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Satire
Explanation and Analysis—The Nine Worthies:
In this scene, Nathaniel, Holofernes, Mote, Armado, and Costard put on their pageant of the Nine Worthies. The pageant depicts nine great men throughout history, and each man plays several roles. However, each man falls comically short of his assigned parts. Nathaniel’s performance as Alexander the Great satirizes certain ideals of masculinity:
NATHANIEL
When I lived, I was the world's
commander.
By east, west, north, and south, I spread my
conquering might.
My scutcheon plain declares I am Alisander—BOYET
Your nose says no, you are not, for it stands too right.BEROWNE, to Boyet
Your nose smells "no" in <this>, most tender-smelling knight.PRINCESS
The conqueror is dismayed.—Proceed, good Alexander.
Nathaniel introduces himself as the “world’s commander,” a military leader who dominates all corners of the earth. Boyet immediately begins heckling him, pointing out that his nose is too straight to be Alexander’s. Berowne picks up the heckling and adds that Nathaniel smells too bad to be Alexander (in reference to Plutarch’s description of Alexander as “sweet-smelling”). Nathaniel falters and becomes embarrassed, leading the princess to note his discomfort and encourage him.
Many of the men in the play attempt to exude stereotypically masculine qualities of self-control, strength, and power. The men they choose to lionize in their pageant are a reflection of these values (hence the incorporation of Alexander, Julius Caesar, King Arthur, etc.). Nathaniel, however, appears timid and easily thrown off in his role as Alexander. His friends’ (hopefully) good-natured heckling drives him to distraction and eventually leads to him wander offstage. Appearances sit in clear and intentional tension with reality, and normal men are unable to live up to the larger than life construction of masculinity captured in the image of Alexander.
The sharp contrast between the reality of who Nathaniel is, and the figure he is meant to represent, pokes fun at the ideals behind the pageant. The satire continues through the scene as the men stumble through their lines, and even sabotage one another (as when Costard announces that Jacquenetta is pregnant with Armado’s child). The silliness of these ideals is reflected in how impossible they are for the men to perform.
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