I hope the question above is the one that you were asking.
Your original question referenced a section in the play where Hamlet and Ophelia do not
have any conversations, and Act III scene 1 is perhaps the most famous confrontation
between them.
Before I answer your question though, let us
remember what is happening in Act III scene 1. Claudius and Polonius are basically using
Ophelia as bait to try and work out what is wrong with Hamlet. They are eavesdropping on
the conversation. Ophelia has been forced into this trick. Now, directors vary as to how
they normally stage this scene. Some, like Brannagh in his incredible version, have
Hamlet work out that his conversation is being spied upon, and therefore his outburst
and tirade that he utters to Ophelia comes as an expression of sadness at his betrayal.
Having been betrayed by all those around him, to be betrayed by the woman that he loves
makes him furious and deeply sad. Others show that Hamlet's tirade is part of the act of
madness that he is trying to maintain, and yet others use Hamlet's anger to suggest he
is mad after all. Note what he says to Ophelia:
readability="8">Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a
breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such
things, that it were better my mother had not borne
me.He goes on to give a
"plague" to Ophelia for her dowry. Again, how we read these lines and what they mean
depend on subtext and a number of choices about how we would stage the scene. Do we take
Hamlet's advice as a symbol of madness? Or merely a sign of how fed up he is with the
world and fate? His advice to Ophelia is open to many different
interpretations.
No comments:
Post a Comment