, 85, 105, 223, 225, Cranmer, Thomas 334–35
Bottom 18, 19, 112–13, 114, 116, 117 Crécy, Battle of 64–66
Bourchier, Arthur 270 226, 230–31, 322 Creon, King of Thebes 340
Bowdler, Revd Thomas 137 Cecil, Robert 105 Cressida 208–13
Boyd, Michael 158 Celia 180–81, 183–85, 187 Cromwell, Oliver 131
Boyet, Lord 88–89 censorship 85, 137, 216, 226–27 Cromwell, Thomas 334–35
The Boys from Syracuse (musical) 72 Cervantes, Miguel de, Don Quixote 231 Crowne, Thomas 42
Brabanzio 242, 244, 245, 246 Chapman, George 210 Cunobelinus, King 320
Bradley, A C 247 Chapman, John Jay 290 Curio 200, 203
Branagh, Kenneth 90, 158, 159, 166, Charles I, King 293, 320 Curtain Theatre 22, 85
Charles II, King 298 Cushman, Charlotte and Susan 104
168, 182, 187, 192 Charles VI, King of France 164–65 Cymbeline 16, 18, 77, 231, 314, 316–23
Brando, Marlon 175 Charles, Dauphin of France 44–45 Cymbeline, King of Britain 318–23
Brecht, Bertolt 304, 307 Charles (wrestler) 180 Cyprus 242–49
Britten, Benjamin 78, 81, 114, 116, 216, Chaucer, Geoffrey
D
223, 254 The Knight’s Tale 342, 343
Britton, Jasper 342 Troilus and Criseyde 210 da Porto, Luigi, Giulietta e Romeo 105
Brook, Peter 88, 114, 116, 192, 236, 255, Chester, Robert, Love’s Martyr; or Danes, Clare 109
Rosalind’s Complaint 225 Daniel, Samuel 96, 136, 150
264 Chettle 226 Dankworth, Johnny 216, 223
Brooke, Arthur, The Tragical History of Chimes at Midnight (film) 136, 150 Dante, Purgatorio 105
Chiron 50–53 Dark Lady sonnets 220
Romeus and Juliet 104, 105–06 Chorus, Henry V 15, 164, 167, 169 Davenant, William 158, 270, 328, 342
Browning, Robert 223 Churchill, Winston 166 David II, King of Scotland 64, 66, 67
Brutus (tribune) 302–03 Cibber, Colley 58 Davies, Howard 336
Brutus, Marcus 172–77 Cicero 177 Davies, John 224
Bu Wancang 28 Cinna 172–73, 175, 177 de Vere, Elizabeth 115
Buckingham, Duke of Cinthio, Giraldi 244, 236 Decius Brutus 172–73
Clarence, George, Duke of 40–41, 43, Decker, Thomas 226
Henry VIII 334, 336–37 56–58, 60 Dee, Janie 290
Richard III 56–57, 59, 60 Clarence, Thomas, Duke of 148 Dee, John 330
Burbage, James 22 Claudio Deiphobus 212
Burbage, Richard 14, 84, 230 Measure for Measure 234–35, 237–39 Demetrius
Burgundy, Duke of 44–45 Much Ado About Nothing 156–61
Burton, Richard 34, 122, 136, 137 Claudius, King of Denmark 190–97 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Bushy 94–96 Cleon 296–97, 299 112–13, 117
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt 19, 278–85
C Clifford, Lord 36–37, 40–41, 43 ruler of Macedon 282
Cloten 318–19, 322 Titus Andronicus 50–53
Cade, Jack 36–39 Cobbe Portrait 222 Dench, Judi 270
Caesar, Julius 172–77 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, Biographia Derby, Earl of 115
Caius, Doctor 142–43 Literaria 46, 74, 77, 78, 81, 236 Desdemona 242–49, 320
Caius Martius (Coriolanus) 19, 302–07 Collatine 78–80 Deverell, Walter Howell 202
Calchas 208–09, 212 Collions, Lynn 128 di Caprio, Leonardo 109
Caliban 326–31 The Comedy of Errors 17, 68–73, 84 Diana
Calpurnia 16, 172, 176 Complete Oxford Shakespeare 19 All’s Well That Ends Well 288–89,
Camillo 310–11 Condell, Henry 14
Canterna, Adrienne 109 Conrad 156, 160–61 291–93
Capulets 102–09, 116 Constance, Lady 120–21, 123 Pericles 296–97
Cardenio 18, 231, 342 Cooke, Nigel 226 Diomedes 208–10, 212–13
Carlisle, Bishop of 94–95, 98 Cordelia 18, 252–59 Dionyza 296–97
Carroll, Tim 342 Corin 180–81, 184 Dogberry 156–57, 160–61
Casca 172–73, 177 Coriolanus 18, 19, 231, 300–07 Doit, John 152
Cassandra 208, 212 Cornelius, Dr. 318–20 Don John 53, 123, 156–61
Cassio 242–43, 245–49 Cornwall, Duke of 252–53, 255, 258 Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon 156–61
Cassius, Caius 172–77 Costard 88–89, 91 Donalbain 268–69
Catesby, Robert 230 Cottrell, Richard 96
Catherine, Princess of France 164, 169 Cox, Brian 52

346 INDEX

Donne, John 217 Evans, Edith 187 G
Doran, Gregory 175 Evans, Sir Hugh 142–43, 145
Dorset, Earl of 56, 58 Ewardes, Richard 28 Ganymede 180–81, 185–86
Dougall, John 195 Exton, Sir Piers 94–95, 98, 99 Garai, Romola 187
Drake, Sir Francis 84 Eyre, Richard 58 Gardiner, Stephen 334–35
Dromio of Ephesus 70–73 Garrick, David 104, 192, 336
Dromio of Syracuse 70–73 F Gascoigne, George 34
Dryden, John 210, 222, 328 Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany 123
Dudley, Robert 328 Fabyan, Robert 46 Geoffrey of Monmouth 254
Dull 88–90 Fairbanks, Douglas 34 George IV, King 150
Dumaine 88–89, 91 Falconbridge, Robert 120 Gertrude, Queen of Denmark 16,
Dumas, Alexandre 194 Falstaff, Sir John 17, 19, 84, 164, 169, 293
Duncan, King of Scotland 81, 268–75 190–92, 194–96
Dyce, William 256 Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 134–93, 144, Gesta Romanorum (anon.) 52
148–53 ghetto, Venice 128
E Giacomo 318–22, 323
Henry V 144 Gielgud, John 96, 104, 175, 202, 328
Edgar 252–53, 257, 258 The Merry Wives of Windsor 142–45 Globe Theatre 15, 17, 18, 85, 98, 231, 336
Edmond 18, 123, 252–53, 255–58 The Famous Victories of Henry V 136, 150 Gloucester, Earl of 252–53, 255–59
Edward III 19, 23, 62–67 Faucit, Helen 320 Gloucester, Eleanor Cobham, Duchess
Edward III, King 64–67 Fawkes, Guy 231, 265
Edward IV, King 40–43, 56–58, 60 Fearon, Ray 175 of 36–37, 39
Edward V, King 41, 43, 56–57, 60 Feeble 152 Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of
Edward VII, King 144 Feinstein, Elaine, Lear’s Daughters 254
Edward, the Black Prince 64–67 Fenton, Master 142–43, 145 Henry IV Part 2 148
Edward, Prince 40–41, 43 Ferdinand 326–9 Henry VI Parts 2 and 3 36–37, 39, 44–47
Edzard, Christine 187 Ferdinand, King of Navarre 88–91 Gloucester, Richard, Duke of see
Egeon 70–73 Feste 200, 202–04 Richard III, King
Egeus 112, 115, 117 Field, Richard 76, 80 Glyndwr, Owain 134–35, 137
Egg, Augustus Leopold 314 Field of the Cloth of Gold 337 Goetz, Hermann 34
Eglamour 26–27 Fiennes, Ralph 304 Golding, Arthur 74, 77
Egypt 278–85, 313 Filario 318, 320, 322 Goneril 252–59
Eleanor, Queen (Eleanor of Aquitaine) Fiorentino, Giovanni, Il Pecorone 128 Gonzalo 326, 328, 331
First Folio 14, 38, 66, 144, 219, 298, 342 Gounod, Charles, Roméo et Juliette 109
120, 123 Fitzwater, Lord 94, 98 Gower, John 72, 296–97, 298
Eliot, T. S. 192, 280 Flavius 262–65 Grammaticus, Saxo, “Amleth” 192
Elizabeth I, Queen 14, 17, 23, 42, 84, 85, Fleance 268–69 Granville-Barker, Harley 114, 202, 312
Fletcher, John 18, 34, 144, 231, 336, Gray, Lady 40–41
88, 96–97, 98, 105, 114, 144, 174, 225, 337, 342 Graziano 126–27
226, 230, 335 Florence 288–89 Greece, ancient
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia 158, 231 Florizel 310–11, 314–15 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Elizabeth of York, Queen 56–61 Fluellen 164–65, 169
Ellington, Duke 264 Foley, Daniel 342 112–17, 313
Elliot, Michael 182 Fool, King Lear 252–53, 254, 256, 258, 259 Pericles 296–99
Elsinore castle 190–97 Ford, Master Frank 142–43 Timon of Athens 262–65
Elyot, Sir Thomas, The Governor 28 Ford, Mistress Alice 142–43, 145 Troilus and Cressida 208–13
Emeruwa, Ladi 195 Fortinbras, Prince 190–91, 192, 197 The Two Noble Kinsmen 340–43
Emilia Foxe, John, Acts and Monuments 336 Venus and Adonis 74–77
Comedy of Errors 70–71, 73 France, King of 288–89, 291–93 Greene, Robert 15, 22, 42, 52, 312
Othello 242–45, 248, 249 France, Princess of 88–91 Gremio 32–34
The Two Noble Kinsmen 340–43 Francis, Friar 156–57 Grey, Earl 56, 58
Enobarbus 278–79, 280, 281–82 Frederick V, King of Bohemia 231 Grosart, A B 225
Ephesus 70–73, 296–99 Frederick, Duke 180–83, 187 Gross, John 128
Equivoci, Gli (opera) 72 Frederick, Naomi 239 Guare, John 28
Escalus (aide to Duke of Vienna) 234, 236 Freshwater, Geoffrey 257 Guiderius (Polydore) 318–23
Escalus, Prince of Verona 102–03, 109 Froissart, Jean, Chronicles 66 Guildenstern 190–91, 195, 196
Essex, Earl of 23, 85, 96, 98, 225 Fry, Stephen 204 Gunpowder Plot 230, 230–31, 265, 322
Guthrie, Tyrone 128
Gwilym, Mike 298

INDEX 347

H Henslowe, Philip 22 Irving, George 176
Hepburn, Katharine 182, 187 Irving, Henry 246
Hal/Harry, Prince see Henry V, King Hermia 112–13, 115, 116–17 Isabel, Queen 94–95, 97, 98
Hall, Elizabeth 14 Hermione 310–12, 315 Isabella 234–39
Hall, John 14 Hero 156–61 Israel, Manasseh ben 131
Hall, Peter 38, 39, 58, 129, 153, 293, 320 Hesiod 184 Iwuji, Chuck 39
Hallam, Nancy 320 Heston, Charlton 280 Jack Cade’s Rebellion 37, 38–39
Halle, Edward 38, 42, 46, 166, 336 Heywood, Thomas 226 Jailer’s daughter 340–43
Hamlet 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 77, 84, 85, Hicks, Greg 257, 291 James I, King 85, 128, 158, 182, 230,
Hiddleston, Tom 321
177, 188–97, 290 Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons 255, 271, 275, 322, 328
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 19, 99, Jamestown, Virginia 331
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Jaquenetta 88–89
190–97, 255, 256 112–15, 117 Jaques de Boys 12, 180, 183–87
Harpsfield, Nicholas 226 jazz 216, 223, 264
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of The Two Noble Kinsmen 340–41 Jessica 126–27, 129–31
Hitler, Adolf 304, 307 Jews, demonization of 131
Azkaban (film) 270 Hodge, Douglas 52 Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc) 44–47
Hart, Lorenz 72 Hoelck, Kristin 254 John, King 120–23
Harvey, Gabriel 77 Hoffman, Dustin 129 John II de Valois, King of France 64–65, 67
Hastings, Lord 56–58, 60 Hoffman, Michael 116 John of Gaunt 94–95, 97, 98
Hathaway, Anne (actress) 290 Holbein, Hans 227 John of Lancaster, Prince 148–49, 152–53
Hathaway, Anne (wife) 13, 219 Holinshed, Raphael 38, 39, 42, 46, 66, Johnson, Charles, Love in a Forest 182
Hawke, Ethan 192, 312 Johnson, Samuel 222, 258, 280
Haydon, Benjamin Robert 222 96, 122, 136, 138, 150, 166, 226, 254, Jonson, Ben 17, 47, 144, 231, 307
Hazlitt, William 90, 259 270, 320, 336
Hector 208–13 Hollow Crown (TV series) 150 Every Man in His Humour 85
Helen Holm, Ian 58 The Isle of Dogs 84
Holofernes 88–91 Volpone 230
All’s Well That Ends Well 288–92 Homer, The Iliad 210, 313 Joseph, Patterson 175
Troilus and Cressida 208, 210–13 Hopkins, Anthony 52 Julia 26–29
Helena 112–13, 117 Horatio 190–91, 192, 197 Juliet 102–09, 116, 218, 280, 321
Helenus 212 Hortensio 32–34 Julius Caesar 16, 17, 18, 19, 85,
Helicanus 296, 298 Horton, Joanna 291 170–77, 313
Hemmings, John 14 Host of the Garter Inn 142–43 Jupiter 323
Henriad 17, 23, 169 Hotspur see Percy, Henry
Henry III 120–21, 123 Hounsou, Djimon 331 K
Henry III, King of France 22 Howell, Anthony 176
Henry IV Howell, Jane 39 Kani, Atandwa 330
Part 1 17, 19, 84, 132–39, 150, 169, 293 Hubert 120–22 Katherine
Part 2 17, 19, 84, 144, 146–53, 169, 293 Hughes, Margaret 244
Henry IV, King 45, 122 Hughes, Willie 216 Love’s Labour’s Lost 88–89
Henry IV Part 1 134–39 Huguenots 22, 230 The Taming of the Shrew 32–35
Henry IV Part 2 148–53 Hundred Years War 66, 167 Katherine of Aragon, Queen 226–27, 334
Richard II 94–99 Hunsdon, Henry Carey 14, 84 Kean, Charles 328
Henry IV, King of France 22, 23 Huntley, Marquess of 23 Kean, Edmund 96
Henry V 15, 17, 18, 84, 85, 162–69, 293 Hussey, Olivia 105, 109 Kean, Will 342
Henry V, King 18, 19, 44, 45, 46, 66, 67, Hytner, Nicholas 166, 265, 312 Keats, John 216, 222–23
134–39, 148–53, 164–69 Kemble, John Philip 312
Henry VI IJ Kemp, William 14, 84
Part 1 22, 23, 38, 44–47, 66, 99, 169 Kennedy, John F 39
Part 2 22, 23, 36–39, 66, 99, 169 Iago 53, 123, 242–49, 320 Kent, Earl of 252–53, 258
Part 3 22, 23, 40–43, 66, 99, 169 iambic pentameters 77, 81, 216 Kermode, Frank 183
Henry VI, King 17, 36–47, 58, 60, 61, 165 Ibsen, Henrik 290 Kerrigan, John, Motives of Woe 224
Henry VII, King 42, 56–57, 60–61, 320, 323 Illyria 200–05 Kholer, Estelle 236
Henry VIII 18, 231, 332–37, 342 Gl’ingannati (Italian play) 202 King Lear 12, 17, 19, 177, 230, 245,
Henry VIII, King 23, 42, 85, 105, Innogen 318–23 250–59
226–27, 334–37 Irons, Jeremy 128 King’s Men 14, 17, 230, 231, 271
Henryson, Robert 210

348 INDEX

Kinnear, Rory 246 Lucetta 26 Marston, John 314
Kiss Me Kate (musical) 34 Lucian 264 Martius 50–51, 52
Kissoon, Jeffery 175 Luciana 70–73 Marx, Karl 264, 265
Knolles, Richard 244 Lucio 234–35, 237–38 Mary I, Queen 23
Komisarjevski, Theodore 72 Lucius 50–51 Mary, Queen of Scots 23, 230
Kozintsev, Grigori 192 Lucius, Caius 318–19 Master of the Revels 85
Kurosawa, Akira 254, 270 Lucrece 78–81, 323 Maurice, Clemence 109
Kyd, Thomas 15, 196 Lud 323 Measure for Measure 17, 158, 230,
Kyle, Barry 342 Luhrmann, Baz 109
Kyogen of Errors 72, 73 Luther, Martin 223 232–39, 290
Lyly, John 15 Melville, Herman 254
L Lysander 112–13, 116–17 Mendelssohn, Felix 116
Lysimachus 296–97 Mendes, Sam 61, 312
Laertes 190–94, 196, 197 Menelaus, King of Greece 208, 210–12
Lafeu 288–89 M Menenius 302–05
Laine, Cleo 216 The Merchant of Venice 17, 18, 19, 84,
Lambarde, William 96 Macbeth 16, 19, 81, 186, 255, 268–75
Lancaster, John, Duke of 148 Macbeth 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 81, 177, 186, 124–31
Lance 18, 26 Mercutio 102–03, 106–08, 217
Langham, Michael 264 230, 266–75 Meres, Francis 84, 218
Langtry, Lillie 280 Macbeth, Lady 19, 268–75 The Merry Wives of Windsor 13, 17, 84,
Laurence, Friar 102–03, 106, 107 McBurney, Simon 239
Lavinia 50–51, 52 McCarthy, Lillah 202 140–45, 217
Lean, David 97 MacDonald, David 97 Meskin, Aharon 128
Lear 18, 19, 252–59, 265, 284 Macduff 268–69, 273, 275 Meyrick, Sir Gelly 85
Leavis, F. R. 247 McKellen, Ian 58, 96, 226, 270 Michelangelo 97
Lechtenbrink, Volker 254 Macklin, Charles 187 Middleton, Thomas 17, 231, 264
Lee, Canada 328 Maclise, Daniel 244 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 12, 17,
Leicester, Earl of 96 McNee, Jodie 321
Leigh, Vivien 202, 271, 281 Macowan, Michael 210 18, 19, 84, 105, 110–17, 313, 314,
Leonato, Governor of Messina 156–61 Magna Carta 122 315, 321
Leontes, King of Sicily 18, 299, 310–15 Malcolm 268–69, 275 Milan, Duke of 26–27
Lepidus 172–73 Malone, Edmond 224 Milford Haven 319, 320, 323
Lester, Adrian 187, 246 Malvolio 130, 200–04, 205 Millais, John Everett 197
The Life and Death of King John 17, 84, Mamillius 310–12, 315 Miranda 18, 326–31
Mandela, Nelson 174 Mirren, Helen 42, 331
118–23 Mankiewicz, Joseph 175 The Mirror for Magistrates 99
Lillo, George 298 Maori wars 213 Modi, Sohrab 122
Livy, History of Rome 78, 81 Maqbool (film) 270 moneylenders 128–29, 131
Lloyd, Phyllida 174 Marcus Andronicus 50–51 Montagues 102–09, 116
Lodge, Thomas 52, 182, 184, 185 Margaret 156–57, 159, 160 Montaigne, Michel de 328, 330–31
Lodovico 242, 249 Margaret, Queen (Margaret of Anjou) Montemayor, Jorge de, Diana 28
Lodowick 64, 66 Monteverdi, Claudio, L’Orfeo 230
Longueville 88–89, 91 36–47, 56–60 morality plays 58, 60
Longworth, Clara 225 Maria More, Thomas
Lopez, Rodrigo 131 History of King Richard III 42, 58, 61
Lord Chamberlain’s Men 14, 17, 84, 85, 98 Love’s Labour’s Lost 88–89 Sir Thomas More 226–27
Lord Chief Justice of England 148, 152 Twelfth Night 200–01, 203, 205 Morgan, McNamara 312
Lord of Misrule 202 Mariana 234–36, 238 Morocco, Prince of 126–27
Lorenzo 126–27, 131 Marina 296–99 Mortimer, Lord Edmund 134–35
Lorraine, Duc de 64 Marling, Laura 182 Mote 88, 91
Louis XII, King of France 40–41 Marlowe, Christopher 23, 107 Mountjoy, Christopher 230
Louis, Dauphin of France 120–21, 164 Doctor Faustus 15, 329 Mowbray, Lord 148
“A Lover’s Complaint” 19, 218, 224 Edward II 15, 96, 97 Mowbray, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk 94,
Love’s Labour’s Lost 17, 84, 86–91, 218 The Jew of Malta 15, 22, 128, 129, 131 96, 98
Lucentio 32–34 The Passionate Shepherd to His Love Much Ado About Nothing 16, 17, 19,
53, 85, 154–61
184 Mugabe, Robert 175
Tamburlaine 15, 22 Mula, Inva 248
Munday, Anthony 226
Murray, John 226
Mutius 50, 53