HAMLET Comic Relief

Purpose Lighten the dark nature of tragic drama Entertain the audience Indicate attitude and relationships between characters Enhance theme

Polonius Act 1, Scene 3 Lines 60-87 Act 2, Scene 2 Line 99 *Advice to Laertes – appears to be encouraging Laertes to behave in a certain, when later in the play he sends Reynaldo to spread rumors about Laertes *”I will be brief…” He is anything but… *”The best actors in the world…” silly rambling *

Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2 Lines 190-200 (w/ Polonius) “Not where he eats…” *”You are a fishmonger…” pretending not to know Polonius (is this real or feigned madness?) *references to “Fortune’s favors” – male bantering between Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern *dialogue between Hamlet, Queen and Ophelia – Hamlet acting erratic, inappropriate (again, feigned or real madness?) *location of Polonius’ body, tells King Polonius is “at supper” (King will eventually be eaten by beggars), if King’s men cannot find the body in heaven then the King should look for it in Hell (ie. Go to hell), etc *

Miscellaneous Characters Gravediggers (Act 5, Scene 1) Watch clip Gravedigger scene is textbook comic relief (dark scene in graveyard, they are digging up old bones to make room recently deceased Ophelia, discussing Ophelia’s eternal fate…) Will need to watch the clip on DVD Churchyard Conversation

It’s funny…so what? To lighten the mood, usually in a very intense scene If comic relief is evident, the scene is likely tragic in all other aspects Identifying examples can lead readers/audiences to also identify key emotional moments in the story

So… Take out a piece of paper Write a 12 sentence paragraph about the significance of comic relief in Shakespearean tragedy. Use textual examples to support your claim Due Monday