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Doll Tearsheet
Dorothy "Doll" Tearsheet is a fictional character who appears in Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 2. She is a prostitute who frequents the Boar's Head Inn in Eastcheap. Doll is close friends with Mistress Quickly, the proprietress of the tavern, who procures her services for Falstaff.
Doll is noted for her wide repertoire of colourful insults and her sudden switches from wild tirades to sentimental intimacy and back again.
Doll is introduced by name when Mistress Quickly asks Falstaff whether he would like her company that evening. The Page later mentions to Prince Hal and Poins that Falstaff will be seeing her, primly referring to her as "a proper gentlewoman, sir, and a kinswoman of my master's", though Hal quickly concludes that she is probably "some road" (meaning a whore: accessible to anyone, as in the phrase "as common as the cart-way").
Doll is first seen about to be sick after drinking too much "canaries" (fortified wine from the Canary Islands). When Falstaff arrives they exchange lewd banter about venereal disease. Informed that Ancient Pistol is at the door, Doll insists that he should not be allowed in because he's "the foul-mouthed'st rogue in England." After Pistol enters, Doll berates him with a string of insults: "I scorn you, scurvy companion. What! you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate! Away, you mouldy rogue, away!" She then threatens him with a knife, and Pistol pulls his sword. In the ensuing fight, Falstaff and Bardolph force him out.
After his display of fighting prowess, Doll becomes very solicitous to Falstaff, calling him a "whoreson little valiant villain". She sits on his knee and kisses him. She asks him what Prince Hal is like; Falstaff gives a rather unflattering picture of him, unaware that Hal and Poins are nearby. When they reveal themselves, Falstaff claims he was intentionally "dispraising" the prince in the presence of "the wicked". Hal professes to be shocked, describing Doll as a "virtuous gentlewoman", to the enthusiastic agreement of Mistress Quickly. But Falstaff says Doll is "in hell already, and burns poor souls" (a reference to the burning sensation of venereal disease). When Falstaff is called away to the war, Doll becomes tearful. He leaves, but then calls on her to join him.
She next appears, apparently heavily pregnant, with Mistress Quickly. They are being arrested because Pistol has beaten up a man in a brawl in which they were involved. The man has since died. The officer says she will probably be whipped. Doll says that she should not be manhandled because she might have a miscarriage, but the arresting officer insists she has stuffed a cushion up her dress. Doll unleashes a stream of insults directed at the arresting officer's skinniness.
After the death of King Henry IV, Falstaff learns about Doll's arrest and promises to have her released. But Hal, now king, refuses to listen to him.
Though she does not appear in Henry V, Doll is mentioned several times, though in contexts which appear to be inconsistent with one another. Pistol marries Mistress Quickly, whose first name is Nell. He gets into an argument with Corporal Nym, who himself wanted to marry her, and tells Nym to go to the hospital ('spital) and find Doll in the ward for sexually transmitted diseases ("the powdering tub of infamy") and marry her: "Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind,/ Doll Tearsheet she by name, and her espouse". After the Battle of Agincourt he receives a letter, from which he learns that "my Doll is dead in the 'spital" from "malady of France", i.e. syphilis. It is unclear whether this refers to Doll Tearsheet or Mistress Quickly, since the next line says he has lost his home, implying that the woman referred to is the person he lives with. It is often amended to "Nell" in modern editions. The Quarto version says "Doll is sick", not "dead", leaves out the "my", and makes no reference to losing a home.
Hub AI
Doll Tearsheet AI simulator
(@Doll Tearsheet_simulator)
Doll Tearsheet
Dorothy "Doll" Tearsheet is a fictional character who appears in Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 2. She is a prostitute who frequents the Boar's Head Inn in Eastcheap. Doll is close friends with Mistress Quickly, the proprietress of the tavern, who procures her services for Falstaff.
Doll is noted for her wide repertoire of colourful insults and her sudden switches from wild tirades to sentimental intimacy and back again.
Doll is introduced by name when Mistress Quickly asks Falstaff whether he would like her company that evening. The Page later mentions to Prince Hal and Poins that Falstaff will be seeing her, primly referring to her as "a proper gentlewoman, sir, and a kinswoman of my master's", though Hal quickly concludes that she is probably "some road" (meaning a whore: accessible to anyone, as in the phrase "as common as the cart-way").
Doll is first seen about to be sick after drinking too much "canaries" (fortified wine from the Canary Islands). When Falstaff arrives they exchange lewd banter about venereal disease. Informed that Ancient Pistol is at the door, Doll insists that he should not be allowed in because he's "the foul-mouthed'st rogue in England." After Pistol enters, Doll berates him with a string of insults: "I scorn you, scurvy companion. What! you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate! Away, you mouldy rogue, away!" She then threatens him with a knife, and Pistol pulls his sword. In the ensuing fight, Falstaff and Bardolph force him out.
After his display of fighting prowess, Doll becomes very solicitous to Falstaff, calling him a "whoreson little valiant villain". She sits on his knee and kisses him. She asks him what Prince Hal is like; Falstaff gives a rather unflattering picture of him, unaware that Hal and Poins are nearby. When they reveal themselves, Falstaff claims he was intentionally "dispraising" the prince in the presence of "the wicked". Hal professes to be shocked, describing Doll as a "virtuous gentlewoman", to the enthusiastic agreement of Mistress Quickly. But Falstaff says Doll is "in hell already, and burns poor souls" (a reference to the burning sensation of venereal disease). When Falstaff is called away to the war, Doll becomes tearful. He leaves, but then calls on her to join him.
She next appears, apparently heavily pregnant, with Mistress Quickly. They are being arrested because Pistol has beaten up a man in a brawl in which they were involved. The man has since died. The officer says she will probably be whipped. Doll says that she should not be manhandled because she might have a miscarriage, but the arresting officer insists she has stuffed a cushion up her dress. Doll unleashes a stream of insults directed at the arresting officer's skinniness.
After the death of King Henry IV, Falstaff learns about Doll's arrest and promises to have her released. But Hal, now king, refuses to listen to him.
Though she does not appear in Henry V, Doll is mentioned several times, though in contexts which appear to be inconsistent with one another. Pistol marries Mistress Quickly, whose first name is Nell. He gets into an argument with Corporal Nym, who himself wanted to marry her, and tells Nym to go to the hospital ('spital) and find Doll in the ward for sexually transmitted diseases ("the powdering tub of infamy") and marry her: "Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind,/ Doll Tearsheet she by name, and her espouse". After the Battle of Agincourt he receives a letter, from which he learns that "my Doll is dead in the 'spital" from "malady of France", i.e. syphilis. It is unclear whether this refers to Doll Tearsheet or Mistress Quickly, since the next line says he has lost his home, implying that the woman referred to is the person he lives with. It is often amended to "Nell" in modern editions. The Quarto version says "Doll is sick", not "dead", leaves out the "my", and makes no reference to losing a home.
