Great Scene: “Shakespeare in Love”

In the screenwriting class I’m currently teaching at UNC, for the last two weeks we’ve been analyzing the truly wonderful screenplay Shakespeare In Love (1998), written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. 

There are so many fantastic scenes in the script, but here’s a great one: Viola, who has dressed as a man “Thomas Kent” in order to act in Shakespeare’s newest play, has delivered a note to Will informing him that Viola is to marry Lord Wessex. Will chases after Thomas to seek his opinion about what to do. This is a classic example of a scene where the reader / audience knows something one of the characters doesn’t, in this case Thomas Kent’s true identity — and it plays out with equal parts humor and pathos, with a deft punch line at the end provided by the Boatman, a nod to any screenwriter who’s had a cabbie toss a script their way en route from LAX (as happened to me once).

EXT. THE RIVER. VIOLA’S BOAT. NIGHT.

 WILL turns back to VIOLA. They have their conversation
 intimately, disregarding the lack of intimacy. The BOATMAN
 is hardly an arm’s length away, but they ignore him.

 WILL
 She tells me to keep away. She is to
 marry Lord Wessex. What should I do?

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 If you love her, you must do what
 she asks.

 WILL
 And break her heart and mine?

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 It is only ours you can know.

 WILL
 She loves me, Thomas!

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 Does she say so?

 WILL
 No. And yet she does where the ink
 has run with tears. Was she weeping
 when she gave you this?

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 I… Her letter came to me by the
 nurse.

 WILL
 Your aunt?

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 (catching up)
 Yes, my aunt. But perhaps she wept a
 little. Tell me how you love her,
 Will.

 WILL
 Like a sickness and its cure together.

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 Yes, like rain and sun, like cold
 and heat.
 (collecting herself)
 Is your lady beautiful? Since I came
 to visit from the country, I have
 not seen her close. Tell me, is she
 beautiful?

 WILL
 Oh, if I could write the beauty of
 her eyes! I was born to look in them
 and know myself.

 He is looking into VIOLA’S eyes. She holds his look, but
 WILL belies his words.

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 And her lips?

 WILL
 Oh, Thomas, her lips! The early
 morning rose would wither on the
 branch, if it could feel envy!

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 And her voice? Like lark song?

 WILL
 Deeper. Softer. None of your
 twittering larks! I would banish
 nightingales from her garden before
 they interrupt her song.

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 She sings too?

 WILL
 Constantly. Without doubt. And plays
 the lute, she has a natural ear. And
 her bosom — did I mention her bosom?

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 (glinting)
 What of her bosom?

 WILL
 Oh Thomas, a pair of pippins! As
 round and rare as golden apples!

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 I think the lady is wise to keep
 your love at a distance. For what
 lady could live up to it close to,
 when her eyes and lips and voice may
 be no more beautiful than mine?
 Besides, can a lady born to wealth
 and noble marriage love happily with
 a Bankside poet and player?

 WILL
 (fervently)
 Yes, by God! Love knows nothing of
 rank or riverbank! It will spark
 between a queen and the poor vagabond
 who plays the king, and their love
 should be minded by each, for love
 denied blights the soul we owe to
 God! So tell my lady, William
 Shakespeare waits for her in the
 garden!

 VIOLA AS THOMAS
 But what of Lord Wessex?

 WILL
 For one kiss, I would defy a thousand
 Wessexes!

 The boat scrapes on the jetty of the DE LESSEPSES’ house.
 The bump throws THOMAS into WILL’S arms. He holds her round
 the shoulders. His words have almost unmasked her. The
 closeness does the rest. She kisses him on the mouth and
 jumps out of the boat.

 VIOLA
 Oh, Will!

 She throws a coin to the BOATMAN and runs towards the house.

 BOATMAN
 Thank you, my lady!

 WILL
 (stunned)
 Lady?

 BOATMAN
 Viola De Lesseps. Known her since
 she was this high. Wouldn’t deceive
 a child.

 WILL gets out of the boat.

 BOATMAN
 (reaching under his
 seat)
 Strangely enough, I’m a bit of a
 writer myself.

 The BOATMAN produces his memoirs in manuscript.

 BOATMAN
 It wouldn’t take you long to read
 it, I expect you know all the
 booksellers…

 But WILL has gone.

[Originally posted 10/10/08]