by Amy Wang
Although Master Shakespeare has the title role in this film, those who see it may not regard The Bard any differently from the dashing heroes of other romance films. It is the important female characters. namely Viola de Lesseps and Queen Elizabeth, who really shine. They are quite the modern heroines. Viola, the daughter of a wealthy but untitled family, dons male dress to fulfill her stage dream. At a time when the theater was a man’s world, when upper-class ladies stayed in their refined, pretty and petty circles, her courage and will power are admirable. She has much talent, being able to act well enough to deceive her fellow-performers, her parents, and her fiance. Sold to Lord Wessex by her parents in exchange for a title, Viola dares to find her own lover. She defies Wessex, regardless of traditional ideas of female obedience. It can be argued that Viola does obey when forced into marriage; she does not run off to marry her lover as Juliet does in the play. The fact that Viola does not rebel against her bargained marriage does not render her a feeble-minded woman. She is fully aware that in her position it is impossible for her to marry a relatively poor playwright like Shakespeare. She sees the picture clearly: if she turns her back on social conventions, she is likely to end up in sickness, ignominy, and poverty, not to mention that her marriage to Lord Wessex is granted by the Queen. Failure to carry out the royal command equals treason and death. Instead of ruining all, she makes the best of her troubles. And she gets all the prizes: a titled husband, a talented lover, and immortality in great plays to boot. At the end of the film, the audience see two scenes overlapped: Shakespeare writing the beginning of Twelfth Night while a shipwreck is shown at the same time. This can easily be understood as the play taking shape in Shakespeare’s mind. However, in the play Viola is not the lone survivor. The captain of the ship and some sailors are also alive. If the director wishes the audience to see the film interpreted in this way, he could have shown the other survivors. Instead, the camera focuses on people struggling in the sea. The face of the lone survivor is never seen, but we see her long, golden hair the same color as Viola de Lesseps’. The resemblance is too obvious to be ignored. Clearly, the audience is encouraged to think of her as the unknown survivor. The film ends with her walking all alone on the sand under the sun, heading toward a lush, green forest. She is erect and her steps are unwavering. It does not matter if this ending is meant to be Shakespeare’s fancy or the director’s indication to the audience that it really happened. What is important is that Viola is shown as a confident, independent woman ready to face the unknown. Although Viola is the leading female character in the film, Queen Elizabeth I is no less impressive. Her appearance in the film may evoke gasps or snickers from a modern audience. Students of English literature should find the costume familiar, since the Queen’s portrait appears on the cover of a volume of the Norton Anthology of English Literature . But with a face powdered ghastly white, a jewelled red wig that shows a quarter of a bald head, complete with wrinkles and sagging cheeks, Her Majesty from close up looks like a monster from a horror film. However, the audience soon forgets the Queen’s strange appearance but remembers her ironic, authoritative, but penetrating remarks. Throughout the film she is the one with the clearest insight. She calls Wessex a fool and knows that Viola already has a lover simply from their short audience at Greenwich. With her position as queen she naturally has more power, but she also deals with the situations wisely, which is something not every monarch can do. She is sympathetic in remarking, “I know how it is for a woman to be in a man’s position.” Also a good critic of drama, Elizabeth is sharp enough to see the talent in Shakespeare. Her exit line, “Too late, too late” (with a shake of her head) totally scorns her male courtiers’ incompetence in performing their manly duties by refusing their chivalric service. Although there are many historical allusions in Shakespeare in Love, the whole film is a fictitious construction of Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Written from a twentieth-century point of view, it is quite possible that the two male writers flavored the screenplay with images of strong women to suit modern audiences’ taste. a
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May 2024
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