ABSTRACT
M. Marcadé is the courtier who brings news of her father’s death to the Princess of France—a father role, incidentally, even more oblique than that in the Merchant of Venice. Although Marcadé makes no other contributions to the play, R.W. David is right in observing the “powerful effect of Marcade’s entrance … not only as a superb coup de théâtre but as setting up an ever present pressure of reality throughout the rest of the play. 1 He should appear, of course, in full mourning.
