Shakespeare in Love script (1)
Wessex, Will
This conversation is characterized by (1) continuous otherselection (unusual in conversation) and (2) a long insertion
sequence
Wessex (to Viola) The queen asks for you. Answer well.
The lord in waiting ushers viola through the crowd. Will starts to
follow. Wessex takes him by the arm.
Is there a man?
Will
A man, my lord?
Wessex (impatiently) There was a man, poet--a theatre poet, I heard--does he come to
the house?
Will
A theatre poet?
Wessex
An insolent penny-a-page rogue, Marlowe, he said, Christopher
Marlowe--has he been to the house?
Will
Marlowe? Oh yes, he is the one, lovely waistcoat, shame about the
poetry.
Wessex (venomously) That dog!
Other selection
Insertion sequence
The Queen, Viola, Wessex, Will
The lord in waiting has presented Viola. Viola speaks from a frozen curtsey.
Viola
QSQ
Queen
QSV
Viola (agreeing)
QSQ
Queen
QSV
Viola
QSQ
Queen
QSV
Viola
QSQ
Your majesty.
Stand up straight, girl. Viola straightens. The queen examines her.
I have seen you. You are the one who comes to all the plays--at
Whitehall, At Richmond.
Your Majesty.
What do you love so much?
Your Majesty
Speak out! I know who i am. Do you love stories of kings and
queens? Feats of arms? Or is it courtly love?
I love theatre. To have stories acted for me by a company of fellows
is indeed
Queen (interrupting) They are not acted for you, they are acted for me. Viola remains
silent, in apology. and--?
QSV
Viola
And I love poetry above all.
QSQ
Queen
Above lord Wessex? QSW (to Wessex) My lord--when you cannot
find
your wife you had better look for her at the playhouse. (laughter)
But playwrights teach nothing about love, they make it pretty, they
make it comical, or they make it lust. They cannot make it true.
VSV
Viola (blurts)
oh, but they can!
The courtiers gasp. I mean…your Majesty, they do not, they have
not, but I believe there is one who can
WSW
Wessex
Lady Viola is…young in the world. Your majesty is wise in it.
Nature and truth are the very enemies of playacting. I'll wager my
fortune.
QSQ
Queen
I thought you were here because you had none. (laughter). Well, no
one will take your wager, it seems.
WSW
Will
Fifty pounds! Shock and horror. Queen Elizabeth is the only person
amused.
QSQ
Queen
Fifty pounds! A very worthy sum on a very worthy question. Can a
play show us the very truth and nature of love? I bear witness to the
wager, and will be the judge of it as occasion arises. I have not seen
anything to settle it yet. (She moves away, everybody bowing and
scraping). So--the fireworks will be soothing after the excitements
of Lady Viola's audience.
QSW (to Wessex) Have her then, but you are a
lordly fool. She has been plucked since I saw her last, and not by
you. It takes a woman to know it.
WSW
Wessex
(to himself) Marlowe!
Queen selects Queen (self-selection)
Queen selects Wessex (other-selection)
Queen selects Viola (other selection)
Wessex selects Wessex (self selection)
Viola selects Viola (self-selection)
Will selects Will (self-selection)
The Queen organises the conversation. She has the most
turns and she does the selecting (either of herself or of Viola).
The surprising turn is Viola’s self-selection. This is surprising
because:
a) a woman at court is self-selecting
b) she contradicts the queen (a dispreferred response)