The Fostering of Intertextuality Through the Characters in Shakespeare in Love

Shakespeare in Love, the award winning screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, deviates from the several playtexts that it draws from but does not lose for what it so strongly strives. Pulling lines from some of the greatest verse written by William Shakespeare, this fictional work challenges the viewer on two separate levels. The first level, and the simplest, is the basic love story between Shakespeare and Viola De Lesseps. The chemistry between these two lovers reacts well regardless of the viewer's base of reading. The second level retains itself for the better read viewer, mixing lines and characters from many different works and bringing them to life. This second footfall introduces intertextuality through the live characters interacting with Shakespeare's life. The intertextuality that coils its way like a snake into the plot of

Shakespeare in Love complements the excellent scenes and language. It makes Shakespeare, the man, very real. He ceases to be one of the greatest literary figures of all time and becomes human, inciting viewer empathy instead of the shudder one feels when faced with his difficult language.

One of the first plays that the viewer stumbles upon near the beginning of the film is

The Two Gentleman of Verona. A few scenes are shown in this command performance by the queen, including a monologue that resurfaces later. This speech made by Valentine in the first scene of Act III. Upon being banished, Valentine pours his heart out to the audience in an aside that tells of his love for Silvia. "What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?" (174). The monologue prepares the audience for what is to come. It foreshadows the tragedy of

Romeo and Juliet, where Romeo is banished from fair Verona. Also it foreshadows Shakespeare and Viola's impending dilemmas, for like Valentine, Shakespeare seeks the love of a woman he cannot have. Within the play itself there is cross-gender dressing. Viola's only chance to become a "player" is to dress and act as a male. In

The Two Gentleman of Verona, love conquers through initial deception of the characters, to lure them into decision. Viola's part as a player allows her escape her mail-order husband Lord Wessex, if only for a short time, and act out her fantasy of falling in love with a poet.

Another play that surfaces strongly in the film happens to be

Twelfth Night. Near the end of the movie the Queen commands that Shakespeare write "something more cheerful next time...for twelfth night." When Viola enters the playhouse to "settle accounts," she relays to Shakespeare the Queen's suggestion for his following play. Together, Shakespeare and Viola dictate to one another a basic outline for the play itself, which incidentally, has been constructing itself over the course of the film. The main character in

Twelfth Night is a woman named Viola who is shipwrecked on an island. She dresses as a male to become a servant to a Duke that she fell in love with. As Viola De Lesseps departs from Shakespeare for the final time, the film cuts to William dipping his pen into the ink pot to begin the wonderful comedy. The last scene of the film is an enactment of what Shakespeare is authoring in his mind, the ship wreck that

Twelfth Night is built around.

Lord Wessex also finds himself trapped in the world of intertextuality. His character is much like that of Malvolio in

Twelfth Night. Malvolio's ill fate is shown throughout the entirety of the play, continually duped and undermined. Wessex is duped by Shakespeare's lovemaking to his future wife. He does not realize this until pointed out by the Queen that Viola has "been plucked since I saw her last and not by you." Wessex, like Malvolio also acts above all others. He sees himself as royalty although he is not, and this quality is nearly his downfall. But unlike Malvolio Wessex gets his revenge by having Viola in the end. Lord Wessex also has a

Hamletesque moment while in the church when Viola mourns for the confused notion of the death of Shakespeare. William shows up in the church, scuffled and dirty from mourning and wandering, to condemn Wessex for the death of Marlowe. Wessex believes it is the spirit of the playwright that he held in contempt and runs out of the church in a fit of madness. Although it is not feigned madness, it is madness nonetheless.

Of course it cannot be denied that the play that pulls the entire film together is Shakespeare's

Romeo and Juliet. From beginning to end

Shakespeare in Love outlines the play, and also the meta-drama that appears within. Allusions lie at every turn, ready to spring on the viewer an invented motive that may have inspired the love-filled verse. Near the beginning of the movie, as Shakespeare is walking by, a puritan is preaching to a crowd about how terrible theatre is for the soul. The line that pummels the audience, and makes an inevitable impression on Shakespeare, is the line, "a plague on both their houses." This line is followed by William's motion of the hands, a recognition of the line. Rosaline is also introduce as a working force in Shakespeare's life. She was an early bed mate and inspiration, but ultimately proved herself to be only a passing name in both Shakespeare's life and in

Romeo and Juliet. When Shakespeare finds Rosaline in bed with Tilney, she ceases to be of any importance to him and his work. Marlowe's suggestions during Will's period of missing muse plants the seeds for the coming acts. Coupled with the affection that grows between Viola and William, the film and play, grow substantially from the inception of the comedy of "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter" to the beautiful tragedy of

Romeo and Juliet. The infamous balcony scene is drawn from the time after Shakespeare and Viola's first meeting. The nurse's calls and Viola's responses of "Anon!" brings the film and the play closer together. But the majority of the dialogue is created between the sheets, so to speak. Many of the best lines of

Romeo and Juliet come before, during, and after the love-making scenes. Thus it all comes to head during the landmark performance of the play within the film. The power lies in the true love that is between Shakespeare and Viola.

Shakespeare in Love, though historically questionable, commands the hearts of those who partake in it. The film makes William Shakespeare into a man instead of a literary god. The intertextuality goes far beyond what is written here, because such little space can do justice to a great work. But regardless, the characters in this film are realistic and wonderful. Their lines adapt the works of Shakespeare into a tangible reality.

Works Cited

Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. Et al.

The Norton Shakespeare: Based on the Oxford Edition. New York: Norton, 1997.

Madden, John, dir.

Shakespeare in Love. With Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow. Miramax, 1996.

Starks, Lisa S (introd.). "Shakespeare and Film: Derivatives and Variations." José Ramón Díaz- Fernández, comp.

Post Script 17 (1998): 109-120.