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Act III, Scene 4: Rinaldo reads the Countess a letter from Helena (which is a sonnet) explaining that she has left to "barefoot plot... the cold ground" so Bertram can come home without fear of meeting her. The Countess is upset.
Act III, Scene 5: We're in Florence! Some ladies--Mariana, Diana, and a widow--talk about the soldiers. Mariana, who has "been solicited" by Parolles, warns young Diana about Men. Helena wanders onstage to ask directions and gets into an awkward conversation about the young Count Rossillion and his mysterious terrible wife. The widow gossips to Helena that Bertram is into Diana. The troops march past, and Parolles is melancholy because he has lost the drum.
Thoughts: This is the point at which you have to ask, "What exactly is Helena doing in Florence?" If we are to believe her soliloquy and her note for the Countess, she set off with every intention of getting away from Bertram. Convenient, isn't it, that when she spun the globe, her finger happened to land on the one Italian city-state where Bertram now is? I don't really think she's a scheming liar (I mean, you have to believe that she believes every word of her own soliloquy, or reject the format altogether), but I do think she's operating on almost 100% subconscious.
Act III, Scene 5: We're in Florence! Some ladies--Mariana, Diana, and a widow--talk about the soldiers. Mariana, who has "been solicited" by Parolles, warns young Diana about Men. Helena wanders onstage to ask directions and gets into an awkward conversation about the young Count Rossillion and his mysterious terrible wife. The widow gossips to Helena that Bertram is into Diana. The troops march past, and Parolles is melancholy because he has lost the drum.
Thoughts: This is the point at which you have to ask, "What exactly is Helena doing in Florence?" If we are to believe her soliloquy and her note for the Countess, she set off with every intention of getting away from Bertram. Convenient, isn't it, that when she spun the globe, her finger happened to land on the one Italian city-state where Bertram now is? I don't really think she's a scheming liar (I mean, you have to believe that she believes every word of her own soliloquy, or reject the format altogether), but I do think she's operating on almost 100% subconscious.