Blog: Shakespearean Plot Twist!
“How long are we going to be walking for?” Romeo asked, trying not
to sound impatient but it was clear with his labored breaths and the sheen of
sweat glistening on his body that he was tired and he wanted to get there fast.
“We rest in Scotland where there’s a boat that will take us to
Denmark,” Claudio replied, Hero’s rather small, pale hand holding tight onto
his calloused one.
“I’ve been to Denmark with my father when he was visiting a friend
there. It was lovely. It truly is a beautiful place. Our journey will be worth
it,” Juliet encouraged thoughtfully. Romeo sighed lowly beside her. He had been
murmuring unpleasant things throughout the whole walk and it was getting on her
nerves. It would help if he were to think a bit more
positively about this whole situation.
How did the four of them end up on a long trip to Denmark? They
were exiled from their former homeland because Claudio and Romeo were accused
of stealing from the Royal Family. They were accused of stealing and were
guilty of stealing. They couldn’t help it. They needed money and it was the
only way. They got found out and were sent away, taking their lovers, Hero and
Juliet, with them. They decided to go to Denmark, where they heard the fair and
wise King Hamlet ruled. It was a long journey but they had no other way.
“How long do we have to keep walking?” Romeo asked again, not even
trying to mask his irritation.
“I don’t know. We’ll get there when we get there,” Claudio
answered.
They traveled for what felt like a century to Romeo. They came
across a very high white wall. There was a draw bridge leading to the entrance
of whatever the wall was keeping in its confines. Two guards stood on their
posts on either side of the entrance. They were watchful, their faces contorted
into an observant look.
“This is Scotland, I think. It’s hard to tell. It’s so different
from when my father and I passed by here to take the boat to Denmark. I don’t
remember there being a barricade at all,” Juliet said, feeling something akin
to fear that they went the wrong way; that they made a wrong turn somewhere
maybe.
Claudio hummed shortly and took out the map from his pocket. He
unfolded it and analyzed it with eyes slightly squinted in concentration, “this
seems to be the right place. Yes, it says Scotland. This is it.”
“Well, then what are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Romeo said going
over to the entrance and the others followed rather reluctantly.
Romeo walked straight past the guards without even a glance at
them but he was stopped before he could go in any further.
“We do not tolerate trespassers,” the taller guard said, his voice
deep and intimidating.
“Look, we’re just trying to get to a boat to go to Denmark. Let us
through if you know what’s good for you,” Romeo said rashly.
“There are rules, you delinquent, about no one being allowed to
enter Scotland. King Duncan has made this rule himself,” the shorter guard
said, sending a glare towards Romeo.
“I don’t care. All we want to do is get to Denmark. We’ll be
leaving as soon as we get in there anyway.”
“Rules are rules, boy. Leave now,” the shorter guard said crossly.
Juliet heard Romeo mumble something that sounded strangely like,
“you asked for it” before he hurled a punch at the shorter guard’s stomach. The
latter doubled over in pain and the taller guard held Romeo by the arms,
restraining him from causing any more harm. Romeo tried to wriggle free but
alas, his captor was too strong.
He stopped struggling and started yelling instead, “let us in! Let
us in before I do something that’ll make you regret you didn’t!”
“You and your companions are going to be locked up in the dungeons
for misconduct,” growled the taller guard.
“T-take them to Macbeth. He’ll decide . . . what to do with them,”
the shorter guard wheezed from below. The taller guard nodded in agreement.
“Come,” the taller guard commanded and he guided Romeo in through
the entrance, still holding back Romeo’s arms. The other three followed
wordlessly as they walked through town, accidentally bumping arms with a couple
of busy people occasionally. They saw old looking stone houses and carts of
every kind of fruit you could think of as they strolled through town.
The guard stopped at a stone house noticeably
bigger than the others. He knocked on the door sharply thrice. It took a little
while but a lady answered dark hair up in a neat and elegant bun. Her white
dress flowed down to the floor and accentuated her curves. She had a beautiful
face and looked to be in her 30's.
"Lady Macbeth," the guard greeted,
bowing his head slightly.
"Who are these? Why have you brought them here?"
she asked. Romeo could already tell that she had a no-nonsense attitude as he
looked at her beneath his lashes. Her stance was intimidating and she bit the
inside of her cheek impatiently.
"They are troublemakers, my lady. I have
brought them here to see what General Macbeth would want done with them."
"My husband is occupied at the moment so I
shall make the decision. I think it is best that they all becomes servants of
my household. There are four of them. One will do the woodwork, one will milk
the cows, one will do the laundry and the other will cook and clean," she
said simply.
"Yes, that is a wise choice. Please give my
regards to the general, Lady Macbeth," the guard said and let go of Romeo.
He gave a curt nod to the woman and then left without another word.
Lady Macbeth stared all four of them down, and
Romeo could have imagined it but, her eyes lingered on him just a bit more.
"Get inside," she said, her tone cool
and clipped. They walked down a hall and into what appeared to be a living
room. She sat on one of the chairs, her legs crossed.
"Don't just stand there, sit down!" she
said. The four stared at each other sheepishly before they decided to sit on
the couch opposite the chair Lady Macbeth was sitting on.
"You picked just the right day to show
up, law-breakers. My husband, Macbeth, and I have a guest over tonight and not
just any guest. We have King Duncan, the king of Scotland, coming over.
You," she pointed to Hero, "prepare the food. Hero nodded nervously.
"You," Lady Macbeth pointed her finger at Juliet, "make sure the
house is nice and clean for King ?Duncan." Juliet mumbled a weak,
"yes ma'am." The woman looked at Romeo and Claudio as if she were
thinking and then finally spoke, "there is no room for a man's job here.
You are to be in your chambers all evening and I do not want either of you
stepping foot outside your chambers. Do you all understand?" They nodded
in unison and then the woman said, "good. Now all of you, get to work. I
will be showing you gentlemen to your rooms. Come with me."
She uncrossed her legs and stood up, going
outside the room with Romeo and Claudio on her heels. Juliet and Hero looked at
each other and sighed before going to work on what was assigned to them.
---------------
That night, the meals were hot, the wine
cold and crisp and the house fit for a king. Juliet and Hero were tired, yes,
but they had to admit they were quite satisfied with the results of the work
they'd done and apparently, so was Lady Macbeth.
"Well done, well done. I am impressed. My
husband will be arriving shortly, followed by King Duncan. You ladies might as
well stay and serve us when it is time for dinner," Lady Macbeth said.
As promised, Macbeth arrived a while later.
Juliet and Hero met him and he seemed kind. "It's nice to have you
here," the General told them with a polite smile.
A while after, King Duncan arrived with two of
his men to accompany him and the King, the general and, his wife all ate in
silence after Juliet and Hero served them dinner.
-Duncan gets murdered-
Hero let out a bloodcurdling scream and a hand
came up from behind her, muffling her high-pitched shriek.
"Be quiet, you fool. You're going to get us
found out," came the cold voice of none other than Lady Macbeth.
"What's happening? Y-you did this? Are you
going to kill us too? Oh please don't," Juliet begged, a look of
unmistakable terror on her face.
"Macbeth did it. Macbeth killed Duncan. He
has to become King, you silly girl, it is etched onto his destiny that he will
rule Scotland," Lady Macbeth said, each word soaked in venom.
"What are you going to do with us?"
Juliet asked, managing not to stutter. She was trembling all over and her eyes
were wide in fear.
"You are not to tell a soul what happened."
"And what if we do?" Juliet countered.
Lady Macbeth sighed, "if you swear not to
tell anyone, I will do anything you wish me to do."
"Take us to Denmark," Hero ordered.
"Very well. I will arrange a boat to take
you to Denmark early in the morrow."
--------------------
The next morning, the four left for the pier
along with Lady Macbeth and they exchanged rather awkward goodbyes before the
four travelers left, being sailed off to Denmark. It was probably a couple of
hours when the boat touched land and they reached Denmark. The boat's captain
landed where there were no boats or people. They captain looked rather nervous
as he lowered the anchor. The four got off the boat, taking the few belongings
they had with them and they thanked the captain and went off to look for a
place to stay.
They walked the streets of Denmark and my, my
there were plenty of sights to see. It wasn't dirty and gritty like old
Scotland. The atmosphere was homely and you could smell freshly baked bread and
the scent of flowers wafting through the air. Everyone looked friendly and you
could hear children laughing in the distance. It was a fine place.
Suddenly, they heard faint giggling. It was
faint, yes, but it felt like someone was giggling quietly into their ears. They
turned around but nothing was there. It got louder and louder as they walked
and just then, Hero felt a hand grab her shoulder.
"Ah!" She yelped, jumping a foot into
the air.
She turned around and she saw three small people
floating in the air with wings. It was strange, very strange; in fact, it was
so strange that's he fainted on the spot, Claudio catching her just in time.
"What are you? What do you want with
us?" Juliet asked, afraid.
"Oh, shush, we're just fairies! Nothing to
bumble about over. We're not evil," one of them said, smiling brightly,
"I'm Puck."
Puck reached a hand out for Juliet to shake and
she shook it hesitantly, not sure if she should trust these 'fairies.'
"My name is Juliet Capulet. These are my
friends, Romeo, Hero and, Claudio," she said politely, letting go of
Puck's hand.
"Nice to meet you all. Well, it wasn't very
nice meeting Hero. Am I really so ugly that I'm worth fainting over?" Puck
joked.
"Maybe she wouldn't have fainted if you
didn't scare the hell out of her," Claudio said coldly, knelt down on the
ground and fanning his lover as he waited for her to wake up.
"So sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen.
It was just a bit of fun. These are my associates, Nick Bottom and
Oberon." The two smiled and said hello. They seemed friendly, Juliet
thought.
"What brings you all here in the
streets?" Puck asked.
"We just came from Scotland," Juliet
said. Puck raised an eyebrow and looked from Nick Bottom to Oberon. They
exchanged worried glances. Nick Bottom floated beside Puck and whispered
something in his ear. Puck nodded and that's all Juliet and the others could
remember before they were sprinkled with fairy dust.
-------------------
"Where am I?" Claudio asked once he
woke up. His head hurt and his surroundings were unfamiliar. It was a big room
with a high ceiling. He could see a magnificent double door and three other
beds aside from the one he was sitting up in. Each bed contained Romeo, Juliet
and, Hero. What happened and how did they all get here?
He heard the door open and inside walked a man
with majestic, sweeping robes. He was rather muscly and he was bearded. The
first thing Claudio took notice of though, was the crown perched atop the man's
head.
"Ah, you are awake," the man said and
he walked over to his bed, sitting on the side of it, "tell me what you
remember, lad."
"Can't I ask questions first?"
The man chuckled, "of course, of course."
"Where am I? Who are you?" Claudio
rattled off quickly.
"You're in my palace. I am Hamlet, King
Hamlet, to be more precise. I mean to do no harm to you or your companions, you
need not worry," King Hamlet explained.
"What happened?"
King Hamlet shifted around to get more
comfortable and spoke, "my fairies found you four wandering in the
streets. They told me they were told by one of the ladies sleeping over there
that you came from Scotland. Scotland is not on good terms with Denmark so they
thought you were sent as spies. They sprinkled you with a dust fortified with a
truth spell and then-"
"A truth spell?! What did they learn from
us?"
"They learned that you were exiled and were
traveling to Denmark and they learned about. . .King Duncan of Scotland. I
think you know what I mean."
Claudio's eyes grew wide, "you're not
supposed to know that! Lady Macbeth will. . .she'll kill us!"
"No, no one is going to get you. You and
your friends are safe here. I have to take a course of action now that I know
this though."
"Course of action? No, please don't. She'll
know! And when she finds out we told you, she'll get us!"
King Hamlet ignored the response completely,
"I'm going to have my warlock, Prospero, unleash a deadly disease upon
Macbeth and his wicked witch of a wife. They are not meant to rule, not at all.
I fervently hated Duncan but he was the rightful king of Scotland. His son
should have inherited the throne, not Macbeth."
"So. . .Lady Macbeth will die?"
King Hamlet nodded, "yes she will die."
Claudio sighed, "good. I can't spend the
rest of my life watching my back for her."
King Hamlet got up from the bed and said,
"yes well, the best thing for you to do now is rest. I am indeed sorry for
the trouble my fairies have caused you. They like to rain mischief upon the
townspeople every once and a while, you see."
"It's quite alright."
King Hamlet nodded in goodbye and left the room,
leaving Claudio alone with his thoughts.
------------------
Days after, they heard news of the magical storm
that the warlock Prospero had conjured upon Scotland and Macbeth and his lady
found out. A war soon broke between Scotland and Denmark. Citizens of Denmark
were taking refuge in the palace. Scotland was a formidable opponent against
Denmark's forces but with magic by King Hamlet's side, Denmark won. Macbeth and
his lady were killed and next in line for the power of the throne were twins.
The problem was, though, that no one knew which twin would get the crown.
"I should be king because I am more
responsible!" Antipholus of Syracuse argued, causing his brother to scoff.
"If you're responsible, what am I? You are
ridiculous. I should be king," Antipholus of Ephesus spat back.
The banter in the throne room continued until a
servant loudly coughed, interrupting the two potential kings.
"My lords, may I request a vote among the
citizens to see which of you honorable gentlemen shall be king?" The
servant suggested sheepishly.
"There's only one gentleman standing in front
of you, servant and that's me. This lady should scurry along, this is man's
job," Antipholus of Ephesus said which caused his brother to elbow him
sharply.
"We accept your suggestion. Thank you for
that," Antipholus of Syracuse said politely.
The competition was on. They campaigned for weeks
on end, the citizens often getting confused who was who. In the end, Antipholus
of Syracuse won and his brother bitterly accepted it. He ruled Scotland with a
fair hand for years.
All was well.
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