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

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...

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 famous young Fortinbras, Norwegian crown prince first mentioned in the opening 100 lines of the play and referred to subsequently in Act II, finally makes his entrance; embarking on the 'promis'd march' (IV.iv.3) - the permission earlier granted for him to cross Denmark in order to battle over a piece of land now in Polish possession. More on the significance of this in Hanratty's Episode 121 of The Hamlet podcast . I can't think of a better way to spend seven minutes of your life at this point. Fortinbras encounters Hamlet, and so there together on stage are two young princes, both caught up in the business of avenging the deaths of their fathers. Except that perhaps Fortinbras is getting on with his a little more purposefully than Hamlet who may be guilty of 'thinking too precisely on th'event' (IV.iv.41) as he himself observes.  Indeed, his soliloquy begins by stating the way in which every event and encounter reminds him of his ...