Act 1, The Dumbshow Summary

The Dumbshow consists of three simultaneous vignettes displayed without speech. In the first vignette Othello murders Desdemona in her bedchamber by smothering her with a pillow. In the second vignette Romeo lies dead in a crypt as Juliet awakens, mourns, and kills herself with a rapier. In the third vignette Constance Ledbelly sits in her office having a telephone conversation which upsets her; she subsequently hangs up the telephone, throws her pen and the leather-bound Gustav Manuscript into the trash and exits her office.

Act 1, The Dumbshow Analysis

The Dumbshow introduces five of the play's sixteen characters, including Constance Ledbelly, the protagonist and principle character of the drama. The simultaneous presentation of three vignettes welds them together in tone and theme; two famous Shakespearean scenes are portrayed alongside Constance's telephone call without dialogue. Although recently slain, Desdemona, Romeo, and...