The Two Noble Kinsmen – A. J. Drake's Shakespeare Site

Questions on
Shakespeare’s Romance Plays

Shakespeare, William. The Two Noble Kinsmen. (The Norton Shakespeare: Romances and Poems, 3rd ed. 462-536.)

ACT 1

1. In the Prologue, Shakespeare compares new plays to maidenheads. What is the point of this comparison? How is it connected to the status of Geoffrey Chaucer, who is mentioned directly in the Prologue? What anxieties does the Prologue-speaker air surrounding the text’s relation to this famous English literary artist? What is he worried he will fail to accomplish, and what would be the consequences of such a failure? What is the Prologue-speaker’s strategy for dealing with this anxiety?

2. Act 1, Scene 1 begins with Duke Theseus and the Amazon Queen Hippolyta’s wedding procession, and a boy sings a song redolent of flowers and birds. How do the opening ritual acts as mentioned in the stage directions, and then the boy’s song, together set up the significance of this royal wedding between a legendary Athenian hero and the conquered queen of an all-female society? What connections are established to nature, fertility, and “life” in a broad sense?

3. In Act 1, Scene 1, three queens dressed in black stop Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding procession and assert their own claims as grieving widows of royal husbands slain by Creon. What respective pitch does each of these three queens make, first to Theseus, second to Hippolyta, and third to Emilia? What is their basic “ask,” their claim upon the assistance of Theseus and the women nearest him? What do Hippolyta and Emilia say and then do in response to the queens’ pleading?

4. In Act 1, Scene 1, how does Theseus himself react to the queens’ interruption of his wedding procession? How does he adjust that reaction to each of the successive waves of rhetoric that the queens aim at him, Hippolyta, and Emilia? Why are the queens so dissatisfied with all but his final reaction, which is to promise to set out against Creon almost immediately? How does Theseus justify this last reaction to his dear friend Pirithous?

5. In Act 1, Scene 2, Palamon and Arcite affirm their determination to maintain the purity of their male-male friendship (amicitia perfecta is the appropriate Ciceronian Latin term). How do they see the value and benefits of this friendship, and how do they contrast its purity with the corruption that they claim reigns supreme in their Uncle Creon’s city, Thebes? All the same, what happens when they find out that Duke Theseus of Athens is attacking Thebes? What does the chivalric honor code they follow prescribe in this situation?

6. In Act 1, Scene 3, Pirithous takes his leave of Hippolyta and Emilia to go to Theseus’s aid in the action against Creon. How do these two women speak of the male friendship between Pirithous and Theseus? In particular, what basis does Hippolyta ascribe to this friendship, and what value does she grant it? Then, too, what gives her the certainty she expresses that Theseus ultimately esteems his relationship with her even above that of his close bond with Pirithous?

7. In Act 1, Scene 3, during her conversation with Hippolyta regarding Theseus and Pirithous, How does Emilia describe the close childhood friendship she enjoyed with a girl named Flavina, who is now dead? What seems to be her motive in bringing up this long-ago friendship? What motive does Hippolyta ascribe to Emilia in this regard? We know that by now, Palamon and Arcite claim that Emilia basically “belongs” to them. What does Emilia’s present conversation suggest about her degree of self-awareness and agency in this play?

8. In Act 1, Scene 4, Theseus triumphs over Creon, and the widowed queens are finally able to bury their husbands with due ceremony. The victory also brings Palamon and Arcite directly into Athens as badly wounded prisoners. What underwrites the high esteem that Theseus accords these two men, and what is his initial plan for them? In devising this plan, might the Duke see Palamon and Arcite not simply as dangerous enemies but as surrogates for his own close relationship with Pirithous? Explain.

9. In Act 1, Scene 5, the widowed queens carry on with their husbands’ funeral rites. The wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta is still to come. What seems to be queens’ state of mind, now that they have received this opportunity they asked Theseus to deliver? What philosophy do they articulate, and in what sense does that philosophy bring a tragic dimension into the play as well as (in terms of plot structure) ending the first act much as it began?

ACT 2

10. In Act 2, Scene 1, what is the jailer’s daughter’s situation before the noble prisoners Palamon and Arcite arrive? What prospects lie immediately before her? When the two young knights arrive, what thoughts and feelings does she express regarding them? What does she find so admirable and interesting about them?

11. In Act 2, Scene 2, Palamon and Arcite share their initial thoughts about the loss that comes with imprisonment, and then pivot to what they see as the benefits flowing from their potentially permanent confinement. First, what are the chief losses that they posit? Second, what gains will come their way as friends, now that they are separated from the world around them? How, in their view, would prison actually bring a king of liberty, with themselves as a happy society of two?

12. In Act 2, Scene 2, Emilia talks to her waiting-woman in the garden below Palamon and Arcite’s prison cell. How does what Emilia says unwittingly undermine what the two cousins have been talking about with regard to the virtues of male friendship? How, in particular, does the mention of the narcissus flower reflect on Palamon and Arcite’s conversation up above in their prison cell?

13. In Act 2, Scene 2, Palamon catches sight of Emilia and immediately falls in love with her. What happens when, a short while later, Arcite does the same? How does this similar experience on each man’s part turn them from “best friends forever” into “bitter rivals right now”? Moreover, how do they respectively justify their supposed right to Emilia’s affections, and how do they counter each other’s claims in that regard?

14. In Act 2, Scene 2, what material changes separate Palamon and Arcite even more than they already were by their mutual sighting of Emilia? How do these changes work to break their once strong connection as friends and cast them into a predicament that seems like cruel irony, or perhaps even mockery, on the part of the gods?

15. In Act 2, Scene 3, how does Arcite’s misprision of Palamon’s circumstances fuel his anger and his sense of being treated unfairly, as well as his determination to win Emilia? What is his plan in the wake of his banishment by Theseus? How do a little band of countrymen or rustics unknowingly present Arcite with just the opportunity he needs to get nearer to Emilia?

16. In Act 2, Scene 4, describe explanation given by the jailer’s daughter regarding how she fell in love with Palamon? How different is her experience from the way Palamon and Arcite fell in love with Emilia? What is the daughter’s own assessment of her chances with Palamon? What is her plan going forwards? How has the presence of this knight changed her world?

17. In Act 2, Scene 5, a disguised Arcite attends the competitive games and emerges victorious. We then behold a guest/host scenario typical of the ancient world, with Theseus entertaining Arcite and asking him questions about his place of birth and identity. How does Arcite answer these questions? What is his reward as winner of the games, and why, in chivalric terms, is this reward such a promising development? Finally, what concern underlies Theseus’s warning to Emilia to avoid falling in love with Arcite?

18. In Act 2, Scene 6, the jailer’s daughter tells us that she has set Palamon free. How does she talk about the risks and rewards that go with the act she has committed? In what ways does she show herself to have both a frankly erotic interest in what happens next and yet maintain her romantic idealist expectations? How does she deal with the disappointment that has already begun to shadow her when Palamon fails to respond in kind to her gesture of love?

ACT 3

19. In Act 3, Scene 1, Arcite congratulates himself on how well he is situated now that he serves Emilia, only to be surprised in the woods by the recently freed Palamon. How does this initial conversation between the liberated cousins go? Why does Palamon keep insisting that Arcite should speak to him using rude, uncivil language and manners? Why does Palamon apparently need him to behave this way, and how does Arcite respond to this demand? All the same, what acts of courtesy does Palamon ironically ask Arcite to perform for him?

20. In Act 3, Scene 2, how should we describe the jailer’s daughter’s state of mind in her soliloquy? She clearly isn’t insane yet, so what language and attitudinal cues make it possible to tell that she remains in possession of her faculties? Still, what factors seem to be contributing to the suicidal ideation she expresses? What assumptions is she making about Palamon’s present condition and whereabouts, and about the danger that her father is in because of her actions?

21. In Act 3, Scene 3, Arcite returns to Palamon with the requested food and tools to free himself. How does Palamon treat Arcite when he arrives? How does the conversation go this time, in comparison to their initial meeting in Act 3, Scene 1? Moreover, how does their reminiscing about youthful dalliances with young women in Thebes reflect on the self-images they have mutually promoted since Act 1, Scene 4? In what spirit does the present conversation end, and why?

22. In Act 3, Scene 4, by comparison with her previous soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 2, what features of the jailer’s daughter’s current soliloquy (in the forest, as was 3.2’s soliloquy) strongly indicate that she has by now gone mad? In other words, what signs in her language, gestures, obsessions, etc. make this transformation clear? In so far as she has any plans at this point, how might we describe them?

23. In Act 3, Scene 5, what kind of entertainment is Gerald the schoolmaster preparing with his countryside or rustic troupe for the nobles—what is a “morris dance,” and how does Gerald characterize and develop the particular morris dance he means to conduct? How does the jailer’s daughter end up becoming one of the dancers, and how well does the troupe’s performance come off? What comments do Theseus and his fellow nobles make regarding this entertainment?

24. In Act 3, Scene 6, what factors involved in their current meeting lead Palamon to behave more courteously towards Arcite than he has previously? Where in the conversation is it evident that the two have somewhat recovered their chivalric courtesy? Still, how do they show that their determination to remain rivals hasn’t changed?

25. In Act 3, Scene 6, what happens when Theseus, who is out hunting, discovers Palamon and Arcite in the forest? Why is it so easy to detect them? What does Theseus initially decide to do with them, and what causes him to change his mind? How does Theseus, once he relents from his harsh judgment against Palamon and Arcite, transform the individual contest that the two cousins had previously worked out by themselves?

ACT 4

26. In Act 4, Scene 1, the jailer receives the good news that he and his daughter have been pardoned for Palamon’s escape. As for the bad news, what report does the wooer make about the behavior of the jailer’s daughter in the woods? During that time, and then when she is brought in from the woods, how does she talk about Palamon? What image of him seems to be in her mind? What is the point of the sailing metaphor that the daughter develops in the course of her remarks with her father and others present?

27. In Act 4, Scene 1, if you are familiar with Ophelia’s deranged comments in Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5 (or 4.2, depending on the edition) and with Gertrude’s account of Ophelia’s “muddy death” near the end of Act 4, what influence do those episodes in Hamlet appear to have had on Fletcher/Shakespeare’s treatment of the jailer’s daughter’s distress in The Two Noble Kinsmen? In what ways is the portrayal of the daughter similar to the portrayal of Ophelia, and in what ways is it different?

28. In Act 4, Scene 2, Emilia gazes at miniature portraits of Palamon and Arcite, and praises both men, though not equally. What praises does she accord each man, and (to the extent that you can discern) which cousin does she favor, though not “choose” outright, and why so? What resolution does she arrive at regarding her own state of mind now, as the cousins prepare to do battle for her love? Does she still maintain her strong desire to remain a virgin? Explain.

29. In Act 4, Scene 3, what strategy does the doctor offer for curing the suffering and madness that is currently afflicting the jailer’s daughter? In what sense is the course of treatment that he proposes similar to what we would today call “homeopathic” (i.e., “like curing like”)? What vision of the afterlife does the jailer’s daughter conjure, and in what relation does she place herself to that vision?

30. In Act 4, Scene 3 (and Act 5, Scene 2), if you are familiar with some of the other “doctors” in Shakespeare’s plays (the most relevant ones being the Scottish physician in Macbeth, Cerimon in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, and an unnamed “gentleman” medic in King Lear, compare the comportment, ethos, and/or remedies of one or more of these doctors with those of the doctor in The Two Noble Kinsmen. To what extent does the doctor in the present play seem typical of Shakespeare’s doctors? Is he distinctive in any way? If so, how?

ACT 5

31. In Act 5, Scene 1, Palamon and Arcite say their goodbyes and prepare ritually for the bloody tournament to come. We know that Arcite prays to Mars, god of war, and Palamon prays to Venus, goddess of love. What specifically does each knight ask for in his prayer, and what seems to be the underlying rationale for addressing the respective god? What kind of “answers” do they each receive to their prayers, and how do they interpret the answers?

32. In Act 5, Scene 1, while Palamon and Arcite pray to Venus and Mars, respectively, which God does Emilia pray to? What does she ask for, and why? What can we tell about how the tournament is already affecting her, even before it has begun in earnest? When she gets the “signs” offered by her chosen deity, how does she interpret those signs?

33. In Act 5, Scene 2, how does the doctor supplement the advice he offered in Act 4, Scene 3? What is new about the plan? How do sexuality and the concept of chastity enter into his advice for curing the jailer’s daughter? To what degree might we say that the daughter’s social class figures in the doctor’s calculations? Explain. How well does the plan of remedy appear to be working by the time of this second scene?

34. In Act 5, Scene 3, how does Emilia react as the fighting between Palamon and Arcite gets underway, in terms of how she processes its impact on her emotional state? Why, mainly, doesn’t she agree to view the contest directly? Moreover, what observations does she add by means of a reprise of the comments she made in Act 4, Scene 2 about Arcite and Palamon’s merits? When Arcite finally emerges from a confusing, hard-fought battle as the victor, how does Emilia apparently take this outcome?

35. In Act 5, Scene 4, how do Palamon and his knights respond to their narrow defeat? What baffling occurrence at once upends the initial outcome? How does Arcite handle this grave downturn in his fortunes—what stated principle allows him to deal with it, and how, in his dying moments, does he treat Palamon and Emilia?

36. In Act 5, Scene 4, when Theseus sees that Palamon has ended up “winning by losing,” what philosophy does the Duke enunciate in order to come to terms with such an unexpected and adverse event? Does this philosophy carry us, the audience or readership, through to a satisfying conclusion for The Two Noble Kinsmen? Why or why not? How does this tragicomic or romance play’s ending compare to the “bittersweet” ending of one or more of Shakespeare’s other so-called romance plays? (Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest.)

37. In the Epilogue, the speaker adopts a playful tone with the audience, almost (but not really!) calling for vocal criticisms of the actors and the play, if insufficient praise isn’t forthcoming. In the end, what does the speaker suggest has been the proper aim of the acting company? What relationship is this epilogue asserting between the audience, the playwright, and the actors? (Optional: how does the epilogue in The Two Noble Kinsmen compare to at least one of Shakespeare’s other epilogues over the course of his career?)

Edition. Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors. The Norton Shakespeare: Romances and Poems + Digital Edition. 3rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93862-3.