Scenes in Hamlet to consider

As we read and analyze Hamlet, there are specific scenes that show particular promise for discussion, including the first Ghost scene with Hamlet, the scene between Hamlet and Ophelia that occurs off stage but is described by Ophelia to Polonius, the scene between Hamlet and his mother, the scene when Hamlet sees the King at prayer, and the Queen’s description of Ophelia’s death.
In the ghost scene, how should the actors approach this scene? Shakespeare’s audiences believed in ghosts and they knew the king was dead, so an actor walking about the stage as the ghost would not have been implausible or laughable to them. The audience wouldn’t need special effects to believe in the ghost. The ghost’s speech would not have to sound as if it came “from the great beyond.”
In the scene with Ophelia and Hamlet (II.1.73-98), the audience only knows Ophelia’s interpretation of the exchange. She is too naïve to realize that Hamlet is only acting, badly acting at that. No one would actually act in the manner she describes. Students should actually act out what she says to see this point.
Another key scene with Ophelia that students can relate to is the one between Ophelia, Laertes, and Polonius. Laertes warns her not to trust Hamlet, that he will only use her. He basically states that men are untrustworthy and only interested in what they can get from a woman. Then her father warns her against Hamlet and uses her to get information. Both Laertes and Polonius stress the fact that as heir to the throne, Hamlet must marry someone who would be good for the state, preferably a princess. Obviously Ophelia does not fulfill the requirement. Later on in the play, Hamlet abuses her, deserts her, and kills her father. No wonder she commits suicide. She is completely alone at her death. She has lost everyone. Her father is dead, killed by her lover; her lover told her he didn’t really love her and has left town; and her brother is out of the country. Poor Ophelia is truly the most tragic figure in the play.
In Act III, scene 4, the dialogue between Hamlet and his mother in her room or “closet” consists of rapidly alternating single lines that show a “head on clash, each [character] intensely sensitive to the other’s thoughts and feelings” (Gibson and Pickering, 68). In the graveyard scene, the fast paced dialogue between Hamlet and the gravedigger is used for humor, but in this scene it is used to show the tension between Hamlet and Gertrude. This scene is also problematic because of the film versions that create a sexual tension between Hamlet and his mother. Several authors and filmmakers have commented on the so-called Oedipal complex of Hamlet, but nowhere in the text is this seen. Whether or not there is any real or imagined incest between Hamlet and his mother would make a good debate topic at this point in the reading of the play.
In Act III, scene 2, Hamlet sees the King at prayer, or what he thinks is at prayer. The King wants to pray, and it looks like he is. Hamlet wants to kill him, and he is armed and ready. However, there is almost a stop-action. Hamlet is poised for the kill and then cannot do it. He cannot kill Claudius for more than religious reasons. Granted, Hamlet does not want Claudius killed while praying, enabling Claudius to go to heaven, but there are other reasons. For one thing, dramatically, this would be too easy and undramatic. If Hamlet killed Claudius now, there would be no need for all of the deaths later in the play, no “free-for-all” at the end (Goldman, 245-6). Hamlet has spent so much time trying to prove Claudius’ guilt that he doesn’t know what to do now that he has proved it.
When Ophelia commits suicide, the scene is not enacted on the stage. Instead, Gertrude relates the manner of Ophelia’s death to Claudius and to Laertes, Ophelia’s brother (IV.7.190-208). Gertrude’s lyric and romantic rendition of Ophelia’s death reveals something of Gertrude’s character. On first glance, the speech seems romantic and melodramatic. However, if Ophelia died alone, how did Gertrude know all of the small details that she relates in this speech? One possibility is that she witnessed the suicide. If so, the question becomes, why did she do nothing to stop Ophelia? Was she too shocked to act? Doubtful. Was she envious of Ophelia? Perhaps. Does Gertrude wish to die in this romantic way? Maybe. Like Ophelia, Gertrude has no real power or sense of self in the play. She is a product of her time, a time when women were exploited and controlled by men. Her short line, “Drown’d, drown’d” (IV.7.210), seems wistful, as if she were reliving the scene in her mind.
In general, Hamlet is a character that is floundering. He does not know what he feels or what to do. He is a character torn between being a medieval avenger and what he would consider a modern hero. [As a medieval avenger, his father fought old Fortinbras in single combat. Claudius uses more modern and diplomatic methods in sending ambassadors to Norway’s king in order to prevent a war.] What should Hamlet do? Who should he believe? A ghost? His mother? His uncle? Ophelia? He wants to be a hero, but he does not know how. At the end, he matures and no longer fears death. He says to Horatio about the possibility of death in his duel with Laertes, “If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all” (V.2.233-236). The duel also gives the play an energized finale. There is revenge, dueling, murder, a poisoned chalice, deceit, and forgiveness—all in the final scene. In the end, Hamlet acts without hesitation and confusion. He wants Horatio to live to let the world know the truth (McEvoy, 188-189; Epstein, 329-331).