Orl.Come, I will bear thee to some shelter,and thou shalt not die for lack of adinner if there live any thing in thisdesert. Cheerly, good Adam. Exeunt.[As You Like It, II, vi, 16-19]
Orl.Come, I will bear thee to some shelter,and thou shalt not die for lack of adinner if there live any thing in thisdesert. Cheerly, good Adam. Exeunt.[As You Like It, II, vi, 16-19]
Orl.Come, I will bear thee to some shelter,
and thou shalt not die for lack of a
dinner if there live any thing in this
desert. Cheerly, good Adam. Exeunt.
[As You Like It, II, vi, 16-19]
Next, there is the implicit exit line.
Ant.[musing upon Sebastian’s departure]But come what may, I do adore thee soThat danger shall seem sport, and I will go. Exit.[Twelfth Night, II, i, 48-49]
Ant.[musing upon Sebastian’s departure]But come what may, I do adore thee soThat danger shall seem sport, and I will go. Exit.[Twelfth Night, II, i, 48-49]
Ant.[musing upon Sebastian’s departure]
But come what may, I do adore thee so
That danger shall seem sport, and I will go. Exit.
[Twelfth Night, II, i, 48-49]
Thirdly, there is the scene which ends with no exit line implying motion.
To.[to the dancing Sir Andrew] Let me seethee caper. Ha, higher! ha, ha, excellent! Exeunt.[Twelfth Night, I, iii, 149-150]
To.[to the dancing Sir Andrew] Let me seethee caper. Ha, higher! ha, ha, excellent! Exeunt.[Twelfth Night, I, iii, 149-150]
To.[to the dancing Sir Andrew] Let me see
thee caper. Ha, higher! ha, ha, excellent! Exeunt.
[Twelfth Night, I, iii, 149-150]
Lastly, there is the scene which ends in a soliloquy or an aside. Although the playwright occasionally inserts an exit line in such a conclusion, his opportunity to do so is slight. Below I have enumerated the scene endings that conclude with explicit and implicit exit lines, with no exit lines, and as a solo exit.
Only 9 to 13 per cent of the scenes fail to indicate that the characters end a scene by leaving the stage. Although the soliloquies may or may not imply that the actors leave the stage, the majority of the scene endings clearly demonstrate that it was thephysical departure of the actors which gave fluency to the action. When a stage direction reads “exeunt” at the end of a scene, it means exactly that: “they go out.”
It is time to revive an old cry. The pendulum has swung too far. It is time to reassert that the Globe stagewasbare. Sumptuous and gorgeous as this playhouse may have appeared, the decoration was largely permanent and passive. In brief, the Globe was constructed and employed to tell a story as vigorously and as excitingly and as intensely as possible. Though spectators were usually informed where a scene took place, they were informed by the words they heard, not the sights they saw. Instead, place was given specific emphasis only when and to the degree the narrative required. Otherwise, the audience gazed upon a splendid symbol of the universe before which all sorts of human actions could be unfolded.