It can be misleading as a twenty-first century scholar to approach Shakespeare’s plays solely as a reader, the most common way we access his plays today. We study these texts, often without the luxury of seeing or hearing the audio-visual tactics Shakespeare so well employed upon the stage. Tokens of love were often exchanged onstage, and messages were delivered orally among different players, but what is more, Shakespeare used letters in many situations to …showed first 75 words of 442 total…

…showed last 75 words of 442 total…already knows their plan and hopes that they may escape to consummate their love. What’s here? “Silvia this night I will enfranchise thee.” ‘Tis so Here, Shakespeare’s tactic is to show how a love-letter may fall into the wrong hands, and allow the audience to painfully bear witness to its consequence. In this situation, Proteus is unable to protest, and he has literally penned his own fate. This scene pushes the plot onwards