Board 8 > Save My Hamlet Scene - Day 14

(+) Yeah! (+)

up to 2 saves per hour.
2 saves from unique users to be safe.
last scene is eliminated.

1.5 - ghost describes murder, Hamlet swears revenge; oath
2.2 - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; fishmonger; players arrive; "rogue and peasant slave"
3.1 - "to be or not to be"; nunnery
3.4 - Hamlet berates Gertrude; kills Polonius; ghost appears to Hamlet only
4.5 - Ophelia's madness; Laertes demands vengeance
5.1 - Gravediggers; Laertes jumps into the grave; Hamlet jumps into the grave
5.2 - Hamlet explains how he got R&G killed; duel; everyone dies; Fortinbras becomes king

Eliminated:
8. 1.1 - ghost appears during night watch
9. 3.2 - The Mousetrap
10. 4.7 - Claudius persuades Laertes to follow his plan for killing Hamlet; Ophelia drowns
11. 1.2 - wedding banquet; Hamlet learns about ghost; "sullied/solid flesh"
12. 4.6 - Horatio reads letter from Hamlet about being captured by pirates
13. 3.3 - Claudius confesses and prays; "now might I do it pat"
14. 4.3 - Hamlet eventually reveals where he put the body; Claudius plans to have Hamlet killed in England
15. 1.3 - sending Laertes off; advice for Ophelia
16. 1.4 - waiting for ghost; ghost beckons Hamlet to follow
17. 4.4 - Fortinbras on his way to Poland; "how all occasions do inform against me"
18. 4.2 - R & G beg Hamlet to tell them where he put Polonius's body
19. 2.1 - Reynaldo; Ophelio affrighted
20. 4.1 - Gertrude tells Claudius what happened; Claudius determines to send Hamlet away

From the first line, the play sets the mood of a Denmark full of anxiety and paranoia. Later, we have the spooky ghost, but also Horatio recounting Hamlet Sr's military history in a segment that goes on a bit too long. I don't think much about this segment usually, but there's a bit of mirroring here - Horatio starts the play by telling the story of Hamlet Sr, and is tasked with telling the story of Hamlet Jr at the end. Given the little bit we get about how Hamlet will be remembered (more on that later), how accurate is this portrait of Hamlet Sr, or any of Hamlet's description of his father throughout the play for that matter? Did Hamlet Sr. have this much power over Hamlet in life as he does as a ghost? The status quo changed dramatically shortly before the start of the play, and we don't know what these relationships were like beforehand. Did Hamlet always hate his uncle or is it just because of the re-marriage?

On the ghost, Bernardo suggests that it appeared because the current military build-up in Denmark is due to wars that Hamlet Sr started. They are figuratively and literally haunted by the past. There are decisions to be made about how to stage the ghost that are not entirely straightforward. In this scene, it's seems pretty concrete, as multiple characters see it, though later scenes are inconsistent with that, which perhaps goes back to the fracturing of the Reformation. The play doesn't comes down on whether the ghost is demon or spirit, and Hamlet switches back and forth over the course of it.

As the state and the king are one, Denmark is described as being cold and dead while the king is a ghost. Furthermore, in this scene, the characters constantly say the ghost is like the king, referring to Hamlet Sr, but it also works if referring to the Claudius. Hamlet later gets a lot out of speaking about Claudius as if he's already dead in the ground. Both Claudius and the ghost are both resemble a king, both full of sin and corruption, and both are dead. Performances that have the two played by the same actor draws the connection even more explicitly.
---

The first lines of Shakespeare I ever read were "Bernardo?" "He." For some reason they've always stuck with me.

5.1
2.2
---

2.2
1.5

3.1
4.5

I think the staging in David Tennant's version of Hamlet is my favorite that I've seen as far as the ghost goes. Manages to be downright frightening when it could've come off as silly/campy.
---

5.1
5.2

1.5
4.5

tennant version also does the same actor thing for claudius and the ghost. i've only seen that one once - maybe i'll revisit.

Remaining:
*3.1 - "to be or not to be"; nunnery
3.4 - Hamlet berates Gertrude; kills Polonius; ghost appears to Hamlet only
*5.2 - Hamlet explains how he got R&G killed; duel; everyone dies; Fortinbras becomes king

i think i need a rule change.
---

Probably time for 3.
---

3.4, 3.1
---

5.2
---

3.4 for the win
---