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Parolles is a longtime friend and companion of Bertram. His name approximates the French word paroles, meaning “words.” The name is appropriate, as Parolles is all talk and no action. Everyone who meets him sees through his bluster in which he falsely portrays himself as a brave and valiant soldier. The only person who can’t see the truth is Bertram—a failure of perception that contributes to our negative view of the young count. In acts 3 and 4, the First and Second Lords Dumaine orchestrate a plot to reveal Parolles’s true colors to Bertram. A sham arrest and interrogation succeed in demonstrating Parolles’s cowardice and treachery. This disgrace leads Bertram to cut all ties with his old friend, decrying him as “a double-meaning prophesier” (4.3.103). By all accounts, Parolles is a secondary character in the play. That said, his arc offers an important counterpoint in relation to Bertram’s arc. His interrogation and disgrace in act 4 foreshadow the experience Bertram will have in act 5, when the King of France interrogates him about his ring and catches him in a lie. Yet whereas Bertram lacks awareness of his own penchant for folly, Parolles has always recognized his own limitations—even if only privately. It is this self-awareness that enables his minor redemption in the final act.
