by Luke Dixon
All’s Well That Ends Well
WHO Helena, who, having recently been orphaned by the death of her father, has been taken into the care of the Countess.
WHERE A room in the Countess’s house in Rossillion in southern France.
WHO ELSE IS THERE Helena is alone.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Though she should be crying out of grief for her dead father, Helena is instead shedding tears because of her hopeless love of Bertram, son of the Countess, who has adopted her. Bertram is about to leave the household.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Helena knows she should be grieving for her father but can think only of Bertram.
• She feels she is not worthy of Bertram and expresses very low self-esteem.
• There is a strong mix of romance, love, sexual desire and even perhaps a death wish in the speech with Helena thinking of herself as a young deer wanting to be mated by a lion.
• Try to picture every detail of Bertram as Helena describes him. Add to the details as you work on the speech and think why Helena has chosen the ones she has.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK In The Merchant of Venice both Jessica and Portia are caught between duty to their fathers and love for young men.
Helena
“I think not on my father,
And these great tears grace his remembrance more
Than those I shed for him. What was he like?
I have forgot him. My imagination
Carries no favour in’t but Bertram’s.
I am undone! There is no living, none,
If Bertram be away. ’Twere all one
That I should love a bright particular star
And think to wed it, he is so above me.
In his bright radiance and collateral light
Must I be comforted, not in his sphere.
Th’ambition in my love thus plagues itself.
The hind* that would be mated by the lion
Must die for love. ’Twas pretty, though a plague,*
To see him every hour; to sit and draw
His archèd brows, his hawking eye, his curls,
In our heart’s table* – heart too capable*
Of every line and trick of his sweet favour.
But now he’s gone, and my idolatrous fancy
Must sanctify his relics.*”
(Act 1, scene 1, lines 78–97)
GLOSSARY
hind – deer
’Twas pretty, though a plague – it was enjoyable, albeit agonising
table – sketchpad
capable – receptive
sanctify his relics – worship the traces of his presence
All’s Well That Ends Well
WHO The Countess of Rossillion.
WHERE A room in the Countess’s house in Rossillion in southern France.
WHO ELSE IS THERE Helena, who has been adopted by the Countess.
WHAT IS HAPPENING The Countess has taken the newly orphaned Helena under her protection. She wants to be a mother to Helena, but when she says this Helena does not welcome the news.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• The Countess is trying to find out why Helena will not accept her love.
• She gives Helena many opportunities to tell her the truth but Helena will not be honest with her.
• Allow time for the responses from Helena that – in this conflation of the scene – never come.
• Find the moment of revelation when the Countess realises that the problem is because Helena loves her son.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Just as the Countess is trying to get a response from her foster daughter, so Marina (Pericles) is doing the same with the man who is her real father.
Countess of Rossillion
“I am a mother to you. Nay, a mother,
Why not a mother? When I said ‘a mother’,
Methought you saw a serpent. What’s in ‘mother’
That you start at it? I say I am your mother,
And put you in the catalogue of those
That were enwombèd mine. ’Tis often seen
Adoption strives with nature, and choice breeds
A native slip to us from foreign seeds.*
You ne’er oppress’d me with a mother’s groan, Y
et I express to you a mother’s care –
God’s mercy, maiden, does it curd* thy blood
To say I am thy mother? What’s the matter,
That this distemper’d messenger of wet, T
he many-colour’d Iris, rounds thine eye?*
Why? That you are my daughter?
I say I am your mother. What, pale again?
My fear hath catch’d your fondness! Now I see
The mystery of your loveliness, and find Y
our salt tears’ head.* Now to all sense ’tis gross:*
You love my son. Invention is asham’d
Against the proclamation of thy passion
To say thou dost not. Therefore tell me true,
But tell me then ’tis so, for look, thy cheeks
Confess it, t’one to th’other, and thine eyes
See it so grossly shown in thy behaviours
That in their kind they speak it. Only sin
And hellish obstinacy tie thy tongue,
That truth should be suspected. Speak, is’t so?
If it be so, you have wound a goodly clew;*
If it be not, forswear’t.* Howe’er, I charge thee,
As heaven shall work in me for thine avail,
To tell me truly.”
(Act 1, scene 3, lines 133–79)
GLOSSARY
choice breeds / A native slip to us from foreign seeds – choosing to grow something from foreign seeds can make a native plant, i.e. it is possible to love an adopted child like a natural one
curd – congeal
this distemper’d messenger of wet, / The many-colour’d Iris, rounds thine eye – Helena is crying
head – source
gross – obvious
wound a goodly clew – (proverbial) made a nice ball of wool, i.e. made a proper meal of it
forswear’t – deny it
Twelfth Night
WHO Olivia, a countess in mourning for her brother.
WHERE A room in her house in Illyria, a semi-mythical place on the coast of present-day Croatia.
WHO ELSE IS THERE For the first part of the speech Olivia is alone. She calls in her servant Malvolio and, once he has left, is alone again.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Count Orsino has sent his servant Cesario (in fact the disguised Viola) as a go-between to Olivia with whom he is in love. After Cesario has left, Olivia remembers their conversation and realises that she is falling in love with him – catching ‘the plague’. She calls to her servant Malvolio and sends him after ‘the man’ in the hope that he will return.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Olivia is remembering her conversation with Cesario, picturing him as she describes him.
• She uses the formal ‘your’ followed by the more intimate ‘thou’.
• She points out five things that make him special.
• Decide at what point she realises she is falling in love and how sudden or gradual that realisation is. Decide why she calls love ‘the plague’.
• Decide at what point the thought of sending Malvolio after Cesario comes into her head.
• Decide what it is she fears and what she thinks of fate. She might be thrilled, frightened, excited, nervous, restless, confused, or a combination of all these things.
• She has to calm herself down with ‘Soft, soft.’
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Another woman realising she is in love as she recalls a recent conversation is Phoebe (As You Like It).
Olivia
“‘What is your parentage?’
‘Above my fortunes, yet my state is well:
I am a gentleman.’ I’ll be sworn thou art.
Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit,
Do give thee five-fold bla
zon* – not too fast! Soft, soft.
Unless the master were the man. How now?
Even so quickly may one catch the plague?
Methinks I feel this youth’s perfections
With an invisible and subtle stealth
To creep in at mine eyes. Well, let it be.
–What ho, Malvolio!
Run after that same peevish messenger,
The County’s* man. He left this ring behind him,
Would I or not. Tell him I’ll none of it.
Desire him not to flatter with his lord,
Nor hold him up with hopes; I am not for him.
If that the youth will come this way tomorrow,
I’ll give him reasons for’t. Hie thee, Malvolio –
I do I know not what, and fear to find
Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind.
Fate, show thy force; ourselves we do not owe.
What is decreed must be, and be this so.”
(Act 1, scene 5, lines 272–94)
GLOSSARY
give thee five-fold blazon – declare your coat-of-arms five times over (Cesario’s tongue, face, limbs, actions and spirit; only a gentleman was allowed a coat of arms)
County’s – County = Count (i.e. Orsino)
Twelfth Night
WHO Viola, a young woman of noble birth, disguised as ‘Cesario’.
WHERE A street in Illyria, a semi-mythical place on the coast of present-day Croatia, near the house of the countess Olivia.
WHO ELSE IS THERE Viola is alone.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Shipwrecked in Illyria, Viola has disguised herself as a boy, ‘Cesario’, become employed by the Duke Orsino, and fallen in love with him. Her master, not realising she is a girl, has sent her as a go-between to Olivia with whom he is in love. But Olivia has now fallen in love with ‘Cesario’ and sent her servant Malvolio after him with a ring pretending that Cesario left it behind.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Viola could be talking just to herself or using the audience as a confidant.
• Viola is alone but dressed as Cesario. ‘I am the man,’ she says. Play with the possibilities of being both genders.
• Decide at what point it dawns on her that Olivia has fallen in love with her.
• Be clear in the storytelling both for Viola and the audience. Work through the love triangle as Viola explains who is in love with whom. Decide how Olivia’s love affects Viola and how deeply Viola is in love with Orsino, her master.
• Decide whether Viola is enjoying the ‘wickedness’ of her disguise or whether it is a burden. Think about why she calls herself a ‘monster’.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Rosalind’s epilogue to the audience plays with the confusion of cross-dressing (As You Like It). Imogen (Cymbeline) is also dressed in male clothes.
Viola
“I left no ring with her. What means this lady?
Fortune forbid my outside have not charm’d her!
She made good view of me, indeed so much
That sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue,
For she did speak in starts distractedly.
She loves me, sure: the cunning of her passion
Invites me in this churlish messenger.
None of my lord’s ring? Why, he sent her none!
I am the man. If it be so, as ’tis,
Poor lady, she were better love a dream.
Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness,
Wherein the pregnant enemy* does much.
How easy is it for the proper false
In women’s waxen hearts to set their forms!*
Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we,
For such as we are made of, such we be.
How will this fadge?* My master loves her dearly,
And I – poor monster – fond as much on him;
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.
What will become of this? As I am man,
My state is desperate for my master’s love.
As I am woman – now alas the day –
What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!
O time, thou must untangle this, not I:
It is too hard a knot for me t’untie!”
(Act 2, scene 2, lines 16–40)
GLOSSARY
pregnant enemy – resourceful Satan
for the proper false / In women’s waxen hearts to set their forms – for actual men, as attractive as they are deceitful, to impress women’s hearts, like a signet ring on sealing wax, and stamp their presence there
fadge – turn out
The Winter’s Tale
WHO Hermione, Queen of Sicilia, wife to King Leontes.
WHERE A court of justice in Sicilia.
WHO ELSE IS THERE King Leontes, Paulina (a Lady of the Court), Lords, Officers and Ladies.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Accused by her husband of adultery with Polixenes, Hermione defends herself to Leontes and the court.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Hermione has been brought to court from prison where she has given birth to a baby daughter. She has only just heard the accusations made to her: that she has committed adultery and conspired to kill the King her husband.
• This is both a private and a public scene. Hermione defends herself to her husband, but in front of the court. Decide which lines are played to her husband and which to the court.
• She sees herself as daughter (of a great King), wife and mother. How are these roles played within the speech?
• Hermione must be exhausted. She has been in prison and has just given birth. Shortly after this speech she will faint and be taken away, apparently to die.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Hermione has a similar speech (see next page). Queen Katharine defends herself to Henry VIII.
Hermione
“Since what I am to say must be but that
Which contradicts my accusation, and
The testimony on my part no other
But what comes from myself, it shall scarce boot me
To say ‘not guilty’: mine integrity
Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,
Be so receiv’d. But thus, if powers divine
Behold our human actions (as they do),
I doubt not then but innocence shall make
False accusation blush, and tyranny
Tremble at patience.*You, my lord, best know,
Who least will seem to do so, my past life
Hath been as continent,* as chaste, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, though devis’d
And play’d to take spectators.* For behold me,
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe
A moiety* of the throne, a great king’s daughter,
The mother to a hopeful prince, here standing
To prate and talk for life, and honour, ’fore
Who please to come, and hear. For life, I prize it
As I weigh grief, which I would spare. For honour,
’Tis a derivative from me to mine,
And only that I stand for. I appeal
To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,
How merited to be so. Since he came,
With what encounter so uncurrent,
I Have strain’d to appear thus;* if one jot beyond
The bound of honour, or in act, or will
That way inclining, harden’d be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near’st of kin
Cry fie upon my grave.”
(Act 3, scene 2, lines 21–53)
GLOSSARY
patience – strength, fortitude, endurance
continent – virtuous, faithful
though devis’d /And play’d to take spectators – even if a play was made of it
moiety – half, equal part
Polixenes – pronounced ‘Po-licks-in-ease’
Since he came, / With what encounter so uncurrent, I / Have strain’d to appear thus – what has happened since Polixenes came to stay that warrants my being brought to this court?
The Winter’s Tale
WHO Hermione, Queen of Sicilia, wife to King Leontes.
WHERE A court of justice in Sicilia.
WHO ELSE IS THERE King Leontes, Paulina (a Lady of the Court), Lords, Officers and Ladies.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Accused by her husband King Leontes of adultery and conspiring to have him murdered, Queen Hermione tells Leontes that his threats are useless and asks that the oracle of the god Apollo be her judge.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Her husband Leontes is threatening her. Hermione uses just four short words to cut him short: ‘Sir, spare your threats.’
• She tells of the terrible things that have happened to her: losing her husband’s love, not being allowed to see her son (her second joy), having her new born daughter (her third joy) taken away from her. Do not let them become a list. Each is a different source of pain and suffering.
• She talks not just as a Queen but compares herself to all women.
• The speech is for the most part directed at the King but at the end she turns to everyone else in the room.
• She ends as she began with four short words.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Hermione has another such speech, for which see the previous page. Queen Katharine has to defend herself in court in front of her husband the King (Henry VIII).
Hermione
“Sir, spare your threats.
The bug* which you would fright me with I seek.
To me can life be no commodity;
The crown and comfort of my life, your favour,
I do give lost; for I do feel it gone,
But know not how it went. My second joy
And first fruits of my body, from his presence