Great Scene: Shakespeare In Love

In the screenwriting class I'm currently teaching at UNC, for the last two weeks we've been analyzing the truly wonderful screenplay Shakespeare In Love (1998), written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. There are so many fantastic scenes in the script, but here's a great one: Viola, who has dressed as a man "Thomas Kent" in order to act in Shakespeare's newest play, has delivered a note to Will informing him that Viola is to marry Lord Wessex. Will chases after Thomas to seek his opinion about what to do. This is a classic example of a scene where the reader / audience knows something one of the characters doesn't, in this case Thomas Kent's true identity -- and it plays out with equal parts humor and pathos, with a deft punch line at the end provided by the Boatman, a nod to any screenwriter who's had a cabbie toss a script their way en route from LAX (as happened to me one time).

               EXT. THE RIVER. VIOLA'S BOAT. NIGHT.

              WILL turns back to VIOLA. They have their conversation
              intimately, disregarding the lack of intimacy. The BOATMAN
              is hardly an arm's length away, but they ignore him.

                                    WILL
                        She tells me to keep away. She is to
                        marry Lord Wessex. What should I do?

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                        If you love her, you must do what
                        she asks.

                                    WILL
                        And break her heart and mine?

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                        It is only ours you can know.

                                    WILL
                        She loves me, Thomas!

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                        Does she say so?

                                    WILL
                        No. And yet she does where the ink
                        has run with tears. Was she weeping
                        when she gave you this?

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                        I... Her letter came to me by the
                        nurse.

                                    WILL
                        Your aunt?

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                             (catching up)
                        Yes, my aunt. But perhaps she wept a
                        little. Tell me how you love her,
                        Will.

                                    WILL
                        Like a sickness and its cure together.

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                        Yes, like rain and sun, like cold
                        and heat.
                             (collecting herself)
                        Is your lady beautiful? Since I came
                        to visit from the country, I have
                        not seen her close. Tell me, is she
                        beautiful?

                                    WILL
                        Oh, if I could write the beauty of
                        her eyes! I was born to look in them
                        and know myself.

              He is looking into VIOLA'S eyes. She holds his look, but
              WILL belies his words.

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                        And her lips?

                                    WILL
                        Oh, Thomas, her lips! The early
                        morning rose would wither on the
                        branch, if it could feel envy!

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                        And her voice? Like lark song?

                                    WILL
                        Deeper. Softer. None of your
                        twittering larks! I would banish
                        nightingales from her garden before
                        they interrupt her song.

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                        She sings too?

                                    WILL
                        Constantly. Without doubt. And plays
                        the lute, she has a natural ear. And
                        her bosom -- did I mention her bosom?

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                             (glinting)
                        What of her bosom?

                                    WILL
                        Oh Thomas, a pair of pippins! As
                        round and rare as golden apples!

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                        I think the lady is wise to keep
                        your love at a distance. For what
                        lady could live up to it close to,
                        when her eyes and lips and voice may
                        be no more beautiful than mine?
                        Besides, can a lady born to wealth
                        and noble marriage love happily with
                        a Bankside poet and player?

                                    WILL
                             (fervently)
                        Yes, by God! Love knows nothing of
                        rank or riverbank! It will spark
                        between a queen and the poor vagabond
                        who plays the king, and their love
                        should be minded by each, for love
                        denied blights the soul we owe to
                        God! So tell my lady, William
                        Shakespeare waits for her in the
                        garden!

                                    VIOLA AS THOMAS
                        But what of Lord Wessex?

                                    WILL
                        For one kiss, I would defy a thousand
                        Wessexes!

              The boat scrapes on the jetty of the DE LESSEPSES' house.
              The bump throws THOMAS into WILL'S arms. He holds her round
              the shoulders. His words have almost unmasked her. The
              closeness does the rest. She kisses him on the mouth and
              jumps out of the boat.

                                    VIOLA
                        Oh, Will!

              She throws a coin to the BOATMAN and runs towards the house.

                                    BOATMAN
                        Thank you, my lady!

                                    WILL
                             (stunned)
                        Lady?

                                    BOATMAN
                        Viola De Lesseps. Known her since
                        she was this high. Wouldn't deceive
                        a child.

              WILL gets out of the boat.

                                    BOATMAN
                             (reaching under his
                             seat)
                        Strangely enough, I'm a bit of a
                        writer myself.

              The BOATMAN produces his memoirs in manuscript.

                                    BOATMAN
                        It wouldn't take you long to read
                        it, I expect you know all the
                        booksellers...

              But WILL has gone.