Though this be madness, yet there is method in't

In case you haven't had enough examination feedback, I'm sharing even more: this time on t he first part of the exam question which invited you to discuss the passage from Act 1 Scene 2, lines 65-120, exploring Shakespeare's use of language and its dramatic effects.  This scene is a gift, as it offers Hamlet’s first words and actions of the play. Because it is Shakespeare, of course they are rich with imagery and ideas that set up all sorts of themes and conflicts for the rest of the play - so there is plenty to discuss. You are interested in how Shakespeare shapes meaning through the interplay of language, form and structure . It is, in many ways, easier to deal with all three together, since that word 'interplay' is quite important. Form is really concerned with aspects of genre that appear within a text, as well as the 'form,' or type, of the text itself, in this case a play, and specifically, a Shakespearian tragedy. Form might also inclu...

Act V plays out in around thirty two minutes (if you exclude the well-deserved applause at the end of the production). The music announcing the infamous gravediggers scene has a Calypso feel which sets an appropriately lighthearted, joyful even, and certainly irreverent tone - reinforced by the Gravedigger's ad lib of 'ya bastard' directed towards Yorick's skull. Hamlet's more measured response in contrast demonstrates his fascination with the physical processes of death and beyond. Ophelia's body, wrapped in a shroud, is carried in by Laertes. He lays her down tenderly by the grave and weeps over her form - echoing Ophelia's own lament for her father in the previous act. To the evident distress of all around, Laertes leaps right down into the grave as though he cannot bear to be physically separated from her. His action provokes what turns into an unseemly graveside brawl with Hamlet. Claudius hatches his plan for Hamlet's end with Laertes after...

Ophelia makes Polonius 'present' in the absence of a body This is the shortest act of the production at just 28 minutes, but is full of pace and action. The stage is filled with ever-changing movement. Increasingly sinister and ominous music between scenes contributes to the building sense of threat, and the movement to different locations seems almost seamless; as though we are running through the castle with the characters. There are instructions, letters, machinations, plotting. Hamlet's arrest by a guard is very physical: he is thrown to the floor in a half-nelson submission hold. His insolent foot tapping and movement, and loose-limbed rebellious mocking of Claudius get the audience on side and there is much laughter - but his reactions seem those of a man who has run out of options and has nothing left to lose. Everything about Essiedu's appearance and manner is subversive; down to his shabby clothing and turned-up trousers - in such contrast to the costume...

As we move into Act III (which is the longest part of this production running at 44 minutes), the stage is draped in enormous canvases, hanging down from the ceiling and spread across the floor. They suggest Hamlet's mania from their volume, and the preoccupations of his troubled mind in the calligramatic references to serpents, crowns and skulls. The concept of the tortured artist is constructed visually before it is enacted. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's incompetence is suggested through their casual behaviour at the start of the scene, giving the idea that they don't really have their minds on the job, but are treating their time here as a holiday. Essiedu's Hamlet embarks on the 'To be or not to be' speech with a plaintive, questioning tone. You can explore the RSC's approach to this in more depth here . When Ophelia enters she is evidently still smarting from their previous exchange and attempts to return a large box of gifts and keepsakes fr...

Act two is slightly shorter than the opening act, at 31 minutes. Might we add 'stingy' to our ideas of Polonius as he has to be persuaded to give more to his emissary? Ophelia's evident distress as she explains Hamlet's behaviour towards her greatly contrasts with her composure of the previous scene. She seems to emphasise the physical: that he 'held me hard' (II.1.87), and makes reference to the transformation that we are about to witness for ourselves, 'He falls to such perusal of my face/As a would draw it' (II.i.90-91). Now Polonius switches his own shoes, and bends down for Ophelia - reversing the dynamic of the previous scene. He seems a loving, if misguided, father attempting to do the best for his daughter. The embrace at the end of this exchange emphasises their closeness. The representation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as bumbling, white, camera and luggage-laden tourists makes them as conspicuously out of joint with their enviro...

One of the unexpected benefits of lockdown has been the proliferation of free-to-air theatrical performances. The RSC's 2016 production with Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet has been shown on BBC iPlayer as part of their Culture in Quarantine access, and now forms part of our study. Act One runs for 41 minutes. The glimpse of Wittenberg student life emphasises the kind of world that Hamlet has 'lost', in addition to the loss of his father, as he arrives home. It also reminds the audience of his youth, and the celebratory moment of having a diploma conferred contrasts effectively with the grief later in Act One; the snapshot effect is also a signifier of change: a moment lost forever. Beyond this, the production has been described as the ' most traditional of interpretations '. For the first 'ghost' scene (though no ghost appears), the low, blue-black lighting means the actors are almost imperceptible at times - certainly difficult to pick out in the stage gloo...

Today we reach our dramatic, and tragic conclusion. The final scene begins with Hamlet explaining to Horatio how he has altered the letter from Claudius condemning him to death - and substituting the names Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead. They are interrupted by Osric, a courtier, who issues the challenge for a duel with Laertes - in order to settle a bet for the king. It probably didn't look like this. Moments later, after Hamlet issues an apology to Laertes, explaining that he acted in madness and without 'purpos'd evil' (V.ii.237), the duel begins. It can be seen as another example of a play within a play, a performance staged for a court audience as well as the theatrical one. Laertes selecting the poisoned foil and Claudius preparing the poisoned drink with a deadly jewel, 'Hamlet, this pearl is thine' (V.ii.284) as planned. Hamlet, unaware of the plot against him, wins the first points - and Gertrude drinks to his health from the poiso...

The final scene of Act IV sees  Claudius and Laertes concoct a murderous double-poisoning plot against Hamlet, and the Queen brings news of Ophelia's death. Before the scene begins it seems that the King has been telling Laertes his version of Polonius' death, along with his belief that he, Claudius, was his next target. Claudius gives a couple of reasons for not already having taken more extreme measures against Hamlet: firstly to please Gertrude, and then through a second reference to Hamlet's popularity with the people, the 'great love the general gender bear him' (IV.vii.18). But there is emphasis on action, and that action springs from Laertes, 'my revenge will come' (IV.vii.29); 'devise it so/That I might be the organ (IV.vii.68-69) from Laertes, and Claudius, in the business of egging him on, 'That we would do/We should do when we would' (IV.vii.117-118). Unlike Hamlet of course, who didn't avenge his father's death by k...

Continuing the frenzied pace of this act, we meet the Queen and Horatio with a 'Gentleman' in mid conversation about Ophelia's grief-stricken state of mind and 'distract' behaviour. (Hamlet himself doesn't appear in the next three scenes.) Gertrude determines 'I will not speak with her' (IV.v.1) but is persuaded to 'Let her come in' (IV.iv.16) just fifteen lines later - after the indirect threat to Hamlet that Ophelia 'may strew/Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds' (IV.v.14-15). There is evidently sufficient sense in the things that Ophelia says to cause trouble for the King. (It is worth remembering that the the handling of Polonius' death is causing political tensions and adding to the civil unrest.) Ophelia enacts being mad with grief, and matches the description that she 'Speaks much of her father' (IV.v.4), but does so mostly through song. She leaves just prior to the arrival of a livid Laertes, so...

The pacy, almost real-time movement continues into another short scene as Rosencrantz announces that they have brought Hamlet to the King. Claudius reveals something of Hamlet's popularity, which hasn't been directly alluded to before. 'He's lov'd of the distracted multitude' (IV.iii.4). Hamlet's wordplay also continues - in somewhat poor taste, perhaps. He refuses to give a straight answer to the question of where Polonius' body lies, but emphasises its corporeal nature as fodder for worms, and jokes that if it isn't found within a month then the King will be able to detect his decaying corpse and 'nose him as you go up the stairs' (IV.iii.36). It is at least a hint as to the location, and enables Claudius to dispatch his attendants in search of it. The air of melancholy and general futility of life that he expressed earlier in the play underlies sentiments such as 'we fat ourselves for maggots' (IV.iii.22). But death is ...

This scene is short, just 45 lines, and perhaps its primary plot purpose is to have Rosencrantz and Gildenstern despatched to hunt for Polonius' body, last seen being dragged off unceremonioulsy by Hamlet at the end of Act III to 'lug the guts into the neighbour room' (III.iv.214). But very importantly, we also see Gertrude's explanation to Claudius about Polonius' murder - the very thing that Hamlet has asked her not to do. Gertrude describes Hamlet's wild and violent madness as that of 'the sea and wind when both contend/Which is the mightier.' (IV.i.7-8). Claudius is strengthened in his resolve to send Hamlet to England. If you are interested in continuing to collect imagery of contagion, note that Claudius describes Hamlet as the embodiment of a 'foul disease' that has begun to 'feed even on the pith of life' (IV.i.21-23). An enraged Claudius registers 'discord and dismay' in what feels like a flippant couplet at the e...

Now we reach the point of no return for Hamlet - the pivot on which the rest of the play turns. And there is plenty of drama. Having toyed with the idea of murder in the previous scene, his is driven to murderous action in this one - before his father's ghost reappears. The scene opens with Polonius' antagonistic imperatives to the Queen - about how to speak to her son, in order to 'lay home' aspects of his behaviour and 'tell him' that it will no longer be tolerated (III.iv.1-2) - before Polonius secretes himself behind the arras. But a suggestion that Gertrude has mediated on Hamlet's behalf hovers on the air, that she 'hath screen'd and stood between/Much heat and him' (III.iv.3-4). Hamlet, though, is evidently unaware of any such intercession. When he arrives, the dialogue with his mother provides what is possibly my favourite exchange of the play.  Queen Hamlet, thou has thy father much offended. Hamlet Mother, you have m...

Rosencrantz and Gildenstern enter with the King, who confirms his decision to send Hamlet to England with them. It is framed as a protective measure: it would be dangerous 'To let his madness range' (III.iii.2) and it will not do for the King's safety to be compromised, since the fortune of the king determines that of his subjects. This belief is acknowledged by Rosencrantz 'Never alone/Did the King sigh, but with a general moan' (III.iii.22-23), but as ever, dramatic irony is at play here. The divine right theory of kingship (which asserted that kings derived their authority from God, and supported the idea of hereditary monarchy) and Chain of Being (a Christian concept codifying the religious hierarchical structure of all life and matter) have been disrupted. Both were significant ideas in terms of Elizabethan philosophy and ideas about World Order; Claudius is a usurper, not a rightful ruler. Next, Polonius enters, reiterating his intention to 'conve...