Date sent:        Sun, 28 Apr 1996 22:16:30 -0400



An Examination of "Ensemble Scenes" in Shakespearean Comedy

     In Shakespearean comedies it is conventional for the main
characters to suffer indignities, misdirections, and various
humiliations that often arise from miscommunications or outright
deception.  In most cases all the various crises that develop are
resolved by the play's end, often in what are known as "ensemble
scenes".  The ensemble scenes involve all the main characters and
resolve multiple problems in one fell swoop.  It was the
convention in Shakespeare's time that a comedy play end with a
marriage or the expectation of a marriage.  Much Ado About
Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Love's Labour Lost are
true to this convention.  Shakespeare uses the ensemble scene in
each play to resolve the conflicts that plague the protagonists
until the ensemble scene.  Another common element in this type of
scene is a ruler exerting his authority on his subjects.  This
essay will examine the various conflicts that arise in the three
plays and how each play's ensemble scene neatly puts these
conflicts to rest.
     In Much Ado About Nothing the marriage of Claudio and Hero
is poisoned by Don John.  Don John, through a complex deception
is able to convince Claudio that Hero's virtue is questionable,
at best.  Shakespeare makes use of two ensemble scenes; one to
bring the primary conflict to the fore and a second scene to
resolve that conflict.
     The wedding between Claudio and Hero in Act IV, scene 1, is
brought to an abrupt halt as Claudio confronts Hero and Leonato 
about Hero's unfaithfulness. In a speech filled with venom,
Claudio refers to Hero as a "rotten orange who knows the heat of
a luxurious bed".  Claudio's anger is entirely unjustified, his
supposed evidence of Hero's sin a result of Don John's deception. 
Hero's reaction to Claudio's attack serves to further
Shakespeare's plans for the next ensemble scene.  Hero's fainting
and Beatrice's statement of "Dead, my Lord" allows the plays main
characters to wilfully deceive themselves in the next ensemble
scene.
     This willful deception is one in which the main characters
allow themselves to believe that Hero is dead, a victim of
Claudio's withering anger.  There takes place a funeral for Hero,
attended by all of the primary players.  Claudio and the others
stand as mourners at Hero's grave while Claudio recites a poem
which reads like a public apology for his hard-hearted
denunciation of her at their wedding.
     Act V, scene IV brings the conflict to its intended
conclusion as Claudio allows himself to be duped into marrying a
stranger.  The stranger is, of course, Hero, who joins the scene
in a mask and only reveals her identity after Claudio has vowed
to marry her.
     The dominant force that moves the plot in Much Ado About
Nothing is deception.  Claudio is deceived by Don John and
because of this deception, ruins Hero's life and reputation.  In
a comedic sub-plot, two characters who proclaim that they will 
never marry are tricked into falling in love, or recognizing
their feelings for one another.  Each deception was brought to
light during an ensemble scene.  If these deceptions were not
revealed, clearly the play would grind to a halt and in a manner
unsatisfactory to the conventions of a Shakespearean comedy.  The
romance of Claudio and Hero is the central issue of Much Ado
About Nothing.  Shakespeare sets up the deception which sours
Claudio's affection and then makes use of two ensemble scenes to
reveal the deception and ultimately correct it.
     The central conflicts in Love's Labour's Lost involve the
King and his attendant Lords and their struggles.  Each man takes
a vow to avoid the romantic company of women for a period of
three years.  Almost immediately after the oath is sworn, the
four men find their vow difficult to uphold.  The Princess of
France and, conveniently, three Ladies in Waiting arrive at court
to meet the King.  Each man finds himself immediately love-struck
by one of the visiting Ladies and this results in the first
conflict.
     In the first movement of the play, the King and Lords find
themselves in desperate search of a way to woo the ladies without
being forsworn.  The second movement of the play comes after the
men have found a loophole in their oath that will allow them to
commence wooing.  The next problem that they face is the ladies
themselves.  The Princess and her Ladies are not quick to return
the devotions of undying love that the King and Lords profess.  
The women seem determined to make it difficult for the men to be
successful in their efforts.
     The first ensemble scene, Act II, scene I, shows each man
expressing an interest in one of the Princess's Ladies.  The
Princess is also informed by Boyet, her attendant, that the King
is 'affected' with her.  This sets up the plays primary conflict. 
Now that the King and his Lords are in love, to court the women
would make them forsworn and dishonourable.  This first conflict
is resolved when Berowne convinces the others that studying
knowledge without knowing beauty makes knowledge a hollow thing,
indeed.
     This argument of Berowne's brings the conflict begun in the
first ensemble scene to a close.  With this conflict's
resolution, Love's Labour's Lost begins its second movement.  The
King and his Lords have discovered a means by which they can
pursue their romantic ends and still feel that their honour is
intact.  The difficulty that they now face is the reluctance of
the Princess and her Ladies to return their affections.
The women each receive a token of some sort from each of their
suitors.  In order to confuse the men, the women stage a masque,
but exchange tokens amongst themselves so that each suitor will
be courting the wrong woman at the ball.  After the women's
identities are revealed, the women are hardly any kinder.  Each
woman mocks and taunts her particular man, but the men, unfazed,
still profess undying love and devotion to them.
     The final ensemble scene resolves this second conflict of
the play.  Conventionally, a comedy play would end in a marriage
but Love's Labour's Lost leaves the audience with the expectation
of marriage, not the actual ceremony.  In Act V, scene II the
reluctance of the women seems to have been overcome.  The King
proposes to the Princess of France and she accepts, on the
condition that he spend the next year away from his kingdom
living as a hermit.  Lord Berowne is told by Rosaline, after his
proposal, that he must spend the next year using his wit to bring
comfort to the sick and infirm in a hospital.  Longaville and
Dumaine are instructed by their respective ladies to undergo
similar, undisclosed trials for a year's time.  They vow to take
up the tests the ladies have put before them and so Love's
labour's Lost still ends in a manner true to comedic convention.
     Marriage is the central theme in  A Midsummer Night's Dream. 
The conflicts that surround marriage and romantic desire provide
the play with virtually all of its action and plot development. 
In Act I, scene I Theseus is asked by Egeus to enforce Athenian
law and force his daughter, Hermia to marry Demetrius, or put her
to death.  Theseus is not as harsh as Egeus would like him to be
and adds the third choice of her being cloistered in a nunnery. 
Hermia seems to have no good option, considering she loves
Lysander, not Demetrius, to whom she is to be wed. 
This conflict between love and law is the central issue in the
play and is not to be resolved until the second ensemble 
scene.    
     To avoid death, Demetrius, or a nun's habit, Hermia chooses
to elope with Lysander.  The couple escapes from Athens into the
woods outside of the city.  Once there, the marriage of Hermia
and Lysander is made to seem less likely because of Puck's
application of the love potion to Lysander's eyes.   Lysander
then falls in love with Helena and remains so until Oberon lifts
the spell.
     This central conflict is abruptly resolved in Act IV, scene
I when the lovers are caught in the woods by Theseus and Egeus. 
Egeus demands that Lysander be put to death for his crime.  In
what would seem to be a complete about face from his position in
Act I, scene I, Theseus simply overrules Egeus and Athenian Law
and grants his consent for Lysander and Hermia to wed.
     This is only a seeming reversal because the seeds of
Theseus's shift in opinion were sown in his speech in Act I Scene
I.  He begins by stating in a harsh and caustic manner that
Hermia should regard her father as a God and should carry out his
will.  He states that the law is the law and there is nothing
that he can do.  But, as the scene progresses, Theseus' tone
softens and he introduces the possibility of Hermia going to a
nunnery, directly contradicting his previous statement.  In that
same scene, Theseus takes on a manner most conciliatory, almost
cajoling Hermia to consider the possibility of marrying
Demetrius.
     In A Midsummer Night's Dream the primary conflict originates
in an ensemble scene and is resolved in an ensemble scene.  This
scene is more typical of Shakespeare's use of the ensemble scene
in romantic comedy.  This scene often involves a ruler exerting
his power over his followers.  Theseus fulfils this convention
when he overrules Egeus' demands fro Lysander's head.  Ensemble
scenes often involve a ceremony of some sort.  The first ensemble
scene takes place as Theseus is presiding over his court and
announcing his intention to marry Hippolyta.  The concluding
ensemble scene occurs as Theseus and his train of courtiers are
travelling to the temple to be wed.  In these regards, it is
clear that A Midsummer Night's Dream most accurately satisfies
the conventions of a romantic comedy.
     The majority of Shakespearean romantic comedies are driven
by conflict.  The conflict is usually a result of some sort of a
misunderstanding or by some force that strives to keep lovers
apart.  Shakespeare's use of ensemble scenes which involve the
majority of the main characters is almost guaranteed in his
comedies.  These ensemble scenes fulfil two functions and two
such scenes can be found in each play.  The first ensemble scene
creates and introduces the conflict and is usually found near the
beginning of the play.  The next ensemble scene brings the
conflict to a satisfactory conclusion.  This trend is clearly
demonstrated in each of the plays discussed in this essay.  In
Much Ado About Nothing, the conflict is revealed in Claudio and
Hero's wedding ceremony (Act IV scene I) and resolved immediately
after Hero's funeral.  A Midsummer Night's Dream's conflict
begins when Theseus upholds Egeus' wedding plans for Hermia (Act
I Scene I).  This same trend can be observed in Love's Labour's
Lost when the King and his Lords become smitten with the Princess
and her Ladies (Act II Scene I), creating the first conflict and
in Act IV scene ii when the men propose and resolve the second
conflict.
     Each of these plays may appear very different on the surface
but when the reader observes more closely, certain patterns and
trends become apparent.  All three comedies examined in this
essay are driven by romantic entanglements that arise in, and are
brought to a conclusion through Shakespeare's us of ensemble
scenes.
