Note 21 — Chapter Five THE STAGING (continued 2)
Reading edition
In the Folio Edgar speaks the final lines, but in this respect the Quarto follows general usage. Of the other fourteen Shakespearean Globe plays, the ranking figure definitely speaks the final lines in eleven of them (All’s Well, King; Measure for Measure, Duke; As You Like It, Duke; Twelfth Night, Duke; Coriolanus, Aufidius; Timon, Alcibiades; Macbeth, Malcolm; Hamlet, Fortinbras; Othello, Lodovico; Antony and Cleopatra, Caesar; Pericles, Pericles). The other three plays present special instances. The Merry Wives of Windsor has no ranking figure, but it is appropriate for Ford to conclude the action. Julius Caesar apparently has two ranking figures, Antony and Octavius. But the fact that Octavius speaks last points to his triumph in Antony and Cleopatra. Pandarus concludes Troilus and Cressida. This play, as I have shown, has a unique structure.