- The Queen asks for Viola's presence.
- When she leaves to meet the Queen, Wessex asks Will, who is in disguise as a laundry woman, if Viola is seeing another man.
- The very masculine laundry woman says yes, Kit Marlowe, the poet, has been hanging around.
- Meanwhile, Viola takes her audience with the Queen.
- "Stand up straight, girl," the Queen says when Viola bows. Charming.
- The Queen recognizes her as the girl who attends all the plays.
- "Do you love stories of Kings and Queen?" she asks her. "Or is it courtly love?"
- Viola and the Queen disagree on poetry, and the rest of the audience gasps at Viola's attitude.
- The question is this: can a play show people the essence of true love? The Queen says no, Viola says yes.
- The Queen says she'll believe it when she sees it.
- Then she sidles up to Wessex and tells him that Viola has been "plucked" since she last saw her, and not by Wessex. Uh-oh.