Hero in Much Ado About Nothing fakes her own death to restore her honor. Helena in All's Well that Ends Well sends a false report that she has died before she confronts Bertram in France at the end of the play. What crises lead these women to fake their deaths, and how do they pull off these feats? And why did Shakespeare return to this plot device in so many of his plays?
Join New Swan Summer Fellow Chelsea Lee for an online presentation comparing fake deaths in the two plays. What do characters and communities discover about themselves when heroines appear to die and are then reborn?
Chelsea Lee is a Ph.D. candidate in English. She is completing her dissertation on false deaths in Shakespeare's plays. She is a frequent contributor to the New Swan community.