William Shakespeare’s Hamlet

William Shakespeare’s literary work is presented in an enthralling way. William Shakespeare’s most popular play is Hamlet. The reader loves every aspect of the play and is glued to the end. Scene III of Act III has specifically posted a broad debate on topics such as the ages of the characters. This scene emphasizes the actors’ ages in a direct manner. When these events take place, Hamlet, the play’s lead, is about thirty years old. He is the youngest of the cast members. His father was the former ruler, and he was assassinated by his evil uncle Claudius. This scene does not have the mother Gertrude or the ghost father. Apart from Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, ages of other characters are not revealed. But we can deduce the age brackets of the major characters in the contextual scene. King Claudius is an uncle to Hamlet. This scene introduces a lot of bitterness and the urge of revenge on him. This revenge is initiated by Hamlet’s father who appears as a ghost in separate chapters. Shakespeare achieves more by capturing the concentration of the audience when he advances more on the use of fantasy.

Moreover, while reading this scene and the whole play at large, information on other characters is vivid. This scene presents more characters like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They are purposefully used in this scene. More reading in the play reveals that they are friends to Hamlet and therefore can be assumed to have the same age bracket to the Prince. The scene presents them as the close associates of Hamlet who could reveal the secret behind the sudden change in portrayed by Hamlet. Another character in this scene is Polonius. He is an old man. His age beside wisdom makes renders him the status of the King’s Lord that dealing with Claudius issues. Polonius a father to Ophelia and Laertes who are not mentioned in this scene.

Shakespeare presents his work in a traditional mannerism. This style emulates all the dynamics of the culture adhered to by all the characters. As they present various themes, the drama unveils more on the traditional mannerism. Notes can be taken from the kingship system that becomes the driving force behind the killing of Hamlet’s father by Claudius. The dressing mode in this play also emphasize on the approach of traditionalism the poet adopted in this play. The arrangement of the spoken words by the characters into definite stanzas deliberately explain more on the conservative nature of using the same style in writing his plays.

This scene introduces a confession. Previously, the information about the cause of death of Hamlet’s father was only revealed by the ghost. Now we see King Claudius getting haunted and shows dear expressions of sadness and regrets. Hamlet’s mind is full of revenge plans. The scene clearly reveals his action that coincidentally gets swayed away by the King’s prayer. The characters in this scene therefore possess different facial expressions which definitely result from their emotional well-being. Other characters like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are summoned and subjected to a task of escorting Hamlet out of Denmark on a voyage to England.

This play reveals a sense of humor. Shakespeare combines first and second person voices to present a snapshot of various unfolding actions. The characters unveil their role in every stem as the scene is full of magnificent artwork. Elsewhere, character exhibit strong physical and mental exposure to the artwork they present. The feeling of what they you do with great vigor cements the message communicated to the audience. The tonal variation and use of different tones keeps the audience switched on for more unfolding actions by the characters.

Shakespearean Critics

Reading various articles resonates concrete critics on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Let us take a keen discussion on the perspectives portrayed in the play. Particularly, this paper will focus on Moral perspective, the Feminist perspective and Freudian critical perspective.

The Feminist criticism is compounded in Shakespeare’s Hamlet play. In stream of action actions involving various characters such as Ophelia and Gertrude, women are portrayed in conspicuously different way. Ophelia is the key character in this criticism. We look at her broadly different. She is frequently illustrated in Shakespeare’s drama. Her visibility as a subject in literature is worth mentioning. A number of instances portrays her vigilance even though this occurrence does not deter her from experiencing neglect. Much more is deciphered from her cynical nature. Her feminist criticism not only allow her to upstage Hamlet but also brings upfront issues on theoretical debate about cultural links between femininity, insanity, representation and female sexuality. This analogy I further explained by the case of King Claudius. The King in this scenario kills the brother, former King Hamlet, with two discerning reasons. He acquires the throne. Besides this he lustfully inherits the queen. This act of attaching much treasure to the female figure in this Kingship expounds on the feminism. Elsewhere in the discussion, we bring in the more points that makes Ophelia popular heroine in Shakespeare’s play. Redon paints her drowning. This aspect makes her sink in a cultural popularity. Bob Dylan places her in desolation row and much fascinating is when Cannon Mills names a flowery sheet pattern after Ophelia.

Feminism in this play is a critic that have displayed two opposite faces. After reading this scene I found myself resonating about the more attachment and value has been put on the women and its reflection on the real situation in the pay. We especially see in Ophelia getting a lot of attributes from what occurs. This come along with responsibility concerns and more so madness attributed to failure of discerning the cultural links. But we need to look at these women in another perspective. Actually, the women in this play particularly Gertrude and Ophelia. These women have been victimized throughout the play. Ophelia lives in a royal family but has been denied freedom of movement and association. Ophelia fails to enjoy the benefits associated with royal families. Moreover, in a play of twenty scenes, she appears only five times. This is an indication of marginalization of the women in the play. This aspect is experienced despite Ophelia emerging the most presented heroine in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Play. Gertrude, who offers motherly care to her son Hamlet even after the death of her husband, is also victimized I the play. Claudius marries her immediately the king dies and compromises her, In this case the son is unable to become the next king after the father dies. Moreover, she dies from a poisoned wine.

The second perspective in this paper is all about Morals. The play is all about revenge. The protagonist who is also the play title, Hamlet has a major change in behavior especially after his encounter with his ghost father. His heart becomes filled with a lot of hatred and he becomes more vindictive. In this scene for example, he steals his movements into the castle to kill King Claudius. In doing so he aims to avenge his father’s death. This analogy explains how much the morality of the society lead by the new king derailed. As a matter of fact the cause of the chronic revenge that leads to the death of Polonius, is the previous immorality that was done by the current King. This scene further reveals the guilty mind of Claudius regretting for killing his own brother, but still supports his prior corrupted mind of vandalism. He grabbed the throne and the queen. All these scenarios affirms a strong background of an immoral society in Denmark after the death of King Hamlet. The death of Gertrude via the poisoned wine is also another good point to consider. Reading the whole play gives more instances of a rotten society led by an immoral leader.

Focusing on morals of this society as presented by Shakespeare in his dramatic work, I find more contrasting ideas while reading this scene. Firstly, let us consider the prayer made by King Claudius. In as much as the King himself realized that there was no authenticity in his prayers, the step he made in confessing his sin through a prayer is important. The king managed to show the way of having a Christian society that needs to live together in unity and forgiveness. Moreover, Hamlet suddenly halts his prior revenge plan. This seen present the Prince of Denmark on the move to cause a major crime, avenging the death of his father. He stopped his immoral motive even though his has a consistent push from the ghost father to do so. I have to agree that the reason Hamlet gave towards his decision was not fulfilling. He did not want the soul of the villain uncle to go to heaven since killing him during a confession could have guaranteed that. It is prudent to emphasize on his move of not killing the king as a change for the better in the society.

Finally, the perspective of Freudian critics is also important to discuss in this play. We notice various occasions of this criterion. This criticism basically uses psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud to interpret a work in terms of the known psychological conflicts of the author. Reading the play conveys a lot of scenarios of affection. As an infant, Hamlet received warm affection from his mother Gertrude. As the play continues we note that the mother who is now the queen lives by his looks. These are good indications of Freudian criticism. More discussion to ascertain this analogy is attached to the point of her mother’s re-marriage to his uncle. Actually, Hamlet was affected by this. He sees it as the first instance of immorality and unusual behavior. Hamlet finds it hard to relate his prior memories and the current changes. He falls in love with Ophelia as a result. Much can be seen however contrasting features between Ophelia and the queen.

A look at this scene facilitates more information about this Freudian criticism. The implications are clearly seen in the determination that Hamlet had towards avenging the death of his deceased father. Moreover, in this scene we encounter a more significance occasion when the King and Gertrude both realize a major change in Hamlet’s behavior. Asking his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to accompany Hamlet to England expounds more on how affected the protagonist was as far as developed psychology is concerned.

Staging Scene III

As a director, I will profoundly have an outstanding stage. First, I will set my stage with the relevant props. This is a room in a castle. A castle in this scene is a King’s parlor therefore relevant furniture and fittings must be noticeable by the audience. The setting structure of the stage must appeal and match the actions in the scene. Secondly, I will devise a traditional dress code that will emulate the age of the drama and its origin. This will bring the sense of originality in the eyes and minds of the audience. Also, choosing of the characters will be specific and age oriented. Hamlet as the protagonist in this scene is a young man. The ages of the actors on stage can be altered and built up through use of makeups. The age disparity in the actors alongside their gender will influence a perfect role play.

This is a drama associated with much illusion. This goes in hand with the fact that one of the characters is a ghost. Major make-ups therefore needs to be done on the ghost character. Moreover, we introduce music and soundtracks that matches and influences the display of every unfolding event. For example, an associated gospel music can be played during the prayer session by the king. Soundtracks presenting alertness should be played while Hamlet steals his way into the room. Lighting is very important. Different stage events require different light intensities. If possible color clashing of different light wavelengths can be employed to increase the audience attention on what is going on. The stage must be a raised platform with distinct entry and exit points. I will also employ the use of curtains to enable blocking where necessary and instances of character preparation.

When all these are taken into consideration the drama unfolds smoothly without character fear. Before the events begin, each character must be able to understand his or her role. The timing during the play is also important. Then above all the audience must have a reason to continue watching. That is to say, they must be entertained. This calls for the use of relevant facial expressions, tonal variations depending on the topic of discussion and use of the relevant voice.

Conclusion

During the reading and performance of this scene, several lessons were learned. The use of a poetic approach to write a play was not only unique but entertaining the audience. The scene a theme of revenge that has been witnessed across the whole play. Also, the characterization was perfect as they fit well in their roles.

More points worth noting was on the dressing code used in the drama. The sense of sadness combined with humor for example when the king was praying and defying his own prayer. On the other hand, Hamlet emerges as a strong protagonist with a motif to avenge the death of his father. He shows his relentless character even though when he decides to kill the villain, the king when it is most appropriate. To ensure the King’s soul does not go to heaven just like his father’s did not. Hamlet has been used to show the effect of bad governance and morals in the society. He also builds the theme of romance when he falls in love with Ophelia.

Shakespeare is a legendary poet and Dramatist. Reading his work molds and builds new writers to achieve their passion in the writing field. This is because he uses simple styles to achieve big. William Shakespeare has managed to show the readers and writers what it takes to be successful in the writing career.

Furthermore, being in a play as a director or an audience entertains. Much stress and fatigue is released when one embraces the feelings associated with humor during the drama on stage. Also, major lessons are learned from the plays. Most plays are based on one concrete theme besides other building themes. These themes are all about messages communicated to the audience. A positive message builds the thinking and creativity of the audience. More lessons learned from a play initiates a peaceful co-existence in the society and an established economic growth.

The crew in a play is basically are up of the characters in addition to stage managers and the director. The crew must work together in harmony to achieve a good stage setup and performance. This is a lesson that is adoptable by theater owners and dramatists across the world. The time must also be managed appropriately to achieve the best play.

Works Cited

Bullough, Geoffrey, ed. Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare: Major tragedies.

Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. Volume VII. Vol. 7. Columbia University Press, 1973.

Gates Jr, Henry Louis. The signifying monkey: A theory of African American literary

criticism. Oxford University Press, 2014.

http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/94/hamlet/1676/act-3-scene-3/

Showalter, Elaine, William Shakespeare, and Susanne Lindgren Wofford. Representing Ophelia:

women, madness, and the responsibilities of feminist criticism. Macmillan, 1994.