Thomas of Woodstock (play) is alive again at the beginning of "Richard II" until his execution is ordered by Bolingbroke in Act III. There is no instance of a character dying twice in the validated works of Shakespeare. There are, however, inconsistencies in Shakespeare, such as the claim at the end of "Henry IV, Part 2" that Falstaff will be seen again in "Henry V", a promise which is not kept. Furthermore, the character of Falstaff is arguably a different one in the history plays than the character encountered in "The Merry Wives of Windsor", not to mention the apparent setting of that play
Ghost character to the text. If the character was intended to appear and say nothing, it is assumed this would be made clear in the playscript. The term is used in regard to Elizabethan and Jacobean plays, including the works of William Shakespeare, all of which may have existed in different revisions leading to publication. The occurrence of a ghost character in a manuscript may be evidence that the published version of a play was taken by the printer directly from an author's foul papers. Modern versions of "Much Ado About Nothing" open act 1, scene 1 with the stage direction "Enter