Here is a short Cardenio summary*:
The Tyrant has usurped King Govianus and attempts to woo away The Lady, the sweetheart of Govianus. However, she vows loyalty to Govianus. Even under pressure from her father, Helvetius, to accept the Tyrant, she remains true to her lover. The Tyrant then imprisons her with Govianus and attempts to force her to love him. Refusing to give in, she begs Govianus to kill her. He cannot because of his love for her. She then kills herself. The Tyrant, determined to have her, even if dead, removes her body from her tomb to reign as his queen.
Meantime, Anselmus, wishing to test his wife’s fidelity, asks his friend, Votarius, to attempt to seduce her. But when Votarius rendezvous with Anselmus’ wife, they fall in love. Worried that Anselmus will discover their affair, they form a plan. While Anselmus is within earshot, she will pretend to rebuff the advances of Votarius. To make it realistic she will wave a sword and perhaps even give Votarius a small wound. When the occasion arises she wields the sword to rebuff Votarius. A servant has poisoned the tip of the sword: she grazes Votarius skin, and he dies.
Govianus, in prison, has a vision of the ghost of The Lady. The ghost informs him of The Tyrant’s morbid preoccupation with her dead body. Govianus begins to plan his revenge. He is eventually released from prison and he puts his plan into action. He applies poison to the corpse’s lips then paints her face to make her appear to have come back to life. When the tyrant sees her, he says, “O, she lives again!”, kisses her and then dies. The nobles proclaim Govianus the rightful king.
And that’s a quick Cardenio summary.
* Based on Lewis Theobald, 18th century playwright, who claimed that his play ‘Double Falsehood’ was based Shakespeare’s lost play ‘The History of Cardenio’
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Gregory Doran as Cardenio
This is not a plot summary of Theobald’s Double Falsehood, or of Shakespeare’s Cardenio. This is the plot of “The Second Maiden’s Tragedy” by Thomas Middleton.
Here is and actual plot summary of Shakespeare & Fletcher’s Cardenio, as can be derived from Double Falsehood:
The Duke of Andalusia has two sons, the older Roderick, and the younger Fernando (renamed “Henriquez” by Theobald). To rein in Fernando’s wildness, the Duke & Roderick decide to call Fernando’s friend, Cardenio (renamed “Julio” by Theobald), to court service. Cardenio is deeply in love with Luscinda (renamed Leonora by Theobald), and they both want to be married, but the call to court gets in the way of Cardenio getting approval from both of their fathers. Meanwhile, Fernando is infatuated with Violante, a beautiful and virtuous local girl of humble birth, but she rejects his inappropriate solicitations. Unmoved, Fernando sneaks into her home, coerces her into accepting marriage, then forces himself on her.
Cardenio soon arrives at court. Fernando then meets Luscinda, and resolves to steal her from Cardenio, loosing his interest in Violante. Luscinda’s father, Don Bernardo, agrees to a marriage proposal from Fernando, despite Luscinda’s protests. Luscinda sends a letter to Cardenio, and he arrives in time to frustrate the wedding. Cardenio challenges Fernando with his sword but is overwhelmed and ejected by Bernardo’s servants; Luscinda faints and is carried out. Bernardo discovers a dagger and a suicide note on his daughter’s person, revealing her final determination to resist the forced marriage. Cardenio, Luscinda, and Violante then all depart mysteriously. Bernardo and Cardenio’s father, Camillo, are left to confront their own distress. Roderick comforts the two men, and the fathers reconcile.
[Intertwined with the previous action would have been a subplot revolving around Don Quixote, a madman believing himself a medieval knight, which has been mostly removed by Theobald, and is hard to reconstruct until this point]
Quixote & his companion Sancho, traveling through the mountains, briefly encounter a now maddened Cardenio. Meanwhile, Violante has disguised herself as a boy, and has become a shepherd. The Master shepherd realizes Viotante’s disguise, and tries forcing himself on her, but is interrupted by the arrival of Roderick, allowing Violante to flee. Fernando has learned that Luscinda has taken refuge in a nearby nunnery, and retrieves her with Roderick’s help. Meanwhile, A barber and a curate, following Quixote, encounter Cardenio. The three men then encounter Violante, and they all resolve to help each other set things right. After helping the barber and priest lure Quixote out of the mountains, Violante leads Roderick to Cardenio. Roderick brings Cardenio and Violante to confront Fernando in front of their fathers. Cardenio and Luscinda and happily reunited, and a now repentant Fernando agrees to marry Violante to make up for his crime. The three fathers all agree to this arrangement.