Shakespearean Resurrection: The Art of Almost Raising the Dead

APPENDIX: Mock Resurrections

184 APPENDIX z Mock Resurrections Shakespeare had probably known about stage resurrections from the miracle and mystery plays he had in all likelihood seen in his youth. His own “poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling ,” might well have glanced “from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven” with the possibilities of raising the dead on stage (Midsummer Night’s Dream 5.1.11–12). His interest no doubt was also piqued by the potential he saw and then exploited in the recognition scenes that he found in his sources and later, as in The Tempest, created on his own. Still, theatrically raising the dead was a possibility that Shakespeare largely rejected, opting instead for the quasi resurrections of the plays. Such moments continually remind us of the Resurrection itself, with the accompanying joy that attends the biblical account as well as Shakespeare’s mundane staging. Shakespeare’s plays are of this world, suggesting the need for personal reconciliation and forgiveness, yet they gesture toward the need for divine grace at times and of human life lived in light of eternity. I would like to conclude with two unusual expressions of the resurrection motif, both Mock Resurrections 185 of which Paffrath’s (1993) study initially brought to my attention . Neither involves a recognition scene proper, but both illustrate Shakespeare’s interest in staging—and in these two cases, staged—resurrections. The first is Falstaff’s mock resurrection in act 5 of The First Part of King Henry IV (1596–97). In the midst of the battle of Shrewsbury, the Earl of Douglas enters and, as the stage direction informs us, “He fighteth with Falstaff, who falls down as if he were dead” (5.4.76, s.d.). A real death follows, as Hal slays Hotspur, who unceremoniously becomes food for worms (87). As Falstaff plays dead “on the ground,” Hal then sees his old companion: What, old acquaintance, could not all this flesh Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell! I could have better spared a better man. Oh, I should have a heavy miss of thee If I were much in love with vanity. (102–06) The moment alternates between expressions of sadness and humor, as Hal finds everything about Falstaff, even his death, fit subject for his wit and humor. He exits and “Falstaff riseth up” (110, s.d.), giving us a rather lengthy disquisition about his counterfeit death, which I quote in relevant part: “To die is to be a counterfeit, for he is but the counterfeit of a man who hath not the life of a man; but to counterfeit dying, when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit but the true and perfect image of life indeed” (115–19). When the Prince reenters the scene with Lancaster, both men are surprised: LANCASTER. Did you not tell me this fat man was dead? PRINCE. I did; I saw him dead, Breathless and bleeding on the ground.—Art thou alive? Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight? I prithee, speak. We will not trust our eyes Without our ears. (131–36) The scene could come out of any comedy or romance, as Hal believes that either he is seeing a dead man alive or there is 186 Appendix some magic at work. Even when Falstaff speaks and assures him that he is alive, Hal momentarily believes that there has been a resurrection—“Why, Percy I killed myself and saw thee dead” (5.4.142). “Didst thou?,” Falstaff parries, “Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying” (143–44). The pun on “lying” as well as the transparency of the scene deflects attention away from the suggestion of a resurrection—the audience in fact sees the duplicity for themselves, and Hal quickly sees through it as well. Still, the scene works on one level as a light parody of the Resurrection. Falstaff’s sanctimony is quite in character—his touch on all things religious is comically corrosive—while the play’s representation of a resurrection is merely a mock one. The joy that attends his resurrection is his and his alone. Something quite similar occurs in Antony and Cleopatra. Fearing Antony’s anger at her for having fled in the heat of battle, Cleopatra listens to Charmian’s advice: CHARMIAN. To th’ monument! There lock yourself and send him word you are dead. The soul and body rive...