Summary

Chapter 11 begins with Kirsten and Sayid on stage performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is revealed that Kirsten has a sizeable scar on her cheek. The chapter highlights that A Midsummer Night’s Dream was likely written in 1594, after two years of the plague. It also highlights the tragedies in Shakespeare’s life. Shakespeare had one son who died, and Shakespeare, himself, was the only child of his parents to survive infancy.

Chapter 12 begins with an ovation for the performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. At the conclusion of the ovation a young man rises and addresses the crowd. It’s the prophet; he has a dog named Luli. He speaks to his people about how the great pandemic was a cleansing, just as the 1918 flu had cleansed the sins of WWI. He claims that this is the beginning – an...