0.1 [Scene 15] [[ Resource not found ]] Through this section of the play the complex Messenger character became an increasingly dominant presence. In this scene the character shifts between courtly poetry and colloquial prose making interpretation of is background difficult. Read more about the performance of Scene 15 and access video of the SQM production. PC. Video Sc.15 2 stately palace [[ Resource not found ]]The complex messenger character enters here speaking courtly prose. Read more about performing the Messenger and access video of the SQM production. PC. 7 heaven preserve [[ Resource not found ]]The messenger appears at this point to be a master of courtly etiquette, an impression that contradicts his behavior and language elsewhere in the play. Read more about performing the Messenger and access video of the SQM production. PC. 11 residue the rest of the message -- besides the greeting from Gonorill -- is contained in the letter. [[ Resource not found ]] The messenger appears to be a courtly sophisticate at this point but the impression is not sustained throughout the scene. Read more about performing the Messenger and access video of the SQM production. PC. 14-19 See how her color . . . more crowns for me. David Roberts detects a parallel here with Shakespeare's Henry VIII where Norfolk describes "how Wolsey has reacted to news of Henry's discovery of [Wolsey's] correspondence with the Pope" (302): "Some strange commotion / Is in his brain; he bites his lip, and starts, / Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground, / Then lays his finger on his temple; straight / Springs out into fast gaint, then stops again, / Strikes his breast hard, and anon he casts / His eye against the moon" (F: 1974-9). 17 dumbshow part of a play featuring action but no speech. Dumbshows were quite popular in early modern drama, and were sometimes included an onstage "interpreter" who would explain the action to the audience. At this moment in Leir, the messenger is playing the role of interpreter. The Mousetrap scene in Hamlet provides another example of the dumbshow with interpreter ((F: 1990-2015). [[ Resource not found ]]In performance the Messenger's observations of the dumbshow was funny even though Ragan's reaction would lead her to order the murder of her father. Read more about Queen's Men medley style in Scene 15 and access video of the SQM production. PC. 19 crowns a gold coin worth five shillings, named for the image of a crown imprinted upon it. 26 That I shall know my lord to be my head? According to the visions of marriage operating in early modern England, the wife was often figured as the body to her husband's head. According to this homology, the husband provided direction and guidance as the "head" of a household while the wife enacted or performed those tasks that the husband thought fit. The precise language here is informed by a passage in St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians (5:22-25): "Ye women, submit your selves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the wife's head, even as Christ is the head of the Church, and he is the saviour of the whole body. Therefore as the Church in congregation is subject unto Christ: so likewise let the wives be in subjection unto their own husbands in all things". English priests were directed by The Book of Common Prayer to read to new husbands and wives (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians%205:22-25;&version=9;). See also http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/society/status.html. 28 hop without a head be beheaded. See OED "Headless," 1b. Thomas H. McNeal finds a parallel here with 2 Henry VI where Margaret of Anjou declares that she "Would quickly make thee hop without a head" (F: 527). 34 fact. crime. 41 cavillations quibbles or unfair objections. 51 stratagem, scheme or plot. 53 compact packed tight with. 53 adamant a fabulous mineral valued by alchemists for its remarkable hardness. Throughout the sixteenth century, the precise nature of adamant remained unclear. At times, it was figured to be diamond, though it was also said to share properties with lodestone or magnetite. As the OED notes, it was generally used as a synonym for diamond during the seventeenth century. [[ Resource not found ]]A reference point that suggests the Messenger is well educated. What exactly is the social status and background of this character?Read more about performing the Messenger and access video of the SQM production. PC. 56 respect the cracking of a flea care about the killing of a flea. [[ Resource not found ]] The Messenger here uses a reference point out of keeping with his presentation as a courtly sophisticate prior to this moment in the scene. Read more about performing the Messenger and access video of the SQM production. PC. 61 we make no doubt of thee. "We are certain of your trustworthiness". 63 part=f> drink that for my sake. Ragan says that she'd like the messenger to buy a drink with the tip she gives him; this tip is clearly payment for the murder she expects him to commit. 68-69 Why, here's a wench . . . hurt her neither. As with many of the messenger's lines, this one is sexually loaded. [[ Resource not found ]] The challenge for the SQM company was to decide whether his sexual references defined him as rude and brash, or soave and courtly. Read more about performing the Messenger and access video of the SQM production. PC.