Previous
Act 1, Scene 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Two Noble Kinsmen, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Irrationality
Fate, Fortune, and Divine Providence
Chivalry, Honor, and Pride
Friendship
Gender and Power
Summary
Analysis
The funeral procession for the Three Queens’ husbands is underway. Someone sings a mournful song about how grief appears more deadly than death. Before separating to mourn their respective husbands, the First Queen laments how “Heavens lend / A thousand differing ways to one sure end,” and the Third Queen compares the world to a city in which “death’s the market-place where each one meets.” The Queens exit.
The Queens’ observations acknowledge the unavoidable nature of death. Although “heavens lend” many different paths through life, the fact remains that “death’s the market-place where each [path] meets.” In other words, all human lives end in death. It’s a unifying experience and an unavoidable one. The queens’ observations underscore what little control humans have over where their lives go. They can take whichever path they want, but everyone must meet their fate in the end.
Themes
Literary Devices
