Falstaff and His Follows

     John A. Macdonald is represented as a Shakespearean favourite, the louche Falstaff. This caricature suggests that John A. Macdonald and Falstaff share the same character defects: drunkard, corrupt, and leech-like opportunist. Bengough’s criticism against Macdonald as ill-suited for his position echoes Shakespeare’s own against knights who bought their titles rather than earned them. Eager to create a legacy as the man who connected the two coasts for Canada, Macdonald performed many questionable transactions. The Pacific Scandal is referenced here, which involves a charge against Macdonald claiming that, in 1873, he accepted funds from an individual in return for a contract to construct Canada’s transcontinental railway.