English 304: Shakespeare: Major Plays
Prof. Boyer

The best beginning procedure is always to familiarize yourself with the cast of characters and then to read the play (or at least an act or a scene) all the way through so that you know what's happening. The notes can help if you're stuck, but try to get the big picture of a scene before getting bogged down in details. Read through, then go back and clear up details. Then you're ready to think about the questions.

1.1
1. Why is Bertram leaving his home to go to Paris and the King?

2. What is wrong with the King? Who was Helena's father and why might he have helped the King? Why is Helena in the keeping of the Countess?

3. What does Helena reveal in her first soliloquy (1.1.74-93)? Why can't Helena think of marrying Bertram? Who interrupts her? What does she think of him (1.1.94-100)?

4. What is the effect of the wordplay between Helena and Parolles about virginity (1.1.105-152)? Are you surprised to find this sort of conversation here? Is there anything you know of like it in earlier Shakespearean comedies?

5. What does Helena expect to happen to Bertram at court (1.1.153-166)? How does she see her position in relation to Bertram (1.1.166-173)?

6. What does Helena reveal in her second soliloquy (1.1.199-212)? Will she sit and wait for events to take their course? What is her "project" (l. 211)?

1.2
1. What role will France play in the war between Florence and Siena? What role can French gentlemen play individually? Why would war be good for them (1.2.15-17)?

2. Read 1.2.19-22 carefully. What is the King saying about Bertram?

3. What did the King think of Bertram's father? How well did they know each other? What did Bertram's father think of the younger generation?

4. What does the King say about Helena's father? Would the King try his cure if he were alive (1.2.69-72)?

1.3
1. In the first part of the scene (1.3.1-105), what does the Clown (Lavatch) want to do? What does he seem to want from the Countess?

2. What has the Steward (Reynaldo) learned by overhearing Helena (1.3.86-105)? How surprised is the Countess (1.3.106-141)?

3. In the scene between the Countess and Helena (1.3.112-243), why is Helena so upset when the Countess asks Helena to call her Mother (1.3.121-150)? How does the Countess get Helena to reveal her love for Bertram (1.3.151-169)? What is Helena's attitude when she reveals it, and how is the Countess responding (1.3.170-201)?

4. Why is Helena going to Paris (1.3.202-287)? Does she really believe she can help the King? Why? What is the Countess's response (1.3.288-293)?

2.1
1. In the first part of the scene (2.1.1-58), what does the King warn the gentleman about "those girls of Italy"? Why isn't Bertram one of the lords leaving for the Italian wars? What does Parolles suggest that he do? Does Bertram agree? What is the attitude of Bertram's friends?

2. In the scene between the King and Lafeu (2.1.59-97), why does Lafew say he has come to court? Why does the King refuse a cure? How does Lafew present himself (2.1.96-97)?

3. What is the King's view (in 2.1.113-122) of the relative power of art and nature (terms to keep in mind throughout the course)?

4. Should Helena apply her own wisdom (2.1.141-143) to herself? What does she say in 2.1.150-151? How does it compare to what she said in 1.1.199-200?

5. Why is Helena so confident (2.1.147-167)? What will Helena accept if the cure does not work (2.1.168-173 and 186-188) and how does the King respond (2.1.174-185)? What does the King offer her if the cure works, and what does Helena say she will ask for (2.1.189-209)? Does she have a particular person in mind?

2.2
1. Where is Lavatch going? What is his "answer that will serve all men"?

2. In terms of the play's structure, what is the function of this scene? What would happen if it weren't here?

2.3
1. Read 2.3.1-5 carefully. What point is Lafew making about miracles? What has happened? How soon do we know it for sure? Why do we have to wait so long

2. What happens when the King tells Helena to pick her husband (at 2.3.49-53)? Why doesn't she just name Bertram?

3. When Helena finally selects Bertram, and the King agrees (2.3.98-101), what is Bertram's response? Is it what we expect? Is it what Helena and the King expect?

4. Why does Bertram finally agree to marry Helena?

5. What happens in the discussion between Lafew and Parolles (2.3.180-250)? Does Lafew understand what sort of person Parolles really is? How do 2.3.227 and the following stage direction confirm Lafew's view of Parolles? How does this scene between old Lafew and young Parolles reflect the scene we've just seen between the King and Bertram?

6. What is Bertram's response when he returns from his marriage at 2.3.250.1? What does he decide to do? Does Parolles agree with his decision? What view of love and marriage do they show (2.3.262-276, 282)?

2.4
1. What news does Parolles have for Helena? What is Bertram putting off for a later time (2.4.36-40)? How does Helena respond to Bertram's wishes (2.4.44-51)?

2.5
1. In the first part of the scene (2.5.1-49), Lafew tries to warn Bertram about Parolles. Does Bertram agree?

2. In the second part of the scene (2.5.50-87), what does Bertram tell Helena to do? When does he tell her he will see her (2.5.66)? Is he telling the truth about the business that calls him away?

3. What does Bertram really plan to do (2.5.85-86)?

4. How well has Helena's "project" worked out? How good do the prospects seem of this marriage ever working?

3.1
1. What do we learn in this scene about why Florence and Siena are fighting? How does the First [French] Lord Dumaine judge the quarrel? (You might compare it to 1.2.1-17.) What does the Second Lord Dumaine say about the reasons the King of France won't back Florence?

3.2
1. Whose side is the Countess on, her son Bertram's or Helena's?

2. What message does Bertram send to the Countess (3.2.19-26), and what is her response?

3. What message (perhaps even "challenge") does Bertram send to Helena (3.2.54-58, 72)?

4. What does Helena resolve to do? (See her third soliloquy, 3.2.99-129.)

3.3
1. What position does the Duke of Florence give Bertram? Why does Bertram get this position without any experience?

2. Notice the continuation (in 3.3.9-11) of the "war vs. love" discussion of 2.3.262-284, there coming from Parolles. How mature a position is this?

3.4
1. According to her letter, where has Helena gone and why. (Note that the letter is a sonnet, 3.4.4-17.)

2. What is the Countess's response (3.4.18-42)? Notice the appearance of the ideas of mercy (implied if not mentioned) reprieving from the wrath of justice in the Countess's last speech (3.4.25-29).

3.5
1. Where are we in this scene? What has happened? Who is the French count (3.5.3) or French earl (3.5.10) who has won the great victory? When do we know for certain? How?

2. What else has this young man been trying to do, and who has been his messenger (3.5.10-26)?

3. In the next part of the scene (3.5.27-72), how does Helena the pilgrim come to know Diana and her mother? What does Helena learn about Bertram from them? What does she tell them about Bertram and his wife?

4. Why is Parolles unhappy as the parade passes by? (See 3.5.87.)

3.6
1. In the first part of the scene (3.6.1-35), what are the two Lords Dumaine urging Bertram to do. What plan do they have?

2. In the next part of the scene (3.6.36-98), what does Parolles say he will do about the lost drum? What do the two lords say he will do about it?

3. Who is the woman Bertram is describing in 3.6.99-107?

3.7
1. What has Helena told the Widow since 3.5?

2. What is Helena's plan? What is Diana supposed to ask Bertram for? What is she supposed to agree to do? What will really happen? Why is Helena doing this?

4.1
1. How do the Frenchmen plan to capture Parolles? Does it work?

2. How well does Parolles know himself for what he is? Why did he say he would recapture the drum? What does he say he will do to save his life?

4.2
1. How good is Bertram's line? What does Diana ask in return for submitting to him, and how hard is it for her to get it (4.2.40-54)? How does she respond to his claims of the ring's honor?

2. What arrangements do Bertram and Diana make for that night, and what will she give him that night (4.2.55-68)?

3. Is Diana surprised by what Bertram has said? Why or why not? (See 4.2.69-77.)

4. What thematic parallels can you detect (if any) between the two stories developing in Act 4 (one concerning Parolles, the other concerning Bertram)?

4.3
1. In the first part of the scene (4.3.1-72), what do the two Lords think of Bertram? What was his response to his mother's letter? What, according to report, has happened to Helena (4.3.47-57)? How does the First Lord moralize the story of Bertram? (Look closely at 4.3.69-72 for important thematic material that might even summarize the play itself, "a mingled yarn, good and ill together.")

2. What happens during the interrogation of Parolles (4.3.112-289)? How much does he tell "the enemy"? What has he tried to do with Diana (4.3.200-204, 211-220)?

3. In the last part of the scene (4.3.290-317), what is Bertram's response to the unmasking of Parolles? What is Parolles's response when he realizes that he has been discovered? Look closely at his soliloquy, 4.3.307-317. What does he seem to mean by "Simply the thing I am / Shall make me live" (310-311)?

4.4
1. Whom are Helena, Diana, and the Widow going to meet at Marseilles?

2. What is Helena's attitude toward men at this point (4.4.21-26)? Is it understandable? Compare Othello 4.3.58-101.

4.5
1. Do the Countess and Lafew know that Helena is alive?

2. What sort of moralizing is going on in 4.5.30-46?

3. What new marriage for Bertram has Lafew proposed to the King? What was the King's response? (See 4.5.57-64.)

5.1
1. What does Helena ask the Gentleman to do for her? What surprising news does she hear from the Gentleman? What bad news does Helena have for Diana and the Widow?

5.2
1. What does Parolles want from Lafeu? What does he get (5.2.43-45)?

5.3
1. The mourning for Helena now past, what are the King, the Countess, and Lafeu most looking forward to in the opening portion of the scene (5.3.1-31)? How will the King respond to Bertram? What does the King not want Bertram to do?

2. What is Bertram's attitude toward marriage to Lafeu's daughter? Why does he say caused his dislike of Helena (5.3.45-56)? Is this true? Does anybody care? We're on our way to a wonderfully happy ending, free of the earlier problems of marrying beneath oneself. Is Shakespeare ignoring the earlier problems, or is it merely that his characters are ignoring them?

3. What puts and end to all this happiness? What does Bertram give to Lafeu for his daughter at 5.3.77? Whose ring was it originally and what does it signify to him? For what two things did Helena say she would give up the ring (5.3.109-113)? What has happened to Bertram by 5.3.128? What does the King suspect Bertram has done?

4. What further news causes Lafeu's disgusted remark about finding a son-in-law (5.3.149-150)?

5. What happens when Diana confronts Bertram? What story (or stories) of their relationship does Bertram give? How honest are they? What evidence does she present?

6. What happens when Diana asks for her ring back (5.3.225-226)? What ring is she referring to? What do they learn about one of Bertram's statements in 5.3.232-233?

7. How does Diana manage to get herself arrested and almost executed (5.3.267-282)? What bail does she say she will provide? What riddles does she give them (5.3.286-290, 297-300)?

8. How is the riddle resolved? What is Bertram's response to the appearance of Helena? (See 5.3.301-317.) Do we accept Bertram's statement at 5.3.312-313 that easily?

9. What appears to be Parolles's future (5.3.318-320)?

10. How will the King reward Diana (5.3.323-324)? Haven't we been here before?

11. Is Bertram ready for this marriage? Is Helena? What is the future of this marriage likely to be like?

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