CRANE Contextualise Register Analysis Nuance Evaluation

Section A: The scene takes place almost in the exact centre of the play and is a pivotal moment in the rising action of the play; the overall dramatic function of the scene is to develop the tragic sense of inevitability in the journey to death of the plays protagonist, as previous to this the audience have seen Hamlet affecting madness. Both the audience and key characters, notably Polonius and Claudius are unsure as to the genuineness of Hamlet’s madness. Hamlet’s dramatic function here is to force the audience to join with Polonius and Claudius in questioning his state of mind – a drama that is driven by Ophelia’s role in the scene and heightened by the fact that the audience know that Polonius and Claudius are watching. Shakespeare is creating dramatic tension by having us question whether Hamlet is aware of the presence of Claudius and Polonius.

The scene opens with Ophelia breaking the iambic pentameter at the shock of seeing Hamlet’s broken state: ‘O, help him, you sweet heavens!’ – her register here is sorrowful yet distressed – Shakespeare using the jarring punctuation, the emphatic exclamation, the broken rhythm and the religious, pleading language clearly presents to the audience how broken and distressed Ophelia is by Hamlet’s increasingly erratic behaviour. The audience are affected by this as they feel for Ophelia – seeing that, ironically, she is entering into a deeper madness than Hamlet – an interpretation that alters depending on how genuine or fake we believe Hamlet’s madness to be. We may feel more distressed if we believe his madness is fake as we can see that his desire for revenge is destroying the one person he cares about.

The fact that Ophelia is so broken by Hamlet’s behaviour makes the tragic trajectory of the play very stark- as we see Hamlet’s inevitable downfall manifested in his treatment of Ophelia. Shakespeare uses imperative and insulting language to show how vicious Hamlet is to her: ‘go to’, ‘get thee’, ‘go’, - the fact that he feels he can command her whilst also declaring ‘no more marriages’ and repeating ‘ get thee to a nunnery’ is ironic as it is a husband’s role in Elizabethan society to control and command his wife – yet Hamlet condemns Ophelia to a life of chastity and loneliness whilst trying to maintain a husband’s right to control and insist on obedience. Perhaps Shakespeare is trying to show Hamlet’s confusion and the way that his inability to avenge his father has destroyed the clarity of his thinking.

Section B Perhaps female characters are not the only true victims in the play. Although Gertrude and Ophelia are both clearly victims, so are the men in the play. Laertes dies trying to protect the honour of his sister, King Hamlet is murdered by his own brother, Polonius is killed by Hamlet. And Hamlet is the ultimate tragic hero of the play. However it is arguable that the female victims in the play are not responsible for their own downfall but the male victims are.

Ophelia is arguably a blameless victim in the play Ophelia is arguably a blameless victim in the play. As Emi Hamana says she ‘suffers a series of patriarchal oppressions.’ This is true as throughout the play we see Ophelia controlled by her brother, her father and Hamlet as he instructs her ‘get thee t a nunnery’ – it is perhaps this reliance on control that leads to Ophelia’s suicide as she us unable to find her own way through life and the men she has come to rely on have either let her down hopelessly, Laertes having moved abroad, her father dying in his own incompetent foolishness and Hamlet treating her in the most vile manner. An Elizabethan audience may recognise the level of control Ophelia experiences at the hands of men and sympathise accordingly, perhaps her subservience is more difficult for modern audiences to credit.

Ophelia does seem in many ways to be blameless but when the audience consider Gertrude’s dramatic role as a victim the question of blame is far more difficult. T S Eliot described Gertrude as ‘negative and insignificant’ – she clearly has a negative effect on Hamlet when she marries his uncle so soon after his father’s death but it seems absurd to say she is ‘insignificant’ as it is perhaps Hamlet’s confused and Oedipal feelings towards his mother that most drive the tragedy of the play – leading to her and his death. Yet GF Bradby says she is of ‘ambiguous morality’ and if there is doubt about whether she is immoral or not then she may well be a blameless victim. An Elizabethan audience may well sympathise with Gertrude’s quick move towards Claudius, understanding implicitly that a woman’s place in society is dictated by the role of her husband. However modern audiences may struggle more to empathise here and may lay more blame at Gertrude’s door; she is the victim of her own immoral and self-serving behaviour.