Shakespeare in Love Scene 22 Summary

  • The actors take their bows to a happy house.
  • But they're interrupted by Master Tilney, the censor, who plans to arrest them all.
  • But, in a shocking reveal, the Queen stands up in the audience.
  • She approaches the stage, and says this play was not an exhibition of "public lewdness." If it were, the Queen herself wouldn't be there, now would she?
  • She demands to look at Master Kent, and Viola bows like a man in front of the Queen.
  • The Queen says the illusion is remarkable.
  • "If only Lord Wessex were here," the Queen says, and Wessex tries to flee before the rat boy rats him out.
  • The Queen tells him that he lost his wager, and this play shows the very essence of true love.
  • Before she leaves, the Queen welcomes Shakespeare to Greenwich to speak with her again. We think that means she liked the play.
  • Wessex intercepts the Queen as she departs.
  • She taunts him for losing his bride so soon.
  • She tells Wessex to pay the wager of fifty pounds to Master Kent, and the Queen tells Kent to go fetch Wessex's bride from inside the playhouse.
  • Then she boards her carriage to depart.