Justice Shallow

Justice Shallow first appears in Henry IV, Part 2 as an old friend of Falstaff's.  In this play they have a very warm relationship.  Falstaff owes him a thousand pounds and when Henry IV dies at the end of the play, Falstaff asks Shallow to follow him to the castle.  Falstaff believes that his drinking buddy Prince Hal, now King Henry V, will reward him for his long devotion and friendship.  Instead the new King Henry ignores Falstaff, leaving the folly of youth behind, and devastating the fat knight.

Shallow witnesses this and, rather than press his friend for the money, he tries to forgive him half of the debt and asks Falstaff to come to his home in the country [Windsor].  Falstaff agrees but says that he will pay him what he owes.



Cut to the beginning of Merry Wives of Windsor, which is the next scene in the Henriad.  Shallow is outraged at Falstaff and his cronies because Falstaff has killed a deer on his land, tore up his house and beaten his men.  There is no talk of the thousand pounds, which we know Falstaff couldn't have paid back because he is flat broke.  Needless to say Falstaff is a bad house guest and Shallow has obviously thrown him out.

There is legend that Shallow and the deer business at the beginning of the play is in fact Shakespeare striking back at an old enemy from Stratford, Sir Thomas Lucy.  The story goes that when Shakespeare disappeared from Stratford for several years before turning up in London and being called out in Green's Groats-worth that Shakespeare was run out of Stratford to escape prosecution for poaching a deer from Thomas' land.  There is of course no proof to it, but it is a great story.

Shallow pleads his case for Slender to Evans

I love that Shallow, talks about himself in the third person and in a formal legal sense:  "Robert Shallow, esquire."  I wish there was more in the play that had to deal with the law and Shallow's representation of it (like Caius and Evans are for the church and medicine), because other than this opening scene we get little other treatment of it. (Though it does add a little credence to the Shakespeare taking aim at Sir Lucy angle.)

In fact halfway through this scene Shallow splits his focus getting his nephew, Abrahan Slender, married to Anne Page.  For the rest of the play, the character becomes a straight man to Slender's antics.  He still has a clear intention (get Slender married) but why?  Is it because Slender is an embarrassment?  Is it because he just wants him out of his house and off his hands?

We will have to change all of the cousins (a colloquialism for any sort of relation) to nephew and uncle.

I like that he is one of the older members of the town.  You would expect sage wisdom from him, but instead you get half-baked revenge ("Get out of my yard!  The ball's mine now!!") and a deep seated passion to marry off the young ("Why in my day...."  "Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death?").

Costume Notes:
--3-piece suit (patterned), shirt, bright jabot tie, hat, gloves