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Summary
Costard enters and asks the King if he would like the Worthies to begin their show. Berowne tells them to prepare, but the King worries that the performance will reflect badly on the lords. However, Berowne promises the King that “we are shame-proof” and advises him that “‘tis some policy / To have one show worse than the king’s and his company” (5.2.563–64). The Princess also expresses her desire to see the show, and so it begins.
Costard enters as Pompey. His bungled speech earns him mockery from Boyet, which in turn impresses Berowne: “Well said, old mocker. I must needs be friends with thee” (5.2.605–606). The Princess thanks Costard for his performance, and Nathaniel enters as Alexander. Boyet and Berowne mock him as well, but the Princess encourages him to continue. Berowne tells Pompey to take Alexander away, and Nathaniel exits. Next, Holofernes and Mote enter as Judas Maccabeus and Hercules, respectively. Holofernes delivers a speech about Hercules, and Mote exits. When Boyet, Berowne, Longaville, and Dumaine all mock Holofernes, the schoolteacher complains, “This is not generous, not gentle, not humble” (5.2.700), then he leaves. Finally, Armado enters as Hector and begins his speech, after being encouraged to do so by the Princess. While he is speaking, Costard enters and tells Armado that Jaquenetta is pregnant, and Armado challenges Costard to a duel.
But before the rivals can fight, a messenger named Mercade enters and tells the Princess that he has news of her father. Even before he tells her, she realizes that he is dead, and Berowne dismisses the Worthies. The Princess thanks the King and his lords for their entertainment and tells him that she and her ladies will leave that night. The King entreats her to stay and marry him, and the lords each make a similar appeal to their beloveds. But the Princess, who must go into mourning for a year, tells the King that he should become a hermit for twelve months and then seek her again if he still feels the same about her. Katharine and Maria tell Dumaine and Longaville that they will receive them again in one year under similar conditions. Rosaline tells Berowne that he must spend one year using his wit to make the sick laugh.
As the women are about to depart, Armado enters and asks the King if his players can perform the song that would have been sung at the conclusion of their play. He gives permission, and the cast of the play reenters to perform a sung dialogue between Spring and Winter. The lords and ladies then part ways.
Analysis
The second half of the play’s long final scene begins with the entrance of Costard, whose appearance signals that the performance of the Nine Worthies is about to begin. By Shakespeare’s time, it had long been customary to stage masques and pageants featuring the so-called “Nine Worthies”—that is, nine figures from history and legend who demonstrate some type of strength or virtue. Although the list of particular figures celebrated was not stable, the Nine Worthies tended to consist of three pagans, three Jews, and three Christians. The staging of the Nine Worthies connects to a common theatrical technique in Shakespeare, several of whose plays feature a play within a play. In this case, the pageant of the Nine Worthies serves as something of a boast. After all, the lords’ initial idea is to impress the ladies with an entertainment that implicitly confers on them a sense of worthiness, which in turn will help them win the women’s affections.
However, plans change slightly after the lords suffer the humiliation the Russian interlude, where the ladies donned masks and exchanged favors to trick the lords into wooing the wrong beloved. Afraid of further shaming, the King tries to stop to the performance. But Berowne sees a new opportunity to impress the ladies. He suggests allowing the pageant to proceed. However, to distance themselves from their earlier humiliation, they should take a cue from the ladies and mock the performers. So, the lords all join in as hecklers, disrupting the performance at every turn and frustrating each of the actors. Yet just as the lords had previously gotten carried away by their own cleverness, here they do the same. Thus, despite wanting to come out looking good to the ladies, all they really achieve is a greater sense of camaraderie amongst themselves, as demonstrated by the budding friendship between Boyet and Berowne.
In the end, then, the lords’ heckling flops, and in the process, Shakespeare once again underscores the differences between the men and the women. Whereas the men constantly aim to impress and overshoot the mark, the women remain reserved, largely fading into the background as the performance proceeds. While the lords all join in with savage mockery, the Princess is the sole lady to speak up, each time gently encouraging the actors to proceed. It’s no wonder, then, that when the performance comes to a standstill, the ladies remain thoroughly unimpressed with the lords. To be sure, they aren’t so indifferent as to revoke their affections entirely. Each of the ladies is still clearly interested in pursuing their respective romance. However, before committing to a “world-without-end bargain” (5.2.866) like marriage, the ladies need the lords to reform themselves.
The reformation they propose is partly aimed at cooling the lords’ zeal and forcing them to consider the seriousness of enduring commitments. After all, they’ve each just broken a three-year vow almost as soon as they swore it. But more importantly, the ladies want the lords to mature and to learn how to be in meaningful relationships with them. This, in turn, will require the lords to stop wielding language in ways meant solely to impress. For instance, when the lords composed their self-indulgent sonnets, it’s evident that they weren’t really writing to the ladies, nor did they capture anything meaningful about the ladies. In effect, the ladies were reduced to a series of tired romantic tropes. This situation may explain why Rosaline instructs Berowne to spend the next year using his wit to make the sick laugh. Berowne protests, “Mirth cannot move a soul in agony” (5.2.930), to which Rosaline retorts: “A jest’s prosperity lies in the ear / Of him that hears it, never in the tongue / Of him that makes it” (5.2.934–36). In other words, Berowne must learn to use language not just to impress others, but to communicate with them. The King and the other lords must all learn to do the same.
