Shakespeare lived in an era when careless talk cost lives. With Europe divided by the Reformation, England had no shortage of enemies across the water, while suspicions lingered over Scotland’s traditional ties with the old enemy France. Meanwhile a large proportion of the population remained loyal to the old faith, and following the 1570 Papal Bull excommunicating Queen Elizabeth, such recusants were routinely seen as an enemy within. In the circumstances there was every incentive to disguise what you really thought: for the false face to hide what the false heart is feeling, as Lady Macbeth suggests. Equally there was every incentive to find out what people really thought by hiding or disguising your presence while they cleared their mind, and Shakespeare’s plays are surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) full of conversations being overheard by hidden audiences.
Overhearing in Shakespeare is conducted in one of two ways: by concealment or disguise. Polonius is devoted to the former. Apparently modelled on Elizabeth’s own spymaster Thomas Walsingham, this “wretched, rash, intruding fool” (as Hamlet calls him) sets up two encounters in his quest to understand the young prince’s behaviour. First, he observes him with Ophelia, and draws the wrong conclusion from what he sees: “he is mad”. Next, he hides behind a curtain to observe the prince in conversation with his mother Gertrude, a decision he does not live to regret: “O, I am slain!” are his final words as Hamlet dispatches him through the curtain.
Eavesdropping in Shakespeare does not always spring from malicious motives, however – indeed in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” the motive is quite the opposite. Here four young men have taken a vow of chastity that is challenged by the arrival of four young women. Biron has already privately succumbed to the charms of Rosaline – and sent her a sonnet to say so – when he spots Ferdinand “with a paper” that turns out to be a love sonnet of his own. Biron hides while Ferdinand recites, to be replaced by Longaville, also equipped with a sonnet. Now Ferdinand conceals himself, while Longaville confesses his affection – only for Dumain to appear “with a paper” and a confession: “O most divine Kate!” It is now time for the three in hiding to reveal themselves to one another and to Duman, though when they expose their feelings to the young women, the labour of their love is lost as news of the death of the princess’s father recalls the women to France.
So eavesdropping in Shakespeare’s examination of the trope may be used for good or ill. “Much Ado About Nothing” explores both sides of the coin. First, eavesdropping is employed in the cause of love: Beatrice and Benedick are instinctively drawn to one another, though pride prevents them from abandoning their “merry war” and admitting their feelings. Don Pedro takes a hand, and arranges for Benedick to overhear a conversation in which Beatrice’s undying love for him is laid out: Benedick is immediately persuaded. Next Beatrice is similarly deceived as she overhears her cousin Hero outlining Benedick’s desire for her. In the play’s closing scene they confront one another and confess their love.
But there is a negative side to the trope, explored towards the end of the play, and this implies that eavesdropping can often lead to misinterpretation. Don John, a prototype for Iago, and driven like Iago by a kind of “motiveless malignity”, sets out to destroy the reputation and forthcoming marriage of Hero to Claudio. So he disguises her servant Margaret as Hero and engages her to canoodle in the gloaming with his companion Borachio. Claudio is convinced by the story, misinterpreting what he is seeing, and abandons his wedding the next day.
Similar misinterpretation of evidence underwrites the plot of “Othello” and reinforces Iago’s assault on the Moor’s too trusting character. Here, in response to Othello’s demand for “ocular proof” that his young wife is engaged in an affair with Cassio, the vicious Iago represents an innocent conversation about Bianca as a derogatory discussion about Desdemona. Othello is persuaded that his wife has been unfaithful with Cassio, with fatal consequences for her and for himself. Once again, observing from a distance delivers evidence that can be misunderstood, with fatal results.
These examples indicate that eavesdropping in Shakespeare is not confined to comedies alone, but is used in the full range of genres: “Richard II” offers evidence of its use in a History play. Here the Queen listens in to the gardener as he holds forth on the state of the nation: “Let’s step into the shadow of these trees”, she enjoins her maid as the gardeners approach: “They’ll talk of state [politics]”. They conceal themselves but the news is not what they want to hear: the gardener mildly criticises the king’s conduct in office, before revealing that he has been deposed.
All these examples belong to the first of the two categories of overhearing mentioned above – they are all examples of concealing oneself in order to listen in, and some are as funny as they are cruel. One thinks of the practical joke played on Malvolio in “Twelfth Night”, where Maria, Fabian, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby leave a highly suggestive letter for Malvolio to find while they secrete themselves where they can watch the fun: “Get ye all three into the box-tree”, Maria instructs, “Malvolio’s coming down the walk”. The audience watches as the characters watch Malvolio fall into the trap they have set for him.
But just as one may hide behind a curtain, or in a box-tree, or elsewhere in the shadows, so one may eavesdrop and overhear simply by disguising oneself. There are numerous examples: one thinks of Prince Hal and his old companion Ned Poins in “Henry IV” Part Two, disguising themselves as waiters at the Boar’s Head tavern while Falstaff holds forth on the shortcomings of the Prince and his friend: “A good shallow young fellow” he says dismissively of Prince Hal as he watches on, and of Ned – “His wit’s as thick as Tewksbury mustard”. The two young men reveal their disguise, leaving Falstaff to find a way out of the maze of his own making.
Later, when Hal has assumed the throne, and on the eve of battle at Agincourt as Henry V, he adopts a second disguise though with a somewhat weightier purpose. Taking a cloak that belongs to Sir Thomas Erpingham, the king disguises himself as an ordinary soldier and goes out among his troops to take their temperature before battle commences. Discussion drifts to the subject of the King himself, and Henry is reassured by the honesty and openness of what he hears. But he maintains his cover to hear the soldiers’ perspectives.
In all these cases the observers crave invisibility to see what there is to be seen and hear what there is to hear. In this respect perhaps they anticipate Ariel, the spirit of “The Tempest”, who is able to flit across the island in the time it takes to think a thought, from the shipwrecked sailors to the bereaved old King Alonso and on to the servants Stephano and Trinculo being introduced to the delights of the island by Caliban. In this way Ariel can observe conversations, intrude into them and even participate in them, invisible and unsuspected, even by Caliban. In all these examples of eavesdropping, dramatic irony plays a central role: we watch the watchers as they watch, and in this sense too, Ariel is the ideal of all Shakespeare’s eavesdropping characters, watching their fellows as we the audience watch them.
