ஆங்கில நாடகங்கள்

The Taming of the Shrew
Short Summary
The Taming of the Shrew is in fact a play within a play. The larger framework involves a drunkard named Christopher Sly, who stumbles out of an inn and falls into a deep sleep. A Lord passing by notices Sly and decides to play a trick on him. Sly is carried to the Lord's bedchamber and decked in lavish attire. When he awakes, the Lord's attendants refer to him as to a nobleman. The Lord's Page plays the part of the wife, overjoyed to see that her husband has finally recovered from a dire fifteen-year illness due to which he had been under the impression he was a beggar. A troupe of actors have stopped at the Lord's house to put on a performance, and they unwittingly become part of the ruse as well. Sly, after some protest, decides he must indeed be a lord, and watches the show as if it were performed in his honor.
So begins the play proper. Lucentio, son of a wealthy Pisan named Vincentio, has arrived in the university town of Padua to pursue his education. His dreams of virtuous enlightenment fall by the wayside, however, when he lays eyes on Bianca, the younger daughter of the well-off Baptista. Bianca has two suitors - the young Hortensio and an old fool named Gremio. Baptista has ordained that he will not give his child away to marriage until her elder sister is wed. The problem is, that sister is Katharina, an ill-tempered, feisty, and quarrelsome "shrew." All hope seems lost for Hortensio and Gremio until Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, arrives on the scene. When Hortensio mentions Katharina - and adds that her father is quite wealthy - Petruchio immediately declares his interest in making her his wife.
Lucentio, in the meantime, has devised a plan with his servant, Tranio. Since Baptista is looking for schoolmasters to instruct Bianca, Lucentio disguises himself as Cambio, a Latin teacher, while Tranio plays the role of the master. Hortensio gets the same idea and dresses himself up as a music teacher named Litio in order to access Bianca. Thus the wooers descend on the Baptista household. Tranio, in his noble guise, becomes another official suitor for Bianca's hand, while "Cambio" and "Litio" embed themselves inside. Petruchio, for his part, eagerly awaits the arrival of Katharina; the stories of her shrewishness only further his excitement.
When she does finally appear, the two would-be lovers engage in a furious battle of wits. When Baptista, Tranio, and Gremio enter, Petruchio delightedly informs them that he and Katharina are to be wed on Sunday, despite her protestations. As soon as it appears that Katharina will be married, Baptista turns to Bianca's suitors, asking which of them could provide the richest dowry. Tranio guarantees more than Gremio is able, but Baptista insists upon receiving Vincentio's assurance that the money will be paid. Tranio hatches a plan to feign the assurance by dressing someone up as Vincentio. In the meantime, Lucentio, while playing the part of a Latin instructor, is able to declare his passion for Bianca. She is more partial to him than to "Litio," whose advances she dismisses.
Katharina and Petruchio's wedding proceeds hastily and wildly. Petruchio behaves like a tyrant during the service and then refuses even to let Katharina stay for the wedding feast, instead sweeping her away to his home in the country. There, Petruchio plays the part of an odious master. He refuses to help Katharina when she falls from her horse, beats and berates his servants, and denies his wife food and sleep. He reveals his plan to starve Katharina into submission - to out-shrew her as it were - all under the guise of kindness and love.
Back at Baptista's, Tranio, witnessing the flirtation between Lucentio and Bianca, persuades Hortensio to call off his wooing of her. The two men vow never to court her again, and Hortensio declares that he will wed a wealthy widow instead. Tranio communicates the good news to the lovers, and then proceeds to solve the problem of Vincentio's assurance. Finding a traveling Pedant from Mantua, he convinces the old man that all Mantuans in Padua are to be put to death, and suggests that the Pedant disguise himself as the Pisan Vincentio. The Pedant readily agrees and assures Baptista that Bianca will receive a sufficient dower. Baptista is satisfied and allows the wedding.
Meanwhile, at Petruchio's house, Katharina emerges as polite and gracious in comparison to her husband. After insulting a Haberdasher and Tailor who have come to present their wears, Petruchio sets off with his wife to Padua. They come across the real Vincentio, who is shocked to hear that his son Lucentio has married Bianca. The party arrives in Padua just after Lucentio and Bianca have stolen away to the church. In Padua, Vincentio confronts the Pedant who is impersonating him. Finally, Lucentio, returning from the church, pleads for his father's forgiveness. Vincentio, still fuming, grants his assurance to Baptista and the marriage between Lucentio and Bianca is settled.
In the final scene of the play, the newlyweds all gather at Lucentio's house. The men propose a wager to see which of their three wives - Kate, Bianca or the Widow - is most obedient to her husband. Both Lucentio and Hortensio summon their wives only to be snubbed. Katharina, however, comes at Petruchio's beckoning. The "veriest shrew," in Baptista's words (5.2: 64), thus emerges as the most obedient wife of all. Katharina delivers a speech detailing a wife's duty to her husband, and so the play ends.
Character List
Petruchio
Son of Antonio, a resident of Verona, and intent on finding a wife, Petruchio arrives in Padua ready to take any woman so long as enough money is involved. Katharina's dowry is all that matters to him at the outset, but her cleverness and "shrewishness" seem to excite him genuinely.
Lucentio
The ostensible romantic lead of the play. Lucentio proves more conventional than his more outspoken and vivacious friend, Petruchio. Both men are well-off, but it is Lucentio who can claim a father "of incomparable wealth"; he hails from Pisa and has come to Padua to pursue his education. His purely academic goals fall to pieces, however, when he sees Bianca. For the rest of the play, Lucention single-mindedly pursues her.
Katharina
The "shrew." When she first appears, Katharina lashes out at Hortensio and Gremio, shocking one spectator - Tranio - and delighting the others - us. She is consistently clever, strong-willed and vibrant, an attractive contrast to her sister Bianca. When she seems finally subjugated at the play's end, Shakespeare subtly suggests that she may yet have the upper hand.
Bianca
The younger daughter of Baptista and the object of Lucentio's affection. Bianca's name means 'white,' and indeed she is rather colorless compared to her vivacious sister, Katharina.
Baptista
A wealthy gentleman of Padua, father of Katharina and Bianca. He outspokenly prefers his more well-behaved daughter and has no compunction about referring to Katharina as "the veriest shrew of all."
Tranio
Lucentio's principal attendant. He assumes Lucentio's identity in order to help him win Bianca's heart, and by doing so suggests that all that separates a master from his servant is language and dress.
Hortensio
One of Bianca's suitors. Pompous and foolish. Though posited at the outset as a significant rival, he soon enough takes Tranio's bait and runs off to marry a wealthy widow.
Gremio
An old, foolish suitor of the young and beautiful Bianca. He is the only one of the various suitors in the play who winds up with nothing at the end.
Grumio
Petruchio's servant. He often speaks his mind, playfully twisting words around, but he is very clearly a servant. He never gets the chance to play the master as Tranio does. Instead, both Petruchio and Katharina beat and ridicule him mercilessly.
Vincentio
Lucentio's wealthy father.
Biondello
Another servant of Lucentio's.
A Widow
Hastily courted and wed by Hortensio, the widow is rich, and therefore does not remain unmarried for long.
Curtis
Another of Petruchio's servants.
A Pedant
From Mantua. When Petruchio tricks him into believing that all Mantuans are condemned to die, he disguises himself as Vincentio.
A Tailor
Insulted by Petruchio.
A Haberdasher
Insulted by Petruchio.
Nathaniel, Philip, Joseph, Nicholas, Peter
Servants, likewise insulted by Petruchio.
Christopher Sly
A drunken tinker, who is made to think he is a lord.
A Lord
Passes by Sly and decides on the spur of the moment to dress him up as a lord.
Summary and Analysis of The Induction
Summary
Christopher Sly, a drunken tinker, stumbles out of an alehouse. After a brief argument with the alehouses' Hostess, Sly lies on the ground and drifts into a deep, inebriated sleep. While he sleeps, a mischevious Lord and his followers spot the sleeping Sly. The Lord decides to play a trick on the drunkard. He tells his servants to carry Sly to his own noble chambers and pretend that Sly is in fact a lord.
Soon afterward, a troupe of Players arrives at the Lord's house, intent on performing that night. The Lord informs them that "a lord" is visiting the house and will hear them play, and warns them of his "odd behavior." In the meantime, the Lord orders that his page masquerade as Sly's wife. The page will then pretend that Sly has been afflicted by lunacy for many years and has dreamed himself to be no better than a lowly tinker.
Scene two begins as Sly insists that he is his poor and drunken self; in protest, The Lord insists on Sly's nobility and implores him to wake from his malady. Sly finally begins to accept his altered social status when he finds out that he has "a lady far more beautiful/Than any woman in this waning age" (Ind.2: 62-63). At this, the page plays his part as Sly's wife, rejoicing at his "recovery," and a messenger readily announces that the Players are ready to perform. Sly sits beside his "wife" and prepares to take in the spectacle.
Analysis
The Taming of the Shrew opens with a framing story, labeled the Induction in the text. This sort of device was quite common during the Elizabethan era. Nonetheless, it is worth noting the connotations of the word "induction" - as if we the audience were being inducted into a ceremony or institution in our honor. Sly is led to believe as much, falsely "inducted" as he is into the nobility. The entire play thus emerges as a device to fool the drunkard - and, by extension, us. The Lord is thus a representation of Shakespeare himself, staging a set of carefully controlled and convincing illusions. However, whereas the typical theater audience succumbs merely to the illusion of the stage, Sly succumbs to illusions about his own self. He must submit to the new identity the Lord has fashioned for him. In other words, he must become not merely spectator but an actor and character.
This paradoxical position - that we are watching Sly, a watcher, who is himself a spectacle for the Lord - informs The Taming of the Shrew proper. As the play unfolds, the specter of the observing fool, i.e. Sly, permeates the fabric of the Players' "illusion." Indeed, the play as a whole layers its theater to a dizzying degree, as the player's within Shrew also play-act and put on disguises. The results is a hall of mirrors wherein spectator is not easily separated from spectacle, and reality is not distinguishable from illusion.
Thus Shakespeare engages the paradox at the heart of theater: Sly is forced to "forget himself" (Ind.1: 40), to suspend disbelief, in order to make any sense of his new surroundings. In the same way, any audience member submits to the theatrical illusion despite its falseness. Drama and dramatic structure, in a way, become forces of order even as they are forces of fiction. Sly's supposed nobility and the story of his madness tempt him with their very ability to explain away the confusion he faces in the face of the Lord's spectacle; similarly, the audience as a whole can either choose to reject illusion and face confusion, or else to accept illusion and be rewarded with order.
The Induction contains many specific explorations of these questions of theater and illusion. Note that when Sly accepts his role as a lord - signified when he says, "Am I a lord?" (Ind.2: 68) - he immediately launches into a passage of blank verse that recalls the true Lord's poetic speech patterns. For instance, Sly says, "I smell sweet savors, and I feel soft things." (Ind.2: 71) Thus Shakespeare suggests that aristocracy is principally a matter of costume and dialogue - in other words, nothing more than a theatrical illusion.
The ability of illusion to match reality is further elaborated in the Lord's descriptions of paintings which might be fetched at Sly's behest: "We'll show thee Io as she was a maid,/And how she was beguiled and surprised,/As lively painted as the deed was done." (Ind.2: 54-56) The painting of Io is just as lively as the reality. Thus Shakespeare, through the Lord's words, playfully suggests that the play to follow will be as lively as reality itself. Why not, then, like Christopher Sly, submit to the ordering pleasures of illusion, and check our cynical doubts about theater at the door?
Summary of Act I:
Summary
On a street before Baptista Minola's household, Lucentio appears, accompanied by his faithful servant Tranio. Lucentio has just arrived in Padua, and he delivers an introductory monologue in which we learn that he is the son of Vincentio, a wealthy Pisan, and that he would like to add wisdom and virtue to his hereditary endowments. Thus he is ready to immerse himself in Padua's culture and learning. Tranio reminds his master to mix pleasure with learning.
At that moment, an arguing group emerges from Baptista's house. Baptista tells Hortensio and Gremio, two suitors of his youngest daughter, Bianca, that he is not prepared to give Bianca away to marriage until his elder daughter Katharina is wed. Both Hortensio and Gremio rail against Katherina and she, in turn, mocks her sister's suitors scathingly. Lucentio, who has stepped aside, is immediately captivated by the weeping Bianca. As he consoles his youngest daughter, Baptista tells the two suitors that he is looking for schoolmasters to instruct Bianca at home and would appreciate their help in finding some. Once alone, Gremio and Hortensio agree to put aside their rivalry until they have found someone to wed the "froward" Katharina.
Lucentio then tells Tranio that he is madly in love with Bianca and vows to win her hand. He hatches a plan to bypass Baptista's kibosh on wooing Bianca by dressing up as a schoolteacher and offering his services. Meanwhile, Tranio agrees to pretend to be Lucentio. They tell Lucentio's other servant, Biondello, that Lucentio must disguise himself in order to avoid persecution for having killed a man in a duel.
As scene two begins, Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, appears with his servant Grumio. He has come to Padua to see his friends, "but of all/My best beloved and approved friend,/Hortensio." (1.2: 2-4) A comic beating of Grumio leads to Hortensio's enterance, whereupon Petruchio explains that he is looking for a rich wife. Hortensio mentions Katharina, telling Petruchio that she is rich but a shrew; Petruchio however, isn't bothered by Hortensio's description - he is willing to wed anyone with enough money. Grumio interjects that, no matter how sharp-tongued Katharina may be, she could not match the rhetorical weaponry Petruchio has at his disposal.
Hortensio then asks Petruchio to present to Baptista, "disguised in sober robes" (1.2: 130), as a schoolmaster. At the same time, Lucentio appears disguised as the schoolmaster Cambio. Lucentio has convinced the old suitor, Gremio, that he will plead his case to Bianca. Hortensio states to Gremio that he too has found someone who will teach Bianca music, and adds that Petruchio is willing to wed Katharina.
Meanwhile, Tranio appears, dressed as Lucentio and accompanied by Biondello. He announces that he is going to woo the fair Bianca - whom, he claims, he has never even seen. Gremio and Hortensio are worried at the sight of a rival, especially one with the suavity Tranio manages to convey. "What," Gremio exclaims, "this gentleman will out-talk us all!" (1.2: 245) Petruchio, meanwhile, because his wooing of Katharina is primary, is able to wrest payment from all three of Bianca's suitors to cover his expenses.
Summary of Act II:
Summary
Inside Baptista's home, Katharina has bound her sister's hands. She demands that Bianca say which of her suitors she prefers, and when Bianca does not, Katharina slaps her. Baptista enters and rescues his younger daughter, reprimanding Katharina. Katharina rails against him as well before leaving Baptista alone to greet the arrival of Gremio, Lucentio (disguised as Cambio), Petruchio, Hortensio (disguised as Litio), Tranio (disguised as Lucentio), and Biondello.
Shocking Baptista, Petruchio explains that he has come to Padua from Verona to verify reports of Katharina's modesty and meekness, and has brought with him musician to instruct Katharina. Baptista is skeptical until Petruchio remarks that he is the son of Antonio, whereupon Baptista, who knows the man well, welcomes the suitor to his house. Gremio, in turn, presents Lucentio as a Latin teacher. Appropriately, Gremio introduces the disguised Lucentio as Cambio (Italian for "change").
Tranio next explains that he is a suitor to Bianca, alludes to his wealthy parentage and requests to be granted as much access as her other suitors; as a token of appreciation, he presents a lute and a packet of Greek and Latin books. As soon as Tranio notes that he is "son to Vincentio" of Pisa (2.1: 103), Baptista grants him the access he seeks. Baptista then calls for a servant to escort the tutors to his daughters.
Petruchio then abruptly demands of Baptista what dowry he will receive when he marries Katharina, upon which Baptista replies: "After my death the one half of my lands,/And in possession twenty thousand crowns." (2.1: 121-122) Petruchio is satisfied, and reassures Baptista that he will successfully woo the feisty Katharina. Just then, Hortensio reenters with a broken lute on his head, explaining that, when he tried to correct Katharina's fingering on the instrument, she promptly attacked him with it. Petruchio, far from disturbed, declares that he is all the more eager to "chat with her."
Soon Katharina appears and the others leave Petruchio to woo her. A battle of wits ensues, filled with sexual puns and insults. Petruchio indicates that, whether she wants to or not, he will take her for his wife. Baptista, Gremio, and Tranio join them and Petruchio happily informs the men that he has won Katharina's heart and that the two will be married on Sunday. Katharina snaps back: "I'll see thee hanged on Sunday first." (2.1: 296) Petruchio reassures his companions that Kate and he have agreed that while in public she will remain "curst" though they will be affectionate in private.
He takes Katharina by his arm and exits, leaving Baptista, Gremio, and Tranio to marvel at the speed of his conquest. Now that Katharina seems to be taken care of, Baptista moves on to the subject of his younger daughter, promising her to whomever procures the "greatest dower." It is soon clear that it Tranio's (that is, Lucentio's) wealth is greater. However, Baptista notes that he requires Tranio's father's "assurance" (2.1: 385) that Tranio has the wealth available. If this assurance is procured, Bianca belongs to Tranio; if not, she goes to Gremio. Tranio determines to find someone to play the part of Vincentio, in order to allow him to win Bianca.
Summary of Act III:
Summary
Lucentio and Hortensio, disguised respectively as Cambio and Litio, vie for the attention of the fair Bianca. Bianca seems thoroughly amused by the competition, and decides that Lucentio may lecture her while Hortensio tunes his lute; once the instrument is in tune, Hortensio may then take over the lesson. Lucentio leaps into action with his "lesson," confessing his identity and his love under the guise of a Latin translation. Bianca responds with her own variant of the game, telling him, through her own "translation," that she does not know him and cannot trust him - but that he should "despair not." (3.1: 44) Hortensio fares less well than Lucentio when he tries to confess his love through a scale on the lute. Bianca dismisses the rouse and all but Hortensio exit at a servant's bidding to help prepare Katharina's room for her wedding tomorrow. Alone on stage, Hortensio notes that Cambio appeared to be courting Bianca, and declares that if Bianca is unable to be faithful to him, he won't be faithful to her either.
The next day, the company all wait in preparation for Katharina's wedding. Petruchio, however, is no where to be seen. Katharina, for her part, breaks down and runs from the scene weeping, and for once Baptista sympathizes with her. At that moment Biondello rushes in and says that Petruchio is on his way, wearing outrageously distasteful clothes, riding a diseased horse only a step away from death, and accompanied by a servant as badly dressed as his master. When Petruchio finally appears, with Grumio at his side, his appearance lives up to Biondello's fanciful account. Baptista and the others are mortified. Petruchio, however, refuses to dignify his appearance, and they follow him to his wedding.
Lucentio and Tranio remain while the rest attend Petruchio's wedding. Tranio explains that Baptista requires Vincentio's assurance and declares his intention to disguise someone as Vincentio. Their plotting is cut short, however, as Gremio appears and provides a detailed account of the raucous wedding, wherein Petruchio scandalized the company.
The wedding party arrives and Petruchio claims that he must leave and cannot stay for his own wedding dinner. Katharina entreats that her husband wait for her. However, Petruchio sweeps Katharina away dramatically. The scene ends with the dazed Baptista telling Tranio that the feast will go on as planned, and that he and Bianca may take the seats of the bride and bridegroom.
Summary of Act IV:
Summary
Inside Petruchio's country abode, Grumio is busy making a fire and complaining about the cold in preparation for his master and mistress' arrival. Curtis, another of Petruchio's servants, has not yet met the new bride and asks if she is as shrewish as reported. Grumio assures him that Petruchio is the greater shrew of the two.
When Petruchio arrives he behaves tyranically, beating his servants for trivial faults. Kate begs her husband not to behave so unjustly. When they sit down to dinner Petruchio claims that the meat is overcooked and storms off to bed with Kate. He reappears and explains his intention to tame the shrew by out-shrewing her: he will mistreat her and deprive her of what she needs, all under the guise of kindness and love. Thus, by insisting that neither her food nor her bed are worthy of her, he will wear out her spirit with lack of nourishment and sleep.
Meanwhile, in Padua, Hortensio is disgusted by the flirtation of Bianca and "Cambio," and shares his disgust with Tranio, who he takes to be noble. At Tranio's suggestion, the two vow to cease pursuing Bianca if she would flirt with a lowly schoolteacher. Hortensio states that he has decided to wed a wealthy widow instead of Bianca, leaving "Cambio" to woo Bianca alone. Biondello rushes in to aid their attempt, claiming that an old Pedant from Mantua approaches. Tranio tricks the Pedant into assuming the guise of Vincentio of Pisa after concocting a story that any Mantuan is to be summarily executed in Padua. The Pedant agrees to the disguise and Tranio fills him in on his courtship of Bianca.
Scene three of the Act finds us back at Petruchio's house, where Kate complains that she is famished. Grumio, like Petruchio, refuses to bring her any food, protesting that none of it is good enough for her. Katharina then loses her temper and beats Grumio. Petruchio enters with a plate of meat and Hortensio by his side. He demands that Katharina thank him for the meat while telling Hortensio to eat it all himself.
Petruchio next tells Katharina that the two of them will shortly return to her father's house, dressed in the best finery. A Haberdasher and Tailor appear, with a cap and gown respectively. Petruchio violently dismisses both items over the protestations of Kate, who likes them. She seems polite and kind compared to Petruchio. Her husband, however, refuses to allow her to dress up, declaring that clothes are of little importance and that he and Kate will arrive at Baptista's "in these honest, mean habiliments." (4.3: 166) He calls for the horses and proclaims he will be at the house by noon. Katharina notes that it is already two o'clock, prompting her husband to berate her for constantly contradicting him.
Scene four takes us to Padua again, where Tranio and the Pedant (disguised as Vincentio), meet with Baptista. "Vincentio" grants his permission for his son and Bianca to be wed and guarantees Bianca a large dower. These claims prove satisfactory for Baptista, who readily agrees to the marriage, but decides against conducting the formal contract and agreement inside his own house, for fear that Gremio and his servants may be listening and might interrupt. Tranio offers his own house, noting that the banquet will not be a grand affair but promising a better one later on in Pisa. Lucentio and Bianca, meanwhile, on Biondello's advice, elope to be married post-haste while Baptista is with Tranio and the Pedant.
In scene five, Kate and Petruchio are on the road to Padua again. Petruchio continues his shrewish behavior, insisting that the sun is the moon and threatening to turn the cart around if Kate doesn't agree. Kate finally begins to play along, agreeing that the sun is the moon and then changing her opinion when Petruchio changes his. This game is interrupted by the appearance of the real Vincentio, Lucentio's father, whom Petruchio refers to as a "gentlewoman" (4.5: 29); he insists that Kate agree, and she does so, calling him a "budding virgin."
A bit shaken by their jesting, Vincentio introduces himself, noting that he is on his way to Padua to visit his son. Petruchio informs the man that they are now family - for Lucentio has married the sister of Katharina. Vincentio is shocked and asks Petruchio if he is joking. Petruchio assures him that he is not and invites Vincentio along. The party leaves, after which Hortensio, alone on the stage, confides that he is encouraged and will now go to the widow he intends to wed.
Summary and Analysis of Act V
Summary
Lucentio, no longer disguised as Cambio, steals away with Bianca to church just before Petruchio, Katharina, Vincentio and Grumio arrive. Vincentio knocks on Lucentio's door, which the Pedant answers. When Vincentio claims to be Lucentio's father, the Pedant denies this and insists that he himself is Lucentio's father. A heated argument ensues and escalates as Vincentio sees Lucentio's servants, Biondello and Tranio, complicit in the deception. Vincentio beats Biondello and accuses Tranio of murdering and impersonating Lucentio. Petruchio and Kate, meanwhile, step aside and enjoy the unfolding farce.
Tranio and Baptista call for an officer, claiming that Vincentio is mad, and the controversy rages until Lucentio and Bianca return from their hasty wedding. Seeing that their game is finally up, Tranio, the Pedant, and Biondello all scatter away. Lucentio pleads for his father's forgiveness, explaining the situation to him and assuring him of Tranio's innocence in the matter. Though still fuming, Vincentio grants his approval of Lucentio and Bianca's union and assures Baptista: "Fear not, [...] we will content you." (5.1: 127) The scene ends with Kate bantering with Petruchio and granting him a reluctant kiss.
In the play's final scene, the assembled company enjoys a banquet in Lucentio's home. There are three newlywed couples - Kate and Petruchio, Lucentio and Bianca and Hortensio and the Widow. The women leave and Baptista remarks that Petruchio has married "the veriest shrew of all." (5.2: 64) Petruchio heartily disagrees, and proposes a wager - the men agree on a hundred crowns - to determine "whose wife is most obedient." (5.2: 67) Both Hortensio and Lucentio bid their wives to come as part of the bargain, and both wives refuse. The one wife who does follow the order is, to all but Petruchio's surprise, Katharina. Petruchio, to prove the point even further, asks Katharina to bring forth the other two wives, which she promptly does. Petruchio then requests that she "tell these headstrong women/What duty they do owe their lords and husbands." (5.2: 134-135) Katharina does as asked, delivering a long speech on a wife's duty to her husband.
Analysis
The crux of most negative criticism of The Taming of the Shrew is Katharina's final monologue. Indeed, it is hard to accept such lines as these: "Such duty as the subject owes the prince,/Even such a woman oweth to her husband;/And when she is forward, peevish, sullen, sour,/And not obedient to his honest will,/What is she but a foul contending rebel/And graceless traitor to her loving lord?" (5.2: 159-164) How are modern audiences to take such a blatant affirmation of sexism, of female subjugation before the male "lord"?
But perhaps we need not take the speech at face value at all. A strong current of irony runs through it. To consider first its role in the dramatic symmetry of the play as a whole, Kate's speech can be read as an answer, from the woman's part, to Lucentio's own opening monologue. These lengthy chunks of speech serve as bookends to the drama. Both follow the mold of classical convention laid out in ancient Greek theater: the expositive salvo at the beginning and the moralistic coda at the end, in which the lessons learned are summarized and the meaning of the play is made clear.
Needless to say, these conventions had been tampered with well before Shakespeare's time. Even the Greeks themselves didn't always rigidly follow them. Nonetheless, Shakespeare went farther than any dramatist before his time in approaching comedy with tongue firmly in cheek. Katharina's closing monologue may be an elaborate joke. Just as Lucentio's lofty language at the play's beginning was coupled with an erotic undertone, so too the pomposity of Katharina's language contrasts with her subject matter.
She repeatedly alludes to royalty and to the machinations of government: "thy lord, thy king, thy governor" (5.2: 142); "thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,/Thy head, thy sovereign" (5.2: 150-151); "tribute" (5.2: 156); "prince" (5.2: 159); "loving lord" (5.2: 164); "rule, supremacy, and sway" (5.2: 167); "duty" (5.2: 182). She invokes war and battle - "our lances" (5.2: 177) - and the hardships of nature - "To painful labor both by sea and land,/To watch the night in storms, the day in cold." (5.2: 153-154) And what is she actually talking about? Marriage. True, marriage may be an important institution, but one would never know it from the way it is treated in Shrew. Courtship and marriage is the butt of jokes, games, disguises, innuendoes. In short, marriage is theater in The Taming of the Shrew. Just so, Katharina's speech, in the context of the play that precedes it, is deeply ironic. It would be one thing if, after subjecting her to such a cruel battery of taming techniques, Petruchio made the speech; but the fact that Katharina is given the last word - and also the longest speech in the play - is itself enough to raise an eyebrow. Perhaps Kate's speech is her way of putting on yet another act, of wryly offering one more illusion. According to this reading, Kate's subjection is a form of grand sarcasm, as she pretends to genuflect before the childish men who have spent so much of the play in comic confusion. This is how you play their game, she seems to say between the lines, and this is how you beat them at it.
Suggested Essay Questions
1. Is The Taming of the Shrew misogynistic? What might constitute a feminist interpretation of the play?
2. Trace the motif of the disguise throughout the play. Consider, in particular, the issue of willful disguise v. unwitting disguise (i.e. Sly v. Tranio). Can both be considered "acting"?
3. Why the Induction? Examine the ways in which the story of Christopher Sly continues to permeate through the play-within-a-play. Are we meant to view Sly as a reflection of ourselves?
4. Analyze the famous battle of wits between Petruchio and Katharina when they first meet. Consider the role that language plays in their rapport. Is their use of language straightforward or ambiguous, honest or duplicitous, or all of these things?
5. In what sense can The Taming of the Shrew be viewed as a morality play? What have the various characters learned by the end? Have they learned anything at all? Focusing in particular on the final banquet scene, examine the possibility that a moral framework, grounded in the evolution of character, governs Shakespeare's narrative.
6. Discuss the issue of class in the play. Consider the possibility that Tranio may play the role of nobleman better than his master does.
7. Analyze the juxtaposition in tone and space of the two plot strands in Act IV. What is Shakespeare saying about city v. country, courtship v. marriage, love v. contempt?
8. Compare Tranio and Grumio, the two most prominent servants in the play. One gets to don a disguise, the other does not. In what ways are the characters similar, in what ways are they different? Most importantly, to what extent does each of them reflect his master?
9. Analyze Katharina's final monologue. What is she thinking, what is Shakespeare thinking, and what are we meant to think? Compare it to Lucentio's opening speech.
10. Discuss the role that money plays in the narrative. Consider Petruchio and Baptista in particular.
******************************************************************************
The Winter's Tale
by William Shakespeare

Short Summary
Without any good cause, Leontes, King of Sicilia, suddenly comes to believe that his wife Hermione is having an adulterous affair with his best friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia. He orders Camillo, his trusted friend and advisor, to poison Polixenes. Camillo is torn between loyalty to his king and following his conscience. He chooses his conscience, and rather than obey his king he helps Polixenes to escape back to Bohemia.
When he hears of their flight, Leontes is convinced that his wife and his two best friends have been plotting against him. He has Hermione, who is pregnant, thrown into jail. Hermione has the baby while imprisoned. Paulina, a fearless noblewoman loyal to the queen, brings the baby to Leontes in hopes that the sight of the child will bring the king to his senses. Instead, the king orders Paulina's husband, Antigonus, to abandon the child in a remote area. If he does not do so, Paulina will be executed. Heartsick, Antigonus goes to do as the king commands. Hermione is put on trial. There is no real evidence, but Leontes has dispatched messengers to the oracle of Apollo at Delphos. The oracle proclaims Hermione innocent; it also warns that Leontes will be without an heir until the infant daughter is found. Leontes rejects the news, and a servant enters to tell him that Prince Mamillius has died. Leontes repents; Hermione dies of grief.
Meanwhile, Antigonus takes the baby to Bohemia. In a dream, Hermione's ghost names the child Perdita and tells Antigonus that because of his part in the abandonment of the child, he will never be allowed to see his wife again. Antigonus is eaten by a bear. The little girl, along with the gold and tokens left with her, is found by a Shepherd and his son. The Shepherd vows to raise her as his own.
Father Time, the Chorus, announces the passage of sixteen years. We are now in Bohemia, where Camillo has served the King of Bohemia since their flight from Sicilia. Camillo now longs to return home to see his country and the now-penitent king he left behind. Polixenes simply cannot do without the able administrator. He persuades Camillo to go with him in disguise to the house of the Sheperd's daughter that the king's son, Prince Florizell, has reputedly been visiting.
Autolycus, a likable rogue dismissed from service to Prince Florizell, swindles the Shepherd's Son out of some cash. He hears of the upcoming sheep shearing festival, and he resolves to use the celebration to con more money out of the revelers.
Florizell and Perdita talk before the festival. The two youngsters are obviously deeply in love, although Perdita is afraid of what will happen if the king finds out about their relationship. At the festival, Florizell declares his love for the shepherdess in front of his disguised father. The outraged king threatens to disown Florizell and execute Perdita before storming off in anger. Camillo promises to help the two young lovers; he tells them to go to the court of King Leontes, who will receive them as honored guests. He calls on Autolycus, who has been swindling guests at the festival, to change clothes with the prince so that Florizell can escape the country incognito. Afterward, the Shepherd and his son, fearing for the safety, discuss ways to approach the king with the news that Perdita is a foundling. Autolycus overhears them, and he hopes to win advancement by helping his prince. He pretends to be an important courtier and promises to bring them to the king.
In Sicilia, Paulina convinces the king never to marry again unless she chooses the bride. Florizell and Perdita arrive, and Leontes greets them warmly. But a messenger arrives soon afterward, telling Leontes that Polixenes has arrived searching for his son. Leontes promises to be Florizell's advocate. In the next scene, through a conversation between three gentleman and Autolycus, we hear of how Perdita's true parentage was revealed. With all present, the Shepherd and the Shepherd's Son produced the items found with Perdita, which prove without a doubt that she is Leontes' long lost daughter. The two royal families and their closest friends and advisors go to Paulina's house, where an artist has crafted a beautiful statue of Hermione. While they are viewing the statue, Paulina brings Hermione to life, miraculously resurrecting the queen. The reunited families and their friends go to talk of all that has happened in the sixteen years that they have been apart.
Character List
Leontes, King of Sicilia
Husband of Hermione, father of Perdita. Leontes' delusional conviction that his wife and best friend have become lovers causes all of the problems of the play. He abuses his authority as king, bringing ruin and eventual death on his blameless wife and son, as well as the loss of his infant daughter. He grieves for sixteen years, until his wife and daughter are miraculously restored to him.
Hermione, Queen of Sicilia
Blameless queen and loving mother, Hermione is a model of passive virtue and forgiveness. Obedient to her husband's wishes and ultimately loyal to him despite his treatment of her, she bears his outrageous tyranny with dignity and strength. She dies of grief and shock after her son dies, but at the end of the play she is miraculously restored by Paulina.
Perdita, Princess of Sicilia
A foundling abandoned in the wilds of Bohemia by the tyrannous order of her father, Perdita grows to strength and beauty under the roof of the kindly Shepherd who finds her. She is unaware of her royal parentage, and lives happily in an idyllic world of sheep tending and rural festivals. Her romance with Bohemia's prince threatens her safety, and she is forced to flee with him to Sicilia.
Mamillius, Prince of Sicilia
Praised by all at court as a boy of great promise, Mamillius is the charming and beloved heir of the Sicilian throne. Still a young child, he dies from worry during his mother's trial.
Polixenes, King of Bohemia
Polixenes, best friend of Leontes since boyhood, is targeted for assassination by Sicilia's king in the first act. Leontes believes that Polixenes has become Hermione's lover. Later, Polixenes' son Florizell falls in love with Perdita. Polixenes becomes furious that his son is planning to marry a commoner, and he threatens the girl with execution.
Florizell, Prince of Bohemia
Florizell is willing to abandon his throne to marry Perdita. A wholesome, loyal youth, his devotion for Perdita is beyond question.
Paulina
Wife of Antigonus and lady at the Sicilian court, Paulina becomes Leontes' most important advisor after the king becomes penitent for his previous tyrannous behavior. Fearless and sharp-tongued, she confronts the king fiercely when he is caught in his delusions about Hermione. At the end of the play, her magic restores the queen.
Camillo
Competent administrator and trusted friend, Camillo is a lord first in the service of Leontes and then in the service of Polixenes. When Leontes orders him to poison Bohemia's king, Camillo chooses the dictates of his conscience over obedience.
Antigonus
Husband of Paulina, Antigonus is a decent man who tries ineffectively to bring Leontes back to reason. Under oath to obey his king, Antigonus carries the infant Perdita to the wilds of Bohemia and abandons her. The gods punish him for his part in the unjust act, and he is eaten by a bear.
Shepherd
This kindly old man finds the infant Perdita and raises her as his own child. For his kindness, he is richly rewarded by King Leontes.
Shepherd's Son
Called "Clown" in some editions, the Shepherd's Son is a rustic and naïve man whose bumbling, rural ways provide comic relief. He is duped by Autolycus.
Autolycus
Formerly in the service of Florizell, Autolycus is now a rogue who cons innocents out of their money. Yet he, too, proves loyal to his prince. Because of his actions, Perdita's true identity is uncovered.
Mopsa and Dorcas
Two country girls involved with the Shepherd's Son.
Emilia
Lady-in-waiting to Hermione.
Cleomenes and Dion
Lords in the Sicilian court, Cleomenes and Dion are sent by Leontes to consult the oracle of Apollo.
Jailer
Hermione's jailer. He allows Paulina to speak with Emilia, and he also allows Paulina to take the baby to Leontes.
Officer at the Court
Officer who works at Hermione's trial.
Archidamus
Bohemian courtier staying as a guest in Sicilia.
Mariner
Sailor on the ship that carries Antigonus and Perdita to Bohemia.
Various Lords, Ladies, Gentlemen, and Servants at the Sicilian Court
Various Shepherds, Shepherdesses, and Men Dressed as Satyrs
Summary of Act 1:
Summary Scene i:
Scene One is a short conversation between Archidamus, a Bohemian courtier, and Camillo, a Sicilian courtier and trusted friend of Leontes, King of Sicilia. Archidamus praises the generous hospitality he has been treated to in Sicilia, apologizing for any inadequacies Camillo might experience should he travel to Bohemia. Camillo talks about the friendship between Leontes and Polixenes, King of Bohemia. The two rulers were raised together since boyhood, although now their responsibilities as kings keep them apart. Both courtiers agree that Prince Mamillius of Sicilia shows great promise.
Summary Scene ii:
Enter Leontes, Hermione, Mamillius, Polixenes, Camillo, and Attendants. Polixenes proclaims his intent to return home. He has been staying as a guest in the court of Leontes for nine months, and he fears that troubles may start at home if he stays away much longer. Leontes tries, without any success, to convince Polixenes to stay a short while longer. At Leontes' request, Hermione, Leontes' queen, tries to convince Polixenes to stay. She is eloquent and persuasive, and Polixenes gives in. She then asks to hear more stories from the kings' boyhood days together. Polixenes paints a picture of innocence and pure friendship in days before the two men knew anything of women. Hermione is extremely affectionate to Polixenes, treating him with great love because he is her husband's best and oldest friend.
In asides to the audience, Leontes reveals that he is insanely jealous of Polixenes and Hermione. He is convinced that they are secretly committing adultery, although he has no hard evidence on which to base his suspicions. In full view of the others, he asks his young son Mamillius questions loaded with double meanings about whether or not the child is his boy. When Hermione and Polixenes ask if Leontes is feeling well, he replies that he is only unsettled because Mamillius reminds him of himself in the days of his own childhood. Leontes asks if Polixenes' son back in Bohemia is as dear as Mamillius, and Polixenes speaks of the great love he has for his own boy. Hermione, Polixenes, and the Attendants exit, leaving Leontes to continue his strange, angry conversation with his uncomprehending son.
Mamillius exits, and Leontes, in an aside, speaks of how the tryst between Polixenes and Hermione must be obvious to everyone. He questions Camillo, who is clearly unaware of the king's suspicions. The king, convinced that Camillo is either stupid or playing dumb, grows increasingly irate. When he finally tells Camillo of what he suspects, the advisor is horrified and does not believe it. Leontes' grows increasingly furious, and Camillo, seeing the king's conviction, seems to give in. At Leontes' expressed desire to see Polixenes dead of poison, he offers to carry out the task. His condition is that Leontes' keep the queen in her present status, and do nothing to stain her honor. The king agrees, and Camillo affirms again that he will poison Polixenes.
The king leaves, and Camillo reveals to the audience that he is horrified by the task set before him. He is a loyal courtier, but he believes Polixenes and Hermione are innocent. He resolves not to do it. Polixenes enters, disturbed by his most recent brush with Leontes. He asks Camillo about the change in the king's manner, and Camillo initially refuses to give a straightforward answer. When Polixenes continues to entreat Camillo, worried that his safety might be at risk, Camillo tells him the truth. He agrees to help Polixenes, using his authority as Leontes' most trusted advisor to ensure a safe escape for Polixenes and all of his men. Camillo says that he will serve at Polixenes' court, since in helping Polixenes he can no longer stay in Sicilia. Polixenes' ship has been ready for departure for days, and Polixenes assures Camillo that he will remember this service.
Summary of Act 2:
Summary Scene i:
Hermione sits with her ladies-in-waiting and Mamillius. The child is mischievous and charming, delighting his mother and her ladies with irreverent humor. Leontes enters with Antigonus and various unnamed lords. They are telling him about the flight of Camillo and Polixenes, and their news makes Leontes feel certain that his suspicions were correct. He now believes that Camillo was a double agent working for Polixenes. He has Mamillius taken from Hermione, and he cruelly insults Hermione in full view of the lords and Hermione's ladies. He says that she has committed adultery, and Hermione bears his insults with dignity. When he tells her that she is to be put in prison, she insists that her ladies accompany her because she is pregnant and needs their help. The lords weep as she is escorted out, and she tells them that they would have reason to weep if she were guilty; for the innocent, suffering leads to grace. She brings her women with her as she goes to her prison.
Antigonus tries without success to make Leontes reconsider his suspicions. He professes absolute faith in the queen's virtue, but Leontes remains unconvinced. From Leontes' point of view, the truth of the matter is apparent, and he seeks no counsel from his men in determining whether or not his suspicions are correct; he has been all the more convinced by Camillo's flight. The king announces that he has sent messengers to Apollo's oracle at Delphos to ask about the queen's fidelity. Although he has no doubt as to what the answer will be, the oracle will at least put the minds of his subjects at ease.
Summary Scene ii:
Paulina, courtier and wife of Antigonus, tries to see the queen in her cell, but the guard will not let her pass. Instead, the jailer will allow Emilia, one of Hermione's ladies-in-waiting, to come out and speak for the queen. Emilia reveals that Hermione has had her baby, a healthy daughter. Paulina resolves to take the baby to the king, in hopes that the sight of his daughter will restore his senses to him. The jailer has anxieties about releasing the child, but Paulina convinces him that the baby should not be in prison. She also assures him that she will protect him from harm.
Summary Scene iii:
Leontes, alone, speaks of burning the queen to put his mind at rest. A servant enters, and from their conversation we learn that Prince Mamillius has been sick since his mother's imprisonment. Leontes tells the servant to tend to the boy. He then bemoans the fact that he cannot harm Polixenes, whose kingdom and allies put him beyond Leontes' reach. Since he cannot harm Camillo and Polixenes, he will satisfy himself by dealing with Hermione. Paulina enters, along with Antigonus, servants, and lords. She fearlessly confronts the king, defending the queen's innocence and condemning the king's tyrannical behavior. She refuses to do anything but praise the queen's character. The king mocks Antigonus for being unable to control his wife, but Paulina brushes these comments aside. She tries to convince the king that the infant is his by pointing out the strong physical resemblance between the monarch and the child, but the king remains unmoved. He keeps telling Antigonus to control his wife better, but Antigonus does not bother trying. Paulina leaves the child, hoping that Leontes will soften and come to his senses. The king orders Antigonus to destroy the child. Leontes accuses Antigonus of instructing his wife to behave as she has, which Antigonus denies, with the lords backing his word. The king refuses to believe them. He asks Antigonus what he would be willing to sacrifice to save the child's life, and Antigonus replies that he would give anything. Leontes asks him to swear to do his bidding, in order to save the life of the child, and Antigonus swears. The king orders Antigonus to take the child and leave it in a wild and remote place, to be saved or killed according to the dictates of chance. If Antigonus does not do so, he and Paulina will both be executed. Antigonus is compelled to obey because he has given his word, but he is loath to carry out the king's orders. He goes to it miserably. A servant enters with the news that Dion and Cleomenes have arrived back from the oracle. Leontes announces his attention to have the queen put on trial.
Summary of Act 3:
Summary Scene i:
Cleomenes and Dion, the courtiers dispatched by Leontes to the oracle at Delphi, speak with wonder about the ceremony they witnessed at the shrine. They hope that the oracle's judgment will help Queen Hermione.
Summary Scene ii:
The trial of Hermione. With dignity and restraint, Hermione defends her chastity and condemns the injustice that has been done to her. Leontes remains as stubborn and angry as ever, attacking and threatening Hermione while she counters him eloquently. An officer breaks the seal on the message from the oracle and reads: Hermione, Polixenes, and Camillo are innocent and Leontes is a jealous tyrant. The oracle also predicts that Leontes will be without an heir unless the lost daughter is found.
The court is delighted, but Leontes denounces the words of the oracle as false. But then a servant enters, bringing terrible news: Prince Mamillius is dead, killed by anxiety about his mother's fate. Leontes believes that the gods have killed the child as punishment to the king, and finally he realizes that he has been in error. Hermione swoons, and is helped out of the room by Paulina and several officers. Leontes is now fully penitent, asking the gods' forgiveness and promising to make amends. Paulina reenters and lashes out at the king, condemning his tyranny and jealousy. Hermione is dead. Paulina continues to rebuke the king harshly, but when she sees his grief and penitence she regrets her roughness. Leontes says that he will have queen and prince buried in the same grave, and he will grieve for the rest of his days.
Summary Scene iii:
Antigonus, carrying the baby, enters with a mariner. They have set down on the shores of Bohemia, and the sailor is nervous because the sky is threatening. He fears the gods are angry with them because of what they are doing, and he warns Antigonus not to wander too far or too long, because this land is famous for its wild beasts. After the sailor exits, Antigonus tells the baby that he saw Hermione's spirit last night in a dream. The ghost wept and then told him that the child's name is Perdita, because she is lost. Hermione's ghost also informed Antigonus that because of his hand in the child's abandonment, Antigonus will never see his wife again. Antigonus believes that the dream is a sign of Hermione's death. He has either come to believe or forced himself to believe Leontes' suspicions, and so he is abandoning the child in the wilds of Bohemia, the land of her supposed father. He leaves the child with a bundle and a box. He regrets his task, but he feels bound by his oath. Then he suddenly exits, pursued by a bear.
A Shepherd wanders onstage, complaining about young people and looking for two lost sheep; instead of finding them, he stumbles onto Perdita. He believes she must be the unwanted illegitimate offspring of two servants, and he resolves to take care of her. His son enters, having just witnessed two fantastic scenes. On the sea, a ship was swallowed up by the waves, and on land, a bear killed and began to devour a nobleman. The Shepherd's Son has no idea who these victims were, although the audience knows immediately that he is talking about Antigonus and the ship that carried him from Sicilia. The Shepherd feels pity for the dead, but he also has great hope for the child that he has found: "Thou met'st with things dying, I with things newborn" (3.3.119-20). The Shepherd and his son find that the box left with the baby is full of gold, and he now believes that the child is a changeling, a child left by fairies. The Shepherd's Son announces his intent to return to the scene of the bear attack so he can bury whatever is left of the nobleman's body.
Summary of Act 4:
Summary Scene i:
Father Time, the chorus of this play, tells the audience that sixteen years have passed since the end of Act 3. We leave behind Leontes, grieving in Sicilia, and come to Bohemia. Perdita, now a young woman, grows in grace and beauty. Father Time asks us also to remember that Polixenes has a son, Florizell, who is now a young man.
Summary Scene ii:
Camillo is asking Polixenes to allow him to return home. Leontes has asked Camillo to come back, and Camillo longs to see his homeland and his old master. Polixenes has come to depend on Camillo's administrative abilities, and urges the courtier to stay. Their conversation implies that Bohemia and Sicilia enjoy restored relations, although the friendship between the kings has never recovered. Polixenes asks if Camillo knows the whereabouts of Prince Florizell, who lately is often absent. The king has heard that Florizell often visits the house of a shepherd who has a beautiful daughter. He asks Camillo to go with him, disguised, in order to find out what Florizell has been doing.
Summary Scene iii:
Autolycus, a young man formerly in the service of the prince, now makes his living as a con artist. He pretends that he has been wounded by highway robbers. The unsuspecting Shepherd's Son, out buying supplies and ingredients for the sheep-shearing feast, stops to help him. While the Shepherd's Son is distracted, the rogue swipes the dim man's purse. When Autolycus hears about the sheep-shearing festival, he sees an opportunity to strike again.
Summary Scene iv:
Florizell and Perdita speak to each other lovingly at the Shepherd's house. She wears a nice dress for the festival, while the prince is disguised as a young peasant. We learn that they first met because his hunting falcon flew out over the grounds of Perdita's home. Florizell is aglow with love for Perdita, but she is nervous about the prince's rank. She fears that if his father finds out, it will be a disaster for her and her family. We learn that although the two youths are in love, they have not consummated the affair. Florizell tells Perdita that he will risk being disowned for her.
Enter the Shepherd, the Shepherd's Son, Mopsa, Dorcas, shepherds and shepherdesses, servants, musicians, and Polixenes and Camillo in disguise. The Shepherd encourages his daughter to devote herself wholeheartedly to the role of hostess, describing how his deceased wife was a hostess worth emulating. Perdita obeys her father and is charming and gracious to the guests. Polixenes and Camillo are impressed by the girl's beauty and bearing. Polixenes talks to the Shepherd, asking the identity of the young man with Perdita. The Shepherd does not know Florizell's true identity; he believes that Florizell is a country youth named Doricles. He tells the disguised king that the boy and Perdita are in love, and the Shepherd approves of the match. A servant announces the approach of a ballad-singer selling ribbons and other trinkets, and the Shepherd's Son eagerly calls for him to be brought in. Perdita warns that the ballad singer must not use obscene words. In comes the singer, who is none other than Autolycus. He sings a song about the wares he sells. We learn that the Shepherd's Son and the girl Mopsa are a pair, although Dorcas often playfully flirts with him. The three sing a ballad with Autolycus, and they all exit, with the Shepherd's Son promising to buy trifles for both women.
A servant announces the approach of rustics who have dressed themselves as satyrs. The Shepherd, worried that he is boring his guests with too much "homely foolery," is about to send the satyrs away, but Polixenes is delighted by the prospect of dancing satyrs and insists that they be brought in. After the dance, Polixenes chats with Florizell, who has not recognized him. Florizell eloquently proclaims his love of Perdita, and Perdita indicates that she feels the same way. The Shepherd approves the match. The disguised Polixenes asks Florizell if he has a father, and if his father knows of this match. Florizell admits that his father knows nothing, nor will he know. Polixenes presses him to tell his father, and the Shepherd agrees that Florizell's father should know. When Florizell still refuses to share the important news with his father, Polixenes reveals himself. Furious, he disowns his son and threatens the Shepherd and Perdita. The Shepherd will escape harm this time, but if Perdita sees Florizell again she will be executed. Polixenes exits. Perdita was about to tell him that the same sun shines on the court and on her cottage, but now the chance is past and her concern is for the safety of her and her family. She asks Florizell to leave. The Shepherd is angry with both children for their deception, and he exits in a huff. Florizell is undeterred by his father's disapproval. He still wants to marry Perdita. Camillo, now revealed, tries to caution the prince about rash behavior, but the prince has made his choice. He will marry Perdita and, if necessary, flee Bohemia. In an aside, Camillo wonders if he can help the prince to escape as well as use the event to his advantage, so that he can once again see Sicilia and his old master, King Leontes.
Camillo has a plan. Florizell and Perdita should go to Sicilia, where King Leontes will welcome them. In their absence, Camillo will try to convince Polixenes to accept his son's decision. Florizell and Perdita will pretend to be emissaries of Polixenes, with letters and instructions from Camillo to make the act believable. Autolycus re-enters, having sold all of his junk. Camillo pays him to switch clothes with Florizell, so that the prince can escape in disguise. The hat is given to Perdita. In an aside, Camillo reveals that he will tell the king where the children have gone, in hopes that the king will follow them to Sicilia. Camillo will accompany him, and the old courtier will be able to see his homeland once again. Perdita, Camillo, and Florizell exit. Autolycus knows Camillo and the prince, but he decides not to tell the king, because the act of honesty would not suit his knavish character.
The Shepherd and the Shepherd's Son re-enter, discussing their plight. The Shepherd's Son convinces the Shepherd that they must tell Polixenes that Perdita is a changeling. Autolycus approaches them, pretending to be a great courtier. He warns the men that the king is furious, and fools them into believing that the king plans brutal tortures for all those involved in Florizell's courtship of Perdita. He tells them that if needs be, he will present them to the king and put in a good word for them. The Shepherd and the Shepherd's Son are duped, and they give Autolycus gold to thank him for his help. Autolycus reveals in an aside to the audience that he will work to benefit his old master, the prince, in hopes that he may achieve some advancement. While helping the prince, there is no hurt in conning the peasants out of a little more gold.
Summary of Act 5:
Summary Scene i:
The courtiers comfort Leontes, who has never forgiven himself for the deaths of Mamillius and Hermione. Paulina's words to the king include a dose of harsh honesty. Though the other courtiers want him to remarry, Paulina urges him not to do it. She reminds him of Apollo's prophecy, which proclaimed that Leontes would have no heir unless the lost daughter were found. To remarry for the purposes of producing an heir would therefore be futile. She persuades him never to remarry again unless Paulina chooses the bride. Leontes agrees, and Paulina says that if she is to have her way, he will never marry until his queen draws breath again.
A servant announces the arrival of Florizell and his wife. Because the visit is sudden and unexpected, Leontes suspects that Florizell comes because of some accident or disaster. The servant praises Florizell's wife, whom he has assumed is a princess. When he says that the princess is peerless among women past and present, Paulina takes exception to the compliment, because she will not have her old queen, Hermione, ranked second to anyone. The servant apologizes but promises that Paulina, too, will be awed by the girl.
Florizell and Perdita enter, and Leontes greets them with great emotion and warmth. Florizell pretends that Perdita is a princess of Libya, and that they are newly married. But a servant interrupts them, bringing news that Polixenes is in Sicilia. He has come for his son, who fled Bohemia with a shepherd's daughter. The Shepherd and the Shepherd's Son are with him. Florizell correctly infers that Camillo has betrayed him. To Perdita's great alarm, the servant reports that Shepherd and Shepherd's Son were begging the king for mercy, who ignored their pleas and threatened them with great harm. Leontes is not angry about the deception, and he speaks comforting words to the prince. Florizell asks Leontes to speak on behalf of the young couple, and the king promises that he will try to help them.
Summary Scene ii:
The truth about Perdita's parentage has been revealed. We never see the event happen onstage; instead, we hear about it in a conversation between three gentleman and Autolycus. When the Shepherd produced the items that he found with the infant Perdita, which included garments and jewels that belonged to Hermione and letters written by Antigonus, all those present realized the truth. The two royal families and their attendant advisors and friends were overcome by joy and sorrow. Paulina rejoiced to see the oracle fulfilled, but she mourned for the loss of her husband. Leontes was overwhelmed by the miraculous return of his daughter, but it reminded him afresh of Hermione's death. The whole scene, one gentleman promised, would have moved anyone who witnessed it. Leontes, Polixenes, Florizell, Perdita, Camillo, Paulina, and various lords have all gone to Paulina's house. There, a statue of Hermione is nearing completion. They go there to view the statue and sup together.
Alone with the audience, Autolycus says that earlier on the prince's ship he tried to tell Florizell that Perdita was a foundling, but Perdita and Florizell were too busy with seasickness to listen to him. His chances for advancement seem slim, but he takes it all in stride. The Shepherd and the Shepherd's Son enter, now decked out in fine clothes. They are overjoyed at their new good fortune, proclaiming themselves to be gentlemen; kings and courtiers have thanked them and called them brother for taking care of Perdita. Autolycus asks forgiveness for the tricks he played on them, and he also requests that they put in a good word for him with Florizell. The Shepherd's Son promises to be his advocate.
Summary Scene iii:
In Paulina's house, Paulina draws back the curtain to reveal the statue of Hermione. The statue is remarkably lifelike, and it is made to look like an older Hermione, as if the queen had lived and aged these past sixteen years. The likeness of Hermione stirs up deep emotions for Perdita, who has never known a mother. Leontes is moved to great sorrow by the statue, and Paulina offers repeatedly to draw the curtain so as to spare him pain. Paulina then offers to make the statue move, although she fears to do so if any consider this magic unnatural. At the king's urging, Paulina wakes the statue, miraculously restoring Hermione to life. All are amazed. Hermione takes her king by the hand. Paulina presents Perdita to Hermione, and the queen lovingly asks her daughter to tell her everything that has happened while the queen has been gone. Paulina encourages them to go together and enjoy the reunification of their family, while she stays behind to mourn the loss of Antigonus. Leontes tells her to leave her sorrow behind. He wants her to fulfill her vow to take a husband of the king's choosing, just as he agreed to remarry the wife she chose for him. (Although we have heard earlier of Leontes' vow to Paulina to take a wife of her choosing, this is the first time we have heard of her making a similar vow to him.) Leontes chooses Camillo, a perfect match for Paulina. For all the wrongs he committed against Polixenes and Hermione, Leontes begs forgiveness. With Paulina leading the way, the characters exit. Finally, reunited family and friends will share what has happened to them since their separation sixteen years ago.

















Shakespearean Theater:
Before Shakespeare¹s time and during his boyhood, troupes of actors performed wherever they could ­ in halls, courts, courtyards, and any other open spaces available. However, in 1574, when Shakespeare was ten years old, the Common Council passed a law requiring plays and theaters in London to be licensed. In 1576, actor and future Lord Chamberlain's Man, James Burbage, built the first permanent theater, called "The Theatre", outside London city walls. After this many more theaters were established, including the Globe Theatre, which was where most of Shakespeare's plays premiered.
Elizabethan theaters were generally built after the design of the original Theatre. Built of wood, these theaters comprised three tiers of seats in a circular shape, with a stage area on one side of the circle. The audience's seats and part of the stage were roofed, but much of the main stage and the area in front of the stage in the center of the circle were open to the elements. About 1,500 audience members could pay extra money to sit in the covered seating areas, while about 800 "groundlings" paid less money to stand in this open area before the stage. The stage itself was divided into three levels: a main stage area with doors at the rear and a curtained area in the back for "discovery scenes"; an upper, canopied area called "heaven" for balcony scenes; and an area under the stage called "hell," accessed by a trap door in the stage. There were dressing rooms located behind the stage, but no curtain in the front of the stage, which meant that scenes had to flow into each other, and "dead bodies" had to be dragged off.
Performances took place during the day, using natural light from the open center of the theater. Since there could be no dramatic lighting and there was very little scenery or props, audiences relied on the actors' lines and stage directions to supply the time of day and year, the weather, location, and mood of the scenes. Shakespeare's plays masterfully supply this information . For example, in Hamlet the audience learns within the first twenty lines of dialogue where the scene takes place ("Have you had quiet guard?"), what time of day it is ("'Tis now strook twelf"), what the weather is like ("'Tis bitter cold"), and what mood the characters are in ("and I am sick at heart").
One important difference between plays written in Shakespeare's time and those written today is that Elizabethan plays were published after their performances, sometimes even after their authors' deaths, and were in many ways a record of what happened on stage during these performances rather than directions for what should happen. Actors were allowed to suggest changes to scenes and dialogue and had much more freedom with their parts than actors today. Shakespeare's plays are no exception. In Hamlet, for instance, much of the plot revolves around the fact that Hamlet writes his own scene to be added to a play in order to ensnare his murderous father.
Shakespeare's plays were published in various forms and with a wide variety of accuracy during his time. The discrepancies between versions of his plays from one publication to the next make it difficult for editors to put together authoritative editions of his works. Plays could be published in large anthologies called Folios (the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays contains 36 plays) or smaller Quartos. Folios were so named because of the way their paper was folded in half to make chunks of two pages each which were sewn together to make a large volume. Quartos were smaller, cheaper books containing only one play. Their paper was folded twice, making four pages. In general, the First Folio is of better quality than the quartos. Therefore, plays that are printed in the First Folio are much easier for editors to compile.
Although Shakespeare's language and classical references seem archaic to some modern readers, they were commonplace to his audiences. His viewers came from all classes, and his plays appealed to all kinds of sensibilities, from "highbrow" accounts of kings and queens of old to the "lowbrow" blunderings of clowns and servants. Even his most tragic plays include clown characters for comic relief and to comment on the events of the play. Audiences would have been familiar with his numerous references to classical mythology and literature, since these stories were staples of the Elizabethan knowledge base. While Shakespeare¹s plays appealed to all levels of society and included familiar story lines and themes, they also expanded his audiences' vocabularies. Many phrases and words that we use today, like "amazement," "in my mind's eye," and "the milk of human kindness" were coined by Shakespeare. His plays contain a greater variety and number of words than almost any other work in the English language, showing that he was quick to innovate, had a huge vocabulary, and was interested in using new phrases and words.

KING LEAR
Short Summary:
Act I:
The Earls Kent and Gloucester discuss the division of King Lear's kingdom. Lear has divided the kingdom into three parts, allotting the largest to Cordelia, his most favored of the three daughters. Lear first addresses his two eldest daughters, asking them to express their love for him before they and their husbands will receive the land he has allotted for them. It is a selfish request and Goneril, the eldest, responds readily. Regan answers his request next, attempting to outdo her sister, and thus says that she has given all of her love to Lear. Cordelia finds her sisters extremely boorish in their exaggerated and completely insincere flattery and refuses to participate. Upon her turn, she tells Lear that she loves him as her duty as a daughter requires but no more, as she will save some of her love for her soon to be husband. Lear becomes extremely angry but Cordelia still refuses to stoop to the level of her sisters. As a result, Lear strips Cordelia of her inheritance and her title. Kent steps in to support Cordelia's behavior but Lear will hear none of it. Insulted by Kent's opposition, Lear banishes him from the kingdom. The suitors then learn of Cordelia's position. Burgundy cannot accept her as a mate without the promised entitlements but France finds her more endearing in her sincerity and makes her his wife, Queen of France. Goneril and Regan plot to take all of Lear's power out of his hands quickly.
Edmund, Gloucester's bastard son, vows to steal the land and legitimacy of his half brother Edgar by manipulating both father and brother against each other. His father sees him hiding a letter he is carrying and forces him to show it. It is a fabricated letter from Edgar asking for Edmund's help in overturning their father. Gloucester is enraged but Edmund tells him to not jump to conclusions until he can arrange a meeting between himself and Edgar. Edmund then finds Edgar and alerts him to Gloucester's anger, suggesting he flee to Edmund's house and stay armed.
Lear resides with Goneril, who plans to drive him out of her residence and to her sister's by pretending that his knights and servants are creating havoc. She orders her servants to treat Lear coldly. Kent returns disguised and becomes Lear's servant, Caius. Lear is outraged at Goneril's charges and the coldness against him and his train. He curses Goneril and her unborn children before leaving for Regan's home. Albany reproaches Goneril for her treatment of Lear. Goneril sends her servant, Oswald, to warn her sister.
Act II:
Edmund hears from a courier that there are rumors of conflict between Albany and Cornwall. He uses this idea when he encounters Edgar, informing him that he has offended both parties and is in danger. Upon hearing Gloucester, Edmund has Edgar draw his sword and then run off. Edmund wounds himself and pretends it was received in his duel with Edgar because Edgar had wished to kill Gloucester. Gloucester sends men out to capture Edgar and promises Edmund the land to which he has never been privileged. Regan and Cornwall, who have traveled to Gloucester's castle to escape Lear's arrival, hear of Edgar's betrayal and place their trust with Edmund.
Oswald and Kent meet at Gloucester's castle, both delivering messages. Kent insults him for his previous treatment of Lear and begins to strike him. The noise brings Cornwall, Regan, Gloucester, and Edmund. Cornwall and Regan place Kent in the stocks as punishment. Lear arrives to find him there but cannot believe his own daughter and son-in-law were responsible. His Fool continuously ridicules his choices: chastising Cordelia, trusting his other daughters, and giving up his authority. Lear sends Gloucester for Regan and Cornwall but they refuse to see Lear until he threatens to wake them himself. They feign happiness in seeing him. Lear entreats Regan to feel sympathy for him because of Goneril's treatment of him but Regan instead says he should return to her for the intended month and apologize.
As Goneril arrives, he finally asks who put Kent in the stocks. Cornwall admits to it. Goneril and Regan unite to oppose Lear, claiming that he does not need one hundred knights and servants. When Regan proclaims that he could only have twenty-five with her, he wishes to return to Goneril whose previous promise of fifty must mean she loves him more. The two sisters then lower the size of a train they will allow to ten, then five, and then none. Lear is outraged and wishes to be with neither daughter, escaping out into the woods. Gloucester pleads with them to allow Lear back inside as a storm is approaching, but they refuse.
Act III:
Kent encounters one of Lear's train and sends him to Dover with his purse and a ring to show Cordelia if he sees her. He is to fill her and the others in as to Lear's condition and treatment. Lear is quickly becoming one with the storm as he approaches madness, though he reasons that the heavens owe him less than his daughters did. He rages on and on about betrayal and filial ingratitude. Lear admits that he has sinned but recognizes too that he was even more sinned against. Kent tries to get Lear inside a hovel for shelter. The Fool prophecies that when men are honest and sincere, England will fall apart. Lear sends the Fool into the hovel first but he comes out screaming when he meets Edgar disguised as the beggar, poor Tom of Bedlam. Tom's babble illustrates his demonic madness and Lear believes that he must have suffered from ungrateful daughters. Tom tells his history as a servingman given over to lust, bringing Lear to question the make up of man. Lear himself approaches unaccommodated, essential man. He attempts to strip off his clothes but the Fool stops him.
Gloucester confides in Edmund that he has received a letter with news of a movement to avenge the King. He tells him to remain silent on the issue. Gloucester then goes to find Lear, unable to follow the orders of Regan and Goneril, and hopes to take Lear to shelter. Lear would rather stay to talk with Tom, the "philosopher". Kent suggests that Tom accompany Lear to shelter and they move to it. The Fool, Lear, and Tom muse over the definition of a madman. Lear decides to hold a mock trial for Regan and Goneril and indict them for their offenses, placing the Fool and Tom as the judges. Lear has lost his wits. Gloucester returns with news of Regan and Goneril's plot against Lear's life. He has secured transportation for him and sends him off to Dover. Edgar remains.
Edmund eagerly uses Gloucester's confidence to forward his means by divulging it to Cornwall. He pretends to be sad that he is betraying his father. Cornwall makes him the new Earl of Gloucester, accepts him as a son, and calls for a search for Gloucester. He then sends Goneril and Edmund to Albany so that Edmund will not be present for his father's punishment. Regan and Goneril call for Gloucester to be hanged or blinded. Gloucester is brought to Regan and Cornwall, who tie him up. Gloucester is shocked by the rudeness of his guests. Once they tell him they have his letter, he admits that he has sent Lear to Dover because of the horrible cruelty of his daughters. Cornwall blinds one of Gloucester's eyes. A servant interjects angrily, wounding Cornwall, and Regan slays him. Cornwall then blinds the other eye as well and Regan notifies Gloucester that Edmund was the one who informed against him. Gloucester realizes that he has wronged Edgar. He is turned out into the storm, aided by a few loyal servants.
Act IV:
Gloucester is led by an old man though he wishes to be left alone. He prays to be able to see his son Edgar again. When they come upon poor Tom, Gloucester chooses to allow Tom to lead him because the time had come where madmen were leading the blind. Gloucester asks to be taken to a high cliff in Dover where he can commit suicide. He gives Tom his purse in an effort to better balance the economic inequality of the world. When they reach Dover, Edgar tricks his father into thinking his has climbed the steep hill. Thus when he tries to fall of the cliff, he merely falls flat. Before he falls, he blesses Edgar. Edgar runs back to him, pretending to be another stranger, and tells him that it was a miracle that he fell and did not die. He explains that a spirit left him at the summit, insinuating that poor Tom was a spirit and Gloucester believes him, though depressed that he is not even allowed death.
Goneril and Edmund are greeted by Oswald who alerts them to Albany's reverse in attitude. He is pleased by the invasion of France and displeased by Edmund. Goneril sends Edmund back to Cornwall, with a vow to unite as mates and rulers. She finds her husband enraged against her for the treatment he has heard she and Regan bore against Lear. He would tear her apart if she were not a woman. He then learns that Gloucester has been blinded and that Cornwall died from a wound caused by the servant defending him. Goneril feels torn about Cornwall's death. Albany learns that Edmund informed against Gloucester and he promises to avenge Gloucester's blindness. Regan is then greeted by Oswald. She remarks that they should have killed Gloucester as his situation arouses too much sympathy. Edmund is supposed to be looking for him. She is worried that Edmund and her sister are planning to become intimate and she warns Oswald to remind Edmund of the promises he has made to her.
Kent meets the gentleman he sent ahead to Dover and learns that the King of France has had to return, though Cordelia and others remain. He asks how Cordelia received his message and is told that she was a mixture of smiles and tears. Lear has not yet been reconciled to Cordelia because he is too ashamed to face her. She worries that he has gone completely mad but the doctor assures her that rest should help. Lear stumbles upon Gloucester and Edgar, rambling about the manipulation of his daughters and the evil nature of women. He recognizes Gloucester's voice and mentions, ignorant of Edmund's betrayal, how his adulterous ways have been more fortunate than Lear's legitimate ones. Lear tells him that blindness should in fact help him to see and that pretense is the largest flaw of most in authority. Cordelia's gentlemen find Lear and try to bring him to her but he thinks he is being captured and runs away.
Oswald tracks Gloucester down and hopes to kill him. Edgar intercedes. They fight and Oswald falls. He tells Edgar to give the letter he was carrying to Edmund. Edgar is infuriated to find that the letter is from Goneril and is in reference to her wish to kill Albany and marry Edmund. Lear has been found and given a sleeping drug by Cordelia's doctor. Cordelia thanks Kent for all of his support and goodwill toward the King. She bemoans the the horrific treatment her sisters have shown him. Lear is brought into them, barely awake and does not recognize them. Finally he understands that he is with Cordelia but is still very confused.
Act V:
Regan questions Edmund as to his relationship with Goneril. He promises that he is not intimately involved with her. Goneril notes that she would rather lose to France than to her sister for Edmund's hand. Goneril and Albany discuss the importance of being united with Regan to face France. Edgar, still disguised, finds Albany and passes on the letter from Goneril. Edgar tells him to call by herald if he is needed again. Edmund soliloquizes on the question of which sister to choose and decides to takes Goneril if she manages to kill Albany. He is most concerned with ruling a reunited Britain.
The battle begins. Cordelia and Lear lead one army. Edgar leaves Gloucester safely while he fights on their side. Edgar returns after the quick off stage war with the news that Lear and Cordelia have been taken prisoner. Edmund is in charge of them and has them sent away to prison. Cordelia tries to be strong and Lear hopes the time will be one where they can catch up and talk about life. Edmund hands a death note to a captain of his to carry out. Albany praises Edmund for his acts of battle but reminds him he is a subordinate. Edmund lies, saying that Cordelia and Lear are merely being retained. Regan declares that as her new partner Edmund is an equal, which incites Goneril's jealousy. Albany responds with a claim of treason and challenges Edmund to a duel. Ill, Regan is escorted out. The herald sounds the trumpet three times and a disguised Edgar appears to fight Edmund. Edmund falls but Albany spares him until he can incriminate him. Albany quiets Goneril with the her letter though she maintains she is above any law as she is the ruler of it. She flees his anger. Edmund admits his guilt and Edgar reveals himself. In response to Albany's questioning, Edgar explains how he had been disguised as a beggar and that he has led and cared for Gloucester until his death. He died, overwhelmed by happiness and sadness, shortly after Edgar revealed his identity to him. Edgar was then met by Kent who also told of his disguise, Lear's state, and his own coming death.
A gentleman brings in the knife Goneril used to kill herself after admitting that she poisoned Regan. The bodies are called for. Kent comes hoping to bid Lear goodbye which reminds Albany to ask about Lear and Cordelia's condition. Edmund informs them that he and Goneril had ordered Cordelia hanged so that it would look like a suicide. A servant tries to stop it but Lear enters with Cordelia's body. He had killed the man who hanged her but she does not live. Lear is inconsolable. Kent tries to say goodbye to him but Lear barely recognizes him and likely does not understand that he has been undercover as his servant Caius all along. They are told Edmund is dead. Albany gives Lear back absolute rule and Kent and Edgar their rights. Still swooning for Cordelia, Lear dies. Albany then gives Kent and Edgar shared rule but Kent notes he will soon follow Lear, thus leaving Edgar as the next King.
HAMLET:
Character List
Hamlet
The son of Old Hamlet and Gertrude, thus Prince of Denmark. The ghost of Old Hamlet charges him with the task of killing his uncle, Claudius, for killing him and usurping the throne of Denmark. Hamlet is a moody, theatrical, witty, brilliant young man, perpetually fascinated and tormented by doubts and introspection. It is famously difficult to pin down his true thoughts and feelings -- does he love Ophelia, and does he really intend to kill Claudius? In fact, it often seems as though Hamlet pursues lines of thought and emotion merely for their experimental value, testing this or that idea without any interest in applying his resolutions in the practical world. The variety of his moods, from manic to somber, seems to cover much of the range of human possibility.
Old Hamlet
The former King of Denmark. Old Hamlet appears as a ghost and exhorts his son to kill Claudius, whom he claims has killed him in order to secure the throne and the queen of Denmark. Hamlet fears (or at least says he fears) that the ghost is an imposter, an evil spirit sent to lure him to hell. Old Hamlet's ghost reappears in Act Three of the play when Hamlet goes too far in berating his mother. After this second appearance, we hear and see no more of him.
Claudius
Old Hamlet's brother, Hamlet's uncle, and Gertrude's newlywed husband. He murdered his brother in order to seize the throne and subsequently married Gertrude, his erstwhile sister-in-law. Claudius appears to be a rather dull man who is fond of the pleasures of the flesh, sex and drinking. Only as the play goes on do we become certain that he is indeed guilty of murder and usurpation. Claudius is the only character aside from Hamlet to have a soliloquy in the play. When he is convinced that Hamlet has found him out, Claudius eventually schemes to have his nephew-cum-son murdered.
Gertrude
Old Hamlet's widow and Claudius' wife. She seems unaware that Claudius killed her former husband. Gertrude loves Hamlet tremendously, while Hamlet has very mixed feelings about her for marrying the (in his eyes) inferior Claudius after her first husband's death. Hamlet attributes this need for a husband to her lustiness. Gertrude figures prominently in many of the major scenes in the play, including the killing of Polonius and the death of Ophelia.
Horatio
Hamlet's closest friend. They know each other from the University of Wittenberg, where they are both students. Horatio is presented as a studious, skeptical young man, perhaps more serious and less ingenious than Hamlet but more than capable of trading witticisms with his good friend. In a moving tribute just before the play-within-the-play begins, in Act Two scene two, Hamlet praises Horatio as his soul's choice and declares that he loves Horatio because he is "not passion's slave" but is rather good-humored and philosophical through all of life's buffets. At the end of the play, Hamlet charges Horatio with the task of explaining the pile of bodies to the confused onlookers in court.
Polonius
The father of Ophelia and Laertes and the chief adviser to the throne of Denmark. Polonius is a windy, pedantic, interfering, suspicious, silly old man, a "rash, intruding fool," in Hamlet's phrase. Polonius is forever fomenting intrigue and hiding behind tapestries to spy. He hatches the theory that Ophelia caused Hamlet to go mad by rejecting him. Polonius' demise is fitting to his flaws. Hamlet accidentally kills the old man while he eavesdrops behind an arras in Gertrude's bedroom. Polonius' death causes his daughter to go mad.
Ophelia
The daughter of Polonius and sister of Laertes. Ophelia has received several tributes of love from Hamlet but rejects him after her father orders her to do so. In general, Ophelia is controlled by the men in her life, moved around like a pawn in their scheme to discover Hamlet's distemper. Moreover, Ophelia is regularly mocked by Hamlet and lectured by her father and brother about her sexuality. She goes mad after Hamlet murders Polonius. She later drowns.
Laertes
Polonius' son and Ophelia's brother. Laertes is an impetuous young man who lives primarily in Paris, France. We see him at the beginning of the play at the celebration of Claudius and Gertrude's wedding. He then returns to Paris, only to return in Act Four with an angry entourage after his father's death at Hamlet's hands. He and Claudius conspire to kill Hamlet in the course of a duel between Laertes and the prince.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Friends of Hamlet's from the University of Wittenberg. Claudius invites them to court in order to spy on Hamlet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are often treated as comic relief; they are sycophantic, vaguely absurd fellows. After Hamlet kills Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are assigned to accompany Hamlet to England. They carry a letter from Claudius asking the English king to kill Hamlet upon his arrival. Hamlet discovers this plot and alters the letter so that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are put to death instead. We learn that they have indeed been executed at the very close of the play.
Fortinbras
The Prince of Norway. In many ways his story is parallel to Hamlet's: he too has lost his father by violence (Old Hamlet killed Old Fortinbras in single combat); he too is impeded from ascending the throne by an interfering uncle. But despite their biographical similarities, Fortinbras and Hamlet are constitutional opposites. Where Hamlet is pensive and mercurial, Fortinbras is all action. He leads an army through Denmark in order to attack disputed territory in Poland. At the end of the play, and with Hamlet's dying assent, Fortinbras assumes the crown of Denmark.
Osric
The ludicrous, flowery, stupid courtier who invites Hamlet to fence with Laertes, then serves as referee during the contest.
The gravediggers
Two "clowns" (roles played by comic actors), a principal gravedigger and his assistant. They figure only in one scene -- Act Five scene one -- yet never fail to make a big impression on readers and audience members. The primary gravedigger is a very witty man, macabre and intelligent, who is the only character in the play capable of trading barbs with Hamlet. They are the only speaking representatives of the lower classes in the play and their perspective is a remarkable contrast to that of the nobles.
The players
A group of (presumably English) actors who arrive in Denmark. Hamlet knows this company well and listens, enraptured, while the chief player recites a long speech about the death of Priam and the wrath of Hecuba. Hamlet uses the players to stage an adaptation of "The Death of Gonzago" which he calls "The Mousetrap" -- a play that reprises almost perfectly the account of Old Hamlet's death as told by the ghost -- in order to be sure of Claudius' guilt.
A Priest
Charged with performing the rites at Ophelia's funeral. Because of the doubtful circumstances of Ophelia's death, the priest refuses to do more than the bare minimum as she is interred.
Reynaldo
Polonius' servant, sent to check on Laertes in Paris. He receives absurdly detailed instructions in espionage from his master.
Bernardo
A soldier who is among the first to see the ghost of Old Hamlet.
Marcellus
A soldier who is among the first to see the ghost of Old Hamlet.
Francisco
A soldier.
Voltemand
A courtier.
Cornelius
A courtier.
A Captain
A captain in Fortinbras' army who speaks briefly with Hamlet.
Ambassadors
Ambassadors from England who arrive at the play's close to announce that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

*************************************************************************

Mephistopheles' Relationship with Faustus:
In Doctor Faustus, Mephistopheles acts as a guide to Faustus. Mephistopheles is not only a speaker for the devil, but he is also seen as a possible lover to the character. [8] In the play, Faustus asks Mephistopheles for a wife and, when he returns, the woman is just a devil in disguise as a woman. According to Hammill, “the wife that [Mephistopheles] brings demonstrates that marriage is not a signifier that can stabilize the gender. The play... instead replaces this wife with a series of courtesans in an economy of homosocial exchange.” [9] Hammill also explains that Mephistopheles brings Faustus a wife who is not actually a woman because he wants to bring up sexual tension between Faustus and himself. This article describes the conversation between the two characters during this scene as “barely legible as male friendship”. [10] The article goes on to explain that the conversation is no longer considered to be friendly because the women whom they are discussing appear to have very masculine features. [10] According to another article, Marlowe was homosexual. [11] Orgel argues that “Marlowe's […] imagination was essentially homosexual”. [12] In “Myth, Psychology, and Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus”, Kenneth Golden explains Mephistopheles' role representing Faustus' alter ego constructed from his suppressed feelings.


Merchant of Venice :
by William Shakespeare
Short Summary:
The Merchant of Venice opens with Antonio, a Christian merchant, in a depressed state. His friends try to cheer him up, but nothing works to make him feel better. Finally his friend Bassanio, an aristocrat who has lost all of his money, comes and asks Antonio to loan him some money.
Antonio, who has tied up all of his money is seafaring ventures, is unable to give Bassanio a direct loan. Instead he offers to use his good credit to get a loan for Bassanio. Bassanio finds Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, and convinces him to give a loan of three thousand ducats as long as Antonio will sign the contract. In a rather unusual twist, instead of charging the Christian men interest, Shylock agrees to waive it as long as Antonio promises him a pound of his flesh as collateral. Antonio, thinking this is a "merry sport," accepts the condition of the bond (contract) and signs it.
Bassanio takes the money and prepares to go visit Portia, a wealthy heiress living in Belmont. She is unmarried because her father has decreed that all suitors must first select one of three caskets in order to marry her. The caskets, one made of gold, one of silver, and one of base lead, all contain different messages. Only one of these caskets contains a picture of Portia. The suitor who picks that casket will be granted permission to marry her.
Prior to Bassanio's arrival the Prince of Morocco tries his luck in choosing among the caskets. He picks the gold casket because it contains an inscription reading "what every man desires." Instead of Portia's picture, he finds a skull which symbolizes the fact that gold hides corruption. As part of losing the suit, he is further sworn to never propose marriage to any other woman, and must return to Morocco immediately. The next suitor, the Prince of Aragon, selects the silver casket which bears an inscription stating that it will give a man what he deserves. Inside is a picture of an idiot, indicating that his self-centered approach was foolish. He too leaves in shame.
Back in Venice, Jessica, the daughter of Shylock, has fallen in love with Lorenzo. They plan to escape one night when Shylock is invited to eat at Bassanio's house. After Shylock leaves Lorenzo goes to his house with two friends. Jessica appears at a window dressed as a boy and tosses a chest of money and jewels down to them. She then emerges from the house and runs away with Lorenzo.
Shylock, upon discovering that his daughter has run away with a lot of his money, blames Antonio for helping her escape. At the same time there are rumors developing in Venice that many of Antonio's ships, with which he expected to repay Shylock for the loan, have sunk or been lost at sea. Shylock begins to revel in the news that Antonio is losing everything because he wants to exact his pound of flesh in revenge for the many insults Antonio has dealt him throughout the years.
Bassanio arrives in Belmont and meets Portia. She remembers him as the dashing soldier with whom she fell in love several years earlier. Portia begs Bassanio to wait before choosing among the caskets, but he demands the right to start immediately. Without even properly reading the inscriptions, Bassanio selects the lead one because he considers it a threatening casket. Portia is overjoyed when he finds her portrait inside. She gives him a ring to seal their engagement and they prepare to get married the next day. Graziano, who has accompanied Bassanio to Belmont, tells him that he and Nerissa (Portia's friend) wish to be married as well.
A messenger arrives and hands Bassanio a letter from Antonio in which he informs Bassanio that he has lost all his money and must forfeit a pound of flesh to Shylock. Bassanio immediately tells Portia what has happened. She orders him to take six thousand ducats and return to Venice where he can pay Shylock and cancel the contract. After Bassanio and Graziano have left, Nerissa and Portia depart for Venice disguised as men.
Shylock has Antonio arrested and brought before the Duke of Venice, who presides over a court of justice. The Duke pleads with Shylock to forgive the contract and let Antonio go free. When he refuses, the Duke asks him how he expects any mercy if he is unable to offer it. The Duke then tells the gathered men that he is waiting for a doctor of the law to arrive.
Nerissa enters the court and hands a letter to the Duke which notifies him that a Doctor Bellario has sent an educated young doctor in his place. Portia arrives disguised as the Doctor Balthasar. She informs the Duke that she has studied the case and will preside over it. She first asks Shylock for the contract and looks it over. Bassanio offers to pay Shylock the six thousand ducats, but he refuses to accept the money, preferring instead the revenge of killing Antonio. Unable to find any loopholes, Portia grants Shylock his pound of flesh. Shylock, overjoyed at winning his case, holds a knife ready to cut into Antonio's breast.
Portia stops him by asking if he has a surgeon present to suppress the flow of blood. Shylock tells her that the bond said nothing about providing a doctor. She informs him that he may have his pound of flesh, but that if he sheds a single drop of blood then Venice can take away his lands and wealth according to the law. Shylock, clearly unable to comply with this law, asks instead that he be given the six thousand ducats. Portia refuses his request, explaining that she has already ruled according to the contract, and that it must be carried out.
Portia then starts to read the contract literally, reaffirming that Shylock must take exactly one pound of flesh, no more and no less, or he will violate the contract and die. Shylock tells the court that he wishes to completely drop his case and forgive Antonio the entire three thousand ducats. Portia again refuses his request, explaining that the law in Venice states that if any foreigner conspires against the life of a Venetian, half his wealth is to be given to the man against whom he conspired, and half is taken as a fine by the state. In addition, the Duke is granted the power of life and death over him.
When Shylock is pardoned by the Duke, he informs the court that he would prefer death rather than lose everything he owns. Antonio asks the court to return the fine of half of Shylock's wealth provided Shylock converts to Christianity. In addition, Antonio declares he will keep his share in a trust for Jessica and Lorenzo. Portia agrees to this, and also makes Shylock promise to give all his money to Lorenzo upon his death.
After the trial Bassanio thanks "Dr. Balthasar" (Portia) for "his" good work and offers "him" anything "he" desires. Portia asks him for the ring she had given him earlier as a token of their love. He is upset about giving it to her since he thinks she is "Balthasar." However, after Antonio points out that he nearly lost his life for Bassanio, Bassanio pulls off the ring and hands it to her.
Portia and Nerissa return to Belmont dressed normally. Lorenzo and Jessica have been living there, enjoying the comfortable life Belmont offers. Soon after the two women arrive, Bassanio and Graziano also return from Venice. The happy reunion is destroyed when Portia asks Bassanio about the ring (which he gave away). She forgives him only after Antonio vouches for Bassanio's fidelity.
Portia then gives Antonio the ring and has him hand it to Bassanio. He is shocked to see it is the same ring he gave "Balthasar". Portia finally tells him the truth about Balthasar. The play ends with three happy couples: namely Lorenzo and Jessica, Nerissa and Graziano, as well as Portia and Bassanio. However, Antonio and Shylock remain outcasts, separated from the happy ending.