Much Ado Act 2: some Rom Com tropes are nice...

2.1

The scene starts by highlighting how Don John does not want to partake in the festivities/ is clearly a sketchy dude. Of course, like in everything else, Beatrice has to bring the subject back to Benedick:

He were an excellent man that were made just in the
midway between him and Benedick: the one is too
like an image and says nothing, and the other too
like my lady's eldest son, evermore tattling.

From there we move to the talk of getting Beatrice a husband and it seems, for a moment we are going to go in the direction of my LEAST favorite play...

LEONATO

By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a
husband, if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.

ANTONIO

In faith, she's too curst.

And just when i think I'm going to have nightmares about Taming of the Shrew... they let Beatrice play along and never bring up taming her brilliant wit at all. (in the nurture/nature debate, maybe kate would have been like Beatrice if her family wasn't full of abusive times)

BEATRICE

Just, if he send me no husband; for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening.

Beatrice then goes on to explain how every man is flawed in her own way and that she intends to live a bachelorette so she can go to heaven and sit with the bachelors. What a fantastic monologue. Right about now I start remembering just how much prose is in this play!

He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man: and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him

I particularly like that last phrase- Beatrice has a strenght and sexuality that it seems she is not ashamed of or punished for. After this, Beatrice's audience on stage continues to ask her about if she is sure she will not want a husband and she answers as if she and Hamlet could have been best buds if it werent for his whole not trusting any women thing:

Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a pierce of valiant dust?

After this we lead into:

THE MASQUE- in all its strangeness and flirting times. how do you stage this? what music? what dance styles? This scene is a PLAYGROUND for actors/directors. Antonio's strange flirting, everyone lying to each other and who can identify vs not identify each other (even when its pretty obvious to the audience most of the time who is who based on body type, etc. and WHY does Claudio pretend to be Benedick? (unless there's a seed of jealousy in him even before don john's accusations and he will play false to feed that jealousy... in which case I have some serious concerns for Hero.)

A favorite piece, of course, is the beatrice/benedick exchange. Does beatrice know its benedick in the mask or not? just another fun choice, and then Benedick gets to respond at such length that the audience knows he must be a little crazy for Beatrice as well, or he would pay her no mind... 

O, she misused me past the endurance of a block! an oak but with one green leaf on it would have answered her; my very visor began to assume life and scold with her. She told me, not thinking I had been myself, that I was the prince's jester, that I was duller than a great thaw; huddling jest upon jest with such impossible conveyance upon me that I stood like a man at a mark, with a whole army shooting at me. She speaks poniards, and every word stabs: (it's so funny what you pick up on based on which play you read just before, huh?) if her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her; she would infect to the north star. I would not marry her, though she were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he transgressed: she would have made Hercules have turned spit, yea, and have cleft his club to make the fire too. Come, talk not of her: you shall find her the infernal Ate in good apparel. I would to God some scholar would conjure her; for certainly, while she is here, a man may live as quiet in hell as in a sanctuary; and people sin upon purpose, because they would go thither; so, indeed, all disquiet, horror and perturbation follows her.

Even Benedick realizes how long he's talking about Beatrice and tells himself to stop, but he can't help himself! he loves her.

Next the focus shifts to Beatrice and Don Pedro in one of the most interesting and telling exchanges:

DON PEDRO

Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of
Signior Benedick.

BEATRICE

Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one: marry, once before he won it of me with false dice, therefore your grace may well say I have lost it.

THIS. This descritption/admission is terribly interesting to me. I start wondering all sorts of things about the past interactions between Beatrice and Benedick and how much fun it would be to create that story in production. Not to mention the images and words are just stunningly beatufiul! The conversation then shifts to Claudio and Beatrice describes him as: civil as an orange, and something of that jealous complexion. 1. I love the strange image of being orange with jealousy instead of green 2. I use the phrase civil as an orange as much as possible. It just sounds right with a perfect amoung of snark. And this was written before this grating video!!

Everything is cleared up between Claudio and Don Pedro about Hero and it seems that marriage and happy times are all that's ahead:

BEATRICE

Speak, count, 'tis your cue.

CLAUDIO

Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy, if I could say how much.

I love that. I'm not sure it is ALWAYS true as most of the happy moments i can think of have some kind of sound attached to them, but mostly those sounds are non-verbal. Words can't describe... even though that's there job. words words words have nothing on true happiness.

But it seems this just makes everyone want Beatrice to get married even more! I am always interested if Don Pedro's semi-proposal to Beatrice is genuine or playful. I've seen it both ways and teh genuine is certainly more affecting, and prepares the audience for a change in mood that they should get used to given what's about to come the next act.... but they both seem to bounce back and rebound so quickly you need some very skilled actors to play the change successfully (I'm lucky enough to have seen several casts of skilled actors do just that...)

DON PEDRO

Will you have me, lady?

BEATRICE

No, my lord, unless I might have another for working-days: your grace is too costly to wear every day. But, I beseech your grace, pardon me: I was born to speak all mirth and no matter.

Now if that isn't the classiest way to turn a guy down, I don't know what is. 

I think it is interesting the way no one mentions this encounter to Benedick. Beatrice has no desire to make Benedick jealous or stir up trouble between his group of friends. The light way Beatrice is able to dismiss things leads Don Pedro to tell beatrice: you were born in a merry hour. To which Beatrice responds:  No, sure, my lord, my mother cried; but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born. I love that. The ASC sells clothing with that line printed on it. When the time comes for a Baby T to enter the world, just know that i'd love to dress my child in that onesie. Beatrice leaves the stage wtih well wishing: Cousins, God give you joy!

And again the conversation goes to coupling Beatrice, only now more specifically with Benedick. There's a fabulous description of Beatrice that I especially love as I have woken myself with laughing:

There's little of the melancholy element in her, my lord: she is never sad but when she sleeps, and not ever sad then; for I have heard my daughter say,she hath often dreamed of unhappiness and waked herself with laughing.

Then there's this little bout of adolescent-like impatience (who knows, maybe they ARE adolescent...)

DON PEDRO

County Claudio, when mean you to go to church?

CLAUDIO

To-morrow, my lord: time goes on crutches till love have all his rites.

LEONATO

Not till Monday, my dear son, which is hence a just seven-night; and a time too brief, too, to have all things answer my mind.

I love that Leonato squashes that rush... but only delays the marriage a bit longer. There's something adorably childish/stupid? about claudio's wanting to get married IMMEDIATELY.

Anyway, back to the men plotting to get beatrice a husband... I love that this is the description we get of Benedick:

And Benedick is not the unhopefullest husband that I know. Ringing endorsement of your friend there buddy. and Don Pedro gets even more lovely and absurd with this line, which should really be quoted a lot more in life

we are the only love-gods. YES!!!

2.2

A Short don john and borachio scene to lay the plot for tripping up Claudio and Hero... as a means of getting back at Don Pedro?! Oh Don John... stupid lines of logic must run in y'alls family.

So the basic idea is that Borachio is going to get with Hero's waiting woman Margaret and do her in a visible place where they will call each other different names than there own... and here is the BIGGEST logical problem with the scene:

hear me call Margaret Hero, hear Margaret term me Claudio;

WHAT?!?! wouldn't that make claudio think hmmm... that's not me up there but she's using my name... something is weird here. once again, THIS PLAN MAKES NO SENSE and its so contrived its painful and yet i LOVE WATCHING/barely think of this when i'm watching the play vs. reading it. (not to mention that Margaret and Borachio are apparently pro the strangeness of kinky semi-public displays and role playing)

2.3

OH GOD BENEDICK'S GULLING!!!

There's a big long speech about how he doesnt get how people can fall in love and act so stupid. which means we can't WAIT to see him fall in love and act just as stupid as everyone else. What I love about this scene is the way it echoes Beatrice's earlier speech about different kinds of men.... everything works together to say MEANT FOR EACH OTHER MEANT FOR EACH OTHER MEANT FOR EACH OTHER. its like the original ROMCOM in that we know whats going to happen but it doesn't deplete how wonderful it is to watch the characters figure out what we already know.

I love the use of music in this scene. Sigh no more... basically anything that Mumford appropriates for their songs is a win.

and what is the theme in this song? Men were deceivers ever the musician practically warns everyone that maybe they should trust the women not the men... but no one listens... (note: i do not think one gender has the monopoly on being honest/deceivers)

So Don Pedro, Leonato, and Claudio trick benedick into thinking beatrice loves him. The great choice for actors here are 1. how well/poorly benedick disguises himself or hides during this scene and 2. how good the gullers are at lying. either way, this line is comedic gold:

I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it: 

 there's some 2 gents sounding talk about beatrice tearing a letter into a million pieces (I seriously subscribe to Katy Mulvany's theory that this is shakespeare's great big apology for screwing up stories with women so badly earlier in his career)  and then there's this:

CLAUDIO

And she is exceeding wise.

DON PEDRO

In every thing but in loving Benedick.

this will echo later. the echoes in this show are lovely.

and while beatrice won't boast of don pedro's affections, benedick gets to hear about them anyway:

DON PEDRO

I would she had bestowed this dotage on me: I would have daffed all other respects and made her half myself.

then the conversation turns to how she'd die if benedick knew because...well, because he's been a dick to her (sorry, you have to make the bad pun sometimes...) when they leave benedick has what I think is his greatest speech in the show, starting with the make the audience feel infinitely smarter than the main character line: This can be no trick. and getting even better when he adds 

The world must be peopled!  When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.

Amen Benedick. Amen. you and me both. 

The scene ends with beatrice inviting benedick in to dinner in her usual snarky way, but benedick only interprets love. meaning is made by the audience, right?

finally there's joke making fun of jews that is uncomfortable for today's audiences and then we're on to act 3.

Much Ado Act I: Who wants to cast me as Beatrice?!?!?!

While I think 12th night is the best of Shakespeare's comedies, Much Ado is still my favorite. I first read this for pleasure and because one of my teachers said I would fall in love with Beatrice- and I did. instantly. Beatrice is one of my dream roles and I knew from the moment I read this play I could never marry someone who wouldn't verbally spar with me or who couldn't keep up with my wit. So Dan can thank Benedick for being a major influence on "my type". 

 

1.1

I learn in this letter that Don Peter of Arragon comes this night to Messina.

*note- most versions of the text have pedro. apparently the mit online souce doesnt like the spanish influence?

Dr. Cohen likes to think of this play as the men from Love's Labour's Lost all grown up and coming to the turf of the ladies, and this first line certainly sets that as the main point of action (I won't say much more on his theory since we haven't gotten to LLL yet, but if you're curious/don't already know it, remind me to talk about it when we get to LLL)

right off the bat we get the idea that happy times must be here because we've just gone through a military action and when asked about the people lost the response is: 

But few of any sort, and none of name.

This same messenger also gives us the first description of Claudio: doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion: 

I mentioned that this play is my favorite though perhaps not the best. Its not. It is by no means the perfectly fitted ticking time piece that some of shakespeare's plays are (that's how Giles Block described the Tempest). The seems show. Some may even say there is bad writing in some scenes. example- in this scene we hear Claudio has an uncle who has wept with joy to hear of his exploits and honor. We never hear of this uncle again, but i'm glad that loose end is in there because it allows Leonato to have this line:

A kind overflow of kindness: there are no faces truer than those that are so washed. How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping!

Quick! someone stitch that on a handkerchief and sell it for weddings!

Of course, Beatrice doesn't much care about what Claudio's done so she asks the messenger to report on Benedick instead. She then immediately starts teasing the man before the audience is introduced to him:

 I pray you, how many hath he killed and eaten in these wars? But how many hath he killed? for indeed I promised to eat all of his killing.

According to Beatrice, Benedick is more of an talker than a fighter.

Messenger

I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books.

BEATRICE No; an he were, I would burn my study. 

 

the first time I read this play, I remember quite clearly that THAT was the line that convinced me that surely beatrice and benedick were going to get together, or at the very least it was obvious she was in love with him. because not only do i not believe for  a second that beatrice would burn books, and.. she's just so wonderfully playful about her taunting! and if I was instantly in love with her, Benedick would have to be a huge idiot not to fall for her too... and this is a comedy for pete's sake! you know there's a wedding coming! Things just get better when we get to the first verbal sparring of the couple:

BEATRICE

I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick: nobody marks you.

BENEDICK

What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?

BEATRICE

Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence.

BENEDICK

Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted: and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love none.

Does anyone else's brain automatically add "only you excepted" to the end of that line? because I think rhetorically its just begging you to fill in that blank. In fact, i think that is one of the things I love about this play so much. it is constantly asking you to fill in the blanks. More examples of this throughout this entry and the rest on this play...

But let's get back to the fabulousness of beatrice and how much I relate to her, such as how she expresses my sentiments exactly (well, what they were until I met Dan):

I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.

Amen. and why else do I love her? BECAUSE SHE WINS! anyone who knows me well knows i have an almost cripplingly competitive nature sometimes (ok, some of you are laughing at the way I even dared include sometimes as a qualifier. I get it!) but seriously... she bests benedick with wit practically every time and the only way he can win is by cheating:

BEATRICE

A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.

BENEDICK

I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer. But keep your way, i' God's name; I have done.

BEATRICE

You always end with a jade's trick: I know you of old.

The woman wins the war of wits- GOD I WANT TO PLAY HER!!!

Shortly after that, the women and the rest of Leonato's house exits the stage leaving only the three musketeers of bromance times. Benedick immediately starts teasing Claudio about his fawning over hero and asks

But I hope you have no intent to turn husband, have you?

Turn husband. SUCH a good phrase. almost as good as "I would wife that" anthimeria is my favorite rhetorical device. 

But that isn't enough to prove his point so Benedick continues:

That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she brought me up, I likewise give her most humble thanks: but(...) Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the right to trust none; and the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor.

OK... so now we know that Benedick's manly man I want to be single forever air may stem from some trust issues huh? Meanwhile, Claudio is not listening to any of Benedick's teasing and explains that this feeling for Hero is different than what he had for her before. I also think the switches in this play from poetry to prose and back again are fascinating and I'd love to hear from actors/directors who have worked on a full production if they make anything of it, if there's a pattern, or if it just means that the prose pieces required more time to memorize ;)

anyway, here's what Claudio has to say about his feelings for Hero: 

When you went onward on this ended action,
I look'd upon her with a soldier's eye,
That liked, but had a rougher task in hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love:
But now I am return'd and that war-thoughts
Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
Come thronging soft and delicate desires,

So... according to this speech, love makes a man soft (common theme/assertion throughout the canon. thoughts? Is that necessarily a bad thing?) I also think this speech reinforces what we learned during Romeo and Juliet. Its awfully hard for love to flourish during a time of war. Don Pedro steps in to offer his grand plan to get Claudio and Hero to the altar... and... well... read for yourselves:

I will assume thy part in some disguise
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio,
And in her bosom I'll unclasp my heart
And take her hearing prisoner with the force
And strong encounter of my amorous tale:
Then after to her father will I break;
And the conclusion is, she shall be thine.
In practise let us put it presently.

WHAT?! HOW DOES THIS MAKE SENSE AT ALL?! WHY does this need to happen? it doesnt. its useless 3rd party drama but if you have any qualms about it... in performance they are often resolved by how ridiculous and fun the mask is that you forget how STUPID this plan really is since there's no indication that Claudio is a Cyrano who needs other people to voice his love...

1.2

A short scene where Antonio and Leonato talked. another loose end: apparently antonio has a son we never hear about again Antonia talks about overhearing don pedro's great plan in his orchard (hmmm eavesdropping in an orchard... that will come in handy later...) except eaves dropping quickly leads to untruths and Antonio thinks it is the prince who is trying to woo hero, and not claudio who is in love and is allowing the prince to woo on his behalf

1.3

We get to know the villain of the story: Don John.

CONRADE

What the good-year, my lord! why are you thus out
of measure sad?

DON JOHN

There is no measure in the occasion that breeds;
therefore the sadness is without limit

OK.... so we have a villain without a reason... but who apparently loves alliteration:  apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief

We find out from Don John's buddy conrad that he should cool his bad attitude because he's already been bad toward his brother Don Pedro who has already forgiven him once. Hmmmm dear don pedro fool me once shame on you fool me twice... is there an addendum to this saying for fool me a third time?!

Then there's this line that I have a fondness for ever since I heard Stephen Booth talk about it:

I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace

It's easy enough for Don John to find a way to cause trouble because Don Pedro's plan is so ridiculous and easily manipulated. So let's get past this villain introduction and get to the mask! Hopefully i'll have act 2 up tomorrow now that All My Sons is up and running (hence the delay between Hamlet and this play- tech week is exhausting!! But Dan and I are truly loving being a part of this production and hope to see any of you local readers at a performance.) 

oh, and your media clip of the day:

 

Who's excited? skeptical? doesn't care what could go wrong because they are such a die hard Joss Whedon fan?

Hamlet act 5: the rest is... well, you know...

5.1

Gravediggers. The use of clowning grave diggers is such a perfect pinnacle of the jokes/questions regarding death present throughout this play. As they argue about the nature of Ophelia's death and if she's getting special treatment for being a noble. there are a great number of very smart jokes. in fact in many texts they are referred to in the speech prefix not as gravediggers but as clowns. Hamlet comes in to discover the gravediggers singing as they dig a grave and marvels at their lightness considering their work. As if to yes and Hamlet's wonder, the gravedigger then tosses around a skull. Hamlet responds with:

That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once:

AHA! i have found a line which I am going to use on Dan tonight (much of his humor, like the gravedigger's, has a lot to do with technicalities/equivocation):

we must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. 

We eventually find out that the skull Hamlet is holding belongs to Yorick. And why am I inclined immediately to like Yorick?:

A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! a' poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester.

You'd think I'd be suspect of a guy who would waste whine, but there's something undeniably funny about that image. and who doesn't like a fellow of infinite jest?

 Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?

again, so glad to be reading this play during lent, what better way to meditate on "remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return"

The royals enter shortly after this with Ophelia's body. Laertes again kills me with his asking for more church rites for his sister that the priest cannot grant him. Hamlet starts to put the pieces together. If laertes hadn't become so dear to me by this part in the play I would think the stage directions re: both he and hamlet jumping into the grave would be a moment of absurd comedy, but in performance it never occurs to me as anything but horrible and sad. Then Hamlet says the thing that makes me want to hate him the rest of the show:

I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
Make up my sum.

No wonder Claudius has to hold Laertes back because i would want to strangle Hamlet for that. or at the least scream: you DICK. if you loved her so much you should have married her. maybe stuck around to look after her once her father died. taken her away with you on your escape. SOMETHING instead of your selfish stupid antics. Unless of course we have a Laertes that really is just a hot head our for revenge, but that choice seems painfully lame to me...

5.2

It is hard to believe with everything that happens in this last scene that it is truly just one scene. (then again, love's labours takes the cake for that...) anyway the scene starts with Hamlet telling Horatio about his journey to england/pirate times. the line that caught me was thsi:

Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting,
That would not let me sleep

insomnia insomnia insomnia.

Hamlet admits to setting R&G up for being killed and that they deserve this for their false friendship. (My classmate, Christine Schmidle did beautiful work talking about German Hamlet/the way the whole pirate times went down in that adaptation/translation, etc. He then redeems himself a bit by saying:

But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
That to Laertes I forgot myself;
For, by the image of my cause, I see
The portraiture of his: I'll court his favours.
But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a towering passion.

Bravo Hamlet. By admitting you were a jerk out of jealousy I am now back on your side... though have not completely forgotten how extreme you were.

Osric comes and provides some much needed comic relief thanks to his flamboyance/ over the top sycophant tendencies.

Osric presents the challenge from Laertes and Hamlet accepts. Horatio tells him not to feel pressured into accepting and Hamlet replies with my favorite speech (did I say another one was? If so I was wrong. this is my favorite. in the whole play.) It's not even necessarily a "speech" it is quite short compared to the soliloquies, but it is... well read for yourself:

Not a whit, we defy augury: there's a special
providence in the fall of a sparrow. 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: since no man has aught of what he
leaves, what is't to leave betimes?

forget the other line i said I wanted inked on my body, if I was getting a tattoo it would read either There's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow or the readiness is all. some people mutter the alcoholics anonymous prayer to help with anxiety- the whole serenity to accept the things i cannot change etc. etc. I mutter that passage. Well, that, and the phrase "what is all this in light of eternity" but I think the two go together, don't you?

After this...everyone dies.

I know that's grossly simplifying but seriously... the body count in this scene... I will always think of my friend meaghan reading this and asking incredulously what's next? is hamlet gunna die? right before he does of course... poor horatio is left to tell the story. if you're lucky. after all he tells the dying Hamlet:

I am more an antique Roman than a Dane:
Here's yet some liquor left.

It is seriously so perfect to read this right after Julius Caesar! anyway, it could be that horatia doesnt listen to his friend, that's a choice. but it seems the much harder choice to go forward without his friend and try to fulfill his dying wish.

Good night sweet prince:
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

and the end of the play answer's Erika's knock knock question posed in act 1: who's there? who's going to rule? Fortinbras. Not a philosopher king but a warrior. 

Go, bid the soldiers shoot.

the end. I mean, unless you've cut fortinbras out of your production... then the end was the rest is silence or O, O O or Horatio's line. 

a final slings and arrows clip:

And now we move onto a comedy. Perhaps my favorite comedy. Much Ado About Nothing. (And we continue on the comedy train after that with As You Like It! Perfect timing on that one since sweet lovers love the spring and that season has certainly sprung here in Phoenix!)

Hamlet Act 4: Crazed Ophelia, Lovely Laertes, and more...

I will forewarn you right now that the formatting in this post will not be stellar as I wrote most of it from my iphone, but you take what time you can during tech week, right? Incidentally, if you'd like to see the show i'm in tech for, its one of my favorite plays and I'm so loving working with this cast/director/production team. The play is Arthur Miller's All My Sons and you can get tickets here:

https://www.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?t=tix&e=e4b539d54e8385285c54c6bab1196b35

 

And now back to the early modern stuff...

 

4.1

A short scene moving forward the action with Gertrude asserting that she thinks Hamlet is crazy town via this awesome image:

Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend
Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit,

and then she tells Claudius that Hamlet killed Polonius. Claudius decides to ask R&G to confront Hamlet and find the body- seriously a dick move on your part Claudius. man, i am SO EMOTIONAL about Hamlet and R&Gs crumbling friendships. anyway, their attempt to do this is the next scene...

4.2

Hamlet is particularly cruel to his old friends who he has now forsaken, calling them a sponge. 

HAMLET

That I can keep your counsel and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! what replication should be made by the son of a king?

ROSENCRANTZ

Take you me for a sponge, my lord?

HAMLET

Ay, sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: he keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed: when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again.

His metaphor is powerful but painful. Then he leaves without telling them where he left polonius so R&G have to go back to the king...

4.3

Hamlet comes with R&G to see Claudius and makes a ton of jokes about death. My favorite being the illustration of death as the great equalizer:

Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.

After a few more jokes, Claudius gets Hamlet to leave for England, only to let the audience know- surprise- he intends for Hamlet to NEVER RETURN. Let England take care of that though...

4.4

Hamlet meets Forrinbras and hearing of war for a piece of land that is essentially economocially useless spurs him to his how all occasions do inform against me soliloquy.

What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed?

I think about this line every freaking day. does someone want to make me/point me in the direction of a piece of artwork that has that line? If i were into tatoos that is one of about a dozen shakespearean lines i'd debate inking on myself...

but moving on:

to my shame, I see

The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? 

The question of war and why so many men die in them comes up over and over again- and it just makes me antsy to get to our long string of histories (double tetralogy times!!! soon.)

4.5

Ophelia's madness scene. 

We start with Gertrude saying she will not speak with her. Yes run away Gertrude. Run away. Some favorite descriptions of Ophelia's madness:

She speaks much of her father, says she hears

There’s tricks i’ th’ world, and hems, and beats her heart, Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily. Horatio is the one who tells the queen she should really talk with Ophelia and warns if the bad things that could happen otherwise. Ophelia comes in with her snatches of songs and amidst the crazy are pieces of perfect wisdom and clarity: Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table! Then there's the St. Valentine's song- perhaps the main argument for scholars who want to talk about Ophelia's virginity or lack thereof, or even her possible pregnancy. (sometimes i look at this song as Ophelia wishing she'd slept with Hamlet but she believed all the stupid nursery rhymes that he'd never marry her if she did... and now look, she has no marriage, no father, and she's going to die a virgin... I'm not saying this is the definitive way to play her. I absolutely love the idea of a desperate/tragic/pregnant ophelia, but I'm saying any of these choices give the person playing Ophelia a lot to work with) I hope all will be well. We must be patient, but I cannot choose but weep to think they would lay him i’ th’ cold ground.  After this, Horatio is sent to follow Ophelia. but she must find a way to escape his watch b/c the stage directions don't mention him the next time she enters... in the meantime, We hear about Laertes: The people wanting Laertes as king is so strange... and shows you what potential political turmoil the state has been in since the beginning of the play, but that movement for overthrow always surprises me. Laertes really has the hardest job in this scene. If he convinces me he's a wonderful caring big brother and cannot bare to see his sister like this, if that is more devastating to him than any calls of king or revenge, then odds are I'm on his side for the rest of the play. This scene makes me cry more than anything else in the play, his reaction to Ophelia's madness: O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye! By heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight I think performance choice wise, its worth it to talk about choices regarding Ophelia's flowers. I've seen them  as Hamlet's love letters, imaginary flowers, actual flowers, weed, or, possibly most disturbingly, strands of Ophelia's hair which she is pulling out (hair down was a good early modern cue of crazyness anyway so having her pulling her hair down/out was SO. PAINFUL to watch and really drove it home in quite a creepy way) again, no "right choice" but all have very different effects on the scene. Again, Laertes still takes the scene for me with his lines like: Thought and afflictions, passion, hell itself, She turns to favor and to prettiness. 4.6 A very short scene. Strange visitors come to horatio and surprise him with news that hamlet wants to see him in person... 4.7 Claudius and Laertes discuss how to take revenge on Hamlet. Claudius explains they have to be sly about Hamlet's death due to Gertrude and the people of the country but its clear his focus is Gertrude: She is so conjunctive to my life and soul, That, as the star moves not but in his sphere, I could not but by her Claudius receives hamlet's letters which propels him I to his sneaky plan to kill hamlet, one apparently inspired by a report of skill from a Norman- Lamord. I love this detail!!  Claudius even throws in the shrewd tactic/total dick move of asking if Laertes loved his father. Laertes says he loved his dad so much he'd kill hamlet in a church. And next to killing in god's house (hmmm  something Hamlet considered too right?) what's killing him in a duel?? And lucky for Claudius Laertes let's us know that I bought an unction of a mountebank, Of course he did. Claudius wants to play the poison game too and says he will poison hamlets cup if it looks like he is doing well in the duel. This plan is interrupted by Gertrude coming in to announce that Ophelia is dead. Anyone have a favorite drowning as Gertrude describes vs suicide vs Gertrude helping out with Ophelia's demise? Again- a plethora of choices an acting ideas and debates for audience members to have for infinite talkbacks to come. Once again Laertes gets the line that steals my heart: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia, And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet It is our trick, Nature her custom holds, Let shame say what it will; when these are gone The scene ends with Claudius being annoyed at the timing of this news... Just as he's calmed Laertes down this news of Ophelia may set him off again. Perspective Claudius. Perspective.  One more act! It's been so wonderful re-reading this play! OH, and your slings and arrows clip for the evening:

Hamlet Act 3: Am I the only one who cries at Rosecrantz and Guildenstern?

3.1

We open with the king and queen questioning R&G about hamlet and his supposed madness. Then they dismiss Gertrude (interesting that she isnt invited to eavesdrop with the boys) and send Ophelia out to catch Hamlet/so they can see if his love of her is the cause of his madness. Hamlet enters with To Be or Not to Be and I'm always curious as to if Ophelia can hear this soliloquy or not (or the other eavesdroppers for that matter...) I have to confess something- I like the rogue and peasant slave AND the too too solid flesh soliloquies more than this one. I know this is the great pinnacle of always quoted shakespeare but.... it doesnt have the same level of impact as those others. NOt that it isn't beautiful, well crafted, etc. and I do continually mull over this phrase: ...And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of? but... :shrugs:

After this comes his confrontation with Ophelia.

HAMLET

Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner
transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the
force of honesty can translate beauty into his
likeness: this was sometime a paradox, but now the
time gives it proof. I did love you once.

OPHELIA

Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.

HAMLET

You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot
so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of
it: I loved you not.

OPHELIA

I was the more deceived.

Its funny, earlier in blogging this play i couldn't shut up about all the things i loved and in this scene I find I love it all so much I don't have a damn thing to say about it but let it speak for itself. I think this is the money scene for Ophelia more than her madness and then there's this little passage:

I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God
has given you one face, and you make yourselves
another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and
nick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonness
your ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath
made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages:
those that are married already, all but one, shall
live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a
nunnery, go.

I'm fairly sure this speech contributed to my general avoidance of makeup. I wish I was joking. I won't even get into how I thought of becoming a nun... at least not until we get to Measure for Measure.. The does he or does he not know people are listening to him question doesnt really interest me in the theoretical at the moment. I like seeing the choices various productions make, but even then i'm not sure an audience can tell vs. what they want to believe about this choice (kind of like the did he or didnt he sleep with ophelia question...) I have the similar issue with Ophelia's speech as I had with this scene in general: I love it. I want to memorize it. I will probably never get to play ophelia but you know what? I will probably never get to play Hamlet. that doesnt mean I don't get those wonderful wonderful words as my own.

3.2

This scene opens with Hamlet's instructions to the players. AKA a vocal warm up/speech almost every actor I know has worked on at some point. Still, I have yet to tire of it and we could all do with the reminders (plus, the phrase it out-Herods Herod is SO WONDERFUL!)

But my favorite part of this scene comes later, when Hamlet talks to Horatio:

Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice

And could of men distinguish, her election
Hath seal'd thee for herself; for thou hast been
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing,
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Hast ta'en with equal thanks: and blest are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled,
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him

In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,

Wow. Gorgeous. My soul elected you. This passage also happens to be one of my brother Taylor's favorite parts of the play, so I can't read it without thinking of him...

We move on to the play, and we have another Caesar throwback:

LORD POLONIUS

I did enact Julius Caesar: I was killed i' the
Capitol; Brutus killed me.

Way to go Polonius. (so good if you have a rep company and can really herald back to those parts. especially if hamlet is the brutus to Polonius' caesar)

Dirty jokes ensue between Hamlet and Ophelia. Poor girl. Nothing like having your love say he doesn't love you and rage at you only to have him try and awkwardly hit on you/sit next to you for a play. I always have a hard time wondering how ophelia doesnt just kick hamlet in the junk... then i remember how stupid love makes you. Don't worry, we'll get to that with As You Like It soon...

Let's play a game called we love it in Shakespeare messes with time (intentionally or not?)

HAMLET

O God, your only jig-maker. What should a man do
but be merry? for, look you, how cheerfully my
mother looks, and my father died within these two hours.

OPHELIA

Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord.

Moving on... I love that there is a dumb show as part of the performance. and the ways actors have to play through the dumb show and still not "figure out" what they are watching until the words are added. Then there's this soul crushing moment:

OPHELIA

'Tis brief, my lord.

HAMLET

As woman's love.

The commentary in the play is a common trope- any time i read/see this section now I think of Paul Woodruff and his presentation at the Blackfriars conference on how unpleasant it would be for an actor if our audience was made up of people like Claudius, who want to interrupt the performance and freak out just because they can relate (I am butchering his actual argument to make it more extreme, but if you haven't read it go check out the necessity of theatre.)

Hamlet's play upon a pipe speech comes shortly thereafter and this falling apart of friendship breaks me. It's a rather funny comparison on its own and quite witty but in context i just want to cry. For all of them.

HAMLET

'Tis as easy as lying: govern these ventages with
your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your
mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music.
Look you, these are the stops.

GUILDENSTERN

But these cannot I command to any utterance of
harmony; I have not the skill.

HAMLET

Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of
me! You would play upon me; you would seem to know
my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my
mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to
the top of my compass: and there is much music,
excellent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot
you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am
easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what
instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you
cannot play upon me.

Then polonius comes and he and hamlet play a game very much like the one Petruchio makes Kate play with him. I see this no just kidding its that only Polonius gets called out for being a fool and a sycophant for playing along (or maybe thats the shrew bitterness coming back)

And then Hamlet leaves to go see his dear sweet mother... I will speak daggers to her. yes.

3.3

R&G get sent to England. to inspire tom stoppard.

polonius goes to gertrude.

Claudius looks like his praying but is really admitting his guilt, just as hamlet thinks he might kill him but doesnt because it looks like he's praying. I have nothing to say about this scene aside from some people get annoyed with hamlet here but I think the delay is brilliant, and I think it is so twisted and wonderful that claudius admits his guilt/even more brilliant if we were willing to doubt the ghost until then.

3.4

Yes, I rushed through the last scene to get here. 

has anyone ever wondered why Polonius needs to spy on this conversation? Do they not trust the queen to tell the truth? do you think she's too dumb to sort the conversation by herself? Do they get that crazy hamlet may be violent and want someone there for protection? (if so WHY would you choose Polonius for that job?) and if that last one's the case we have females as bate part 2. 

I always find it shocking that Gertrude refers to Claudius as Hamlet's father. It goes a long way toward making me excited about the daggers Hamlet promised to speak. And he skewers her with harsh renderings of the truth, much better than madness don't you think? And so early in the conversation Gertrude becomes afraid, screams for help, and Polonius doesn't get out of the curtain and come to her aid but just calls for help from behind it... to his own demise. At least we know hamlet thought he was the king? But vengeance never seems to come without collateral damage coming back to bite you in the ass.

Hamlet lets polonius lie there while he goes back to his mother who he wants to also ignore the corpse and listen to what he's saying (I'm working on all my sons and this moment reminds me of a line in that play- "Don't cry. listen.")

As Hamlet confronts Gertrude this line stuck out to me: makes marriage-vows As false as dicers' oaths: wow. having a whole new respect and solemnity for marriage vows that line rings more painful to me than it ever has before. From there we get into the cruder sexualized accusations about hamlet's uncle vs. his father. You can freud me all you want but I don't think being uncomfortable thinking about your mom sleeping with your uncle means you wish it was you... though in the comedy version of Hamlet that I imagine in my head sometimes, if any of this mother son awkward sexual tension plays out then the ghost visitation walks in in the middle of it and that's his reason to uncomfortably call hamlet back to his purpose. I should really just write a series of these alternative world hamlet scenes instead of waiting for someone else to do it...

The rejecting the freudian Oedipal complex theory in this scene does not mean I'm pro Hamlet's obsessive control of his mother's sexuality, but I love the changes on a dime throughout this scene and the switch from that to discussing hamlet's departure to england is so strange and perfect. Oh well, Guess I should go since now I've killed a man... like you do. off to england. 

There's letters seal'd: and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard: and 't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
This man shall set me packing:
I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room.
Mother, good night. Indeed this counsellor
Is now most still, most secret and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.
Good night, mother.

I think one of my favorite things about Hamlet, both the play and the character, is the  continual making light of death while legitimately considering mortality... I envy him for that ability. I need more macabre humor in my life because my issues with mortality have at least quadrupled since I got married/started having a lot in life I'd hate to lose.

 Also... another shout out to John Harrel's Hamlet... I will never stop wanting the "good night, mother" to be an added, casual line after hamlet has dragged polonius out of the room...

and that's act 3.

at hyper speed.

And here's your dose of Slings & Arrows:

Hamlet Act 2: ode to direct address, sassy gay friends, and much more gushing...

Fair warning: This act has only two scenes, but 2.2 is a monster. 

2.1

Going along with the similarities between the Countess and Polonius I mentioned last blog post... I love that both of those characters have a servant named Reynaldo (some texts spell it Rinaldo) OF course, unlike the Countess, Polonius does not have an in at the French court to let him in on how Laertes is doing, so needs to inquire about many more particulars. However, I can't imagine the Countess ever trying to stain her sons name to see if others will contradict it. 

 and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
As may dishonour him; take heed of that;
But, sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips
As are companions noted and most known

To youth and liberty.

WHY does this CONTINUALLY happen as a plot point in Shakespeare? Obviously it does not really come to anything in this play but in what world is the most likely way to get at the truth starting with negative things about someone to see if they are good? This drives me nuts. However, Polonius at least seems constant with his concern for sexual purity as that is off the table for scandals Reynaldo can talk about.

SIDE NOTE:

I'd like to take this bit of text and talk about the genius of audience contact and a particularly wonderful moment of this at play when the ASC did it in their Resident troupe Fall 2011:

LORD POLONIUS

Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assured
He closes with you in this consequence;
'Good sir,' or so, or 'friend,' or 'gentleman,'
According to the phrase or the addition
Of man and country.

REYNALDO

Very good, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS

And then, sir, does he this--he does--what was I
about to say? By the mass, I was about to say
something: where did I leave?

REYNALDO

At 'closes in the consequence,' at 'friend or so,'
and 'gentleman.'

LORD POLONIUS

At 'closes in the consequence,' ay, marry;

When Ben Curns played Polonius, He did not deliver his questions about where he left off/what he was about to say to Reynaldo, but to a person sitting on stage. Every time I watched this it never ceased to be amazing. Either the audience member would get very flustered or amused that they were being talked to in the first place, or they would be caught having not paid any attention to what Polonius was saying and Reynaldo would rescue them, or my personal favorite, one time the guy answered with Polonius' line and Polonius got to repeat it as a thank you. All of these were just brilliant in the moment pieces of joy.(And a much needed piece of joy before Ophelia's entrance!)

OK, end of side note and moving on to Ophelia... who enters with much ado about how frightened she has been by Hamlet. In one of her biggest pieces of dialogue she describes the scare that Hamlet gave her with his actions that seem a little crazy, a little violent, and a lot depressed/concerning. What is Polonius' response?  I will go seek the king.  but after his national duty, he seems to return to being a father and apologizes more than once to Ophelia, even admits that he was wrong when he said Hamlet just wanted her for sex and that now that he's desperate and fierce it must be true love. Does this concern anyone else? Anyway, the scene concludes with Polonius deciding to go back to the King and come up with a plan regarding Hamlet and Ophelia. The textbook solution to any problem, right? What could possibly go wrong?

2.2

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern- I'm so interested to think of this play pre-Tom Stoppards R&G are dead, because I think, even though I hadn't read it all the way through, I was influenced by stoppard before coming to the Shakespeare. And even if that's not the case with a lot of actors, it is certainly another heavy piece of cultural luggage that comes with this play. For those of you who don't know, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Hamlet's friends that the King has called to help him get to the bottom of Hamlets melancholy and assumed crazyness. This seems like a pretty solid plan. I know when I'm on the edge of some crazy stress Dan knows to call some of my friends from the various schools I've attended. But its interesting that the King summons the goofy friends instead of using the one clearly trustworthy and accountable and ALREADY THERE Horatio, right? It seems the King has a vested interest in controlling his informers. Side note- Has anyone written a play of Hamlet with his therapist yet? because that could be amazing. But back to R&G... Gertrude tells them: And sure I am two men there are not living/ To whom he more adheres. again- why does no one seem to acknowledge that Hamlet and Horatio are besties?! Is their friendship more secret than I realize? Or are they willfully ignorant? Anyway, R&G get sent on their merry way and in comes Polonius to report what we already know from the last scene. Except he doesnt start with the personal. He starts with the political and the arrivals of ambassadors before moving to Hamlet and Ophelia. The more I read this play the more I wonder if the heart of Polonius is his line: I hold my duty, as I hold my soul, Its all very kingdom before kin and whatnot. and it makes it a tad easier for me to forgive him for using his own daughter as political bait so to speak. This plan is not conveyed until the ambassadors come in (why there are two when only one speaks I have no idea) and we find out that for the moment Fortinbras seems to have an enemy that had nothing to do with Denmark- clearly Poland is the easier target. Poor Poland. The ambassador is dismissed because the King seems to be more concerned with hamlet and tells them he will answer their news later.

Polonius takes his time explaining what he thinks is the problem with Hamlet, indeed he takes so long that Gertrude replies: more matter with less art. A perfect teaching moment that sometimes the characters in Shakespeare are PURPOSELY written to have complicated syntax/should not easily be understood and that the characters in the play share a student's frustration with this. OF course, the art she refers to is a playland of rhetoric. (Its funny, I thought I'd dread studying rhetoric and now I want to take and teach entire courses about it!)

Polonius stops trying to describe Hamlet and just starts reading a letter he wrote to Ophelia. the &c mark makes me crazy with wondering what else that letter may have said that we dont have in the playbook (Thank you Tiffany Stern for your work on letters and changing the way I think about them...)

According to Matt Kozusko Hamlet is a shitty poet. Here's the poem he writes to Ophelia, let me know if you agree 

'Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
'O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers;
I have not art to reckon my groans: but that
I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu.
'Thine evermore most dear lady, whilst
this machine is to him, HAMLET.'

(I tend to agree with this poem being a bit painful- I mean "O most best"?! yikes. and every time I see the first four lines quoted on pinterest I just want to tell everyone YOU KNOW THAT LOVE DOESN'T END WELL RIGHT?!- but going back to the question of Hamlet being a shitty poet, is it fair to judge a man on one piece of writing? I mean, I don't judge shakespeare based on Shrew...)

Polonius is very concerned with letting the King and Queen know that he had no intention of encouraging his daughter to be a princess and that he is a faithful servant. But it turns out that keeping Ophelia away from Hamlet caused this to happen:

Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,
Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension,
Into the madness wherein now he raves,
And all we mourn for.

Yes, this is exactly the kind of man I'd want with my daughter. This has red flags and unhealthy relationship ALL OVER IT. If only they'd had A SASSY GAY FRIEND to help everyone involved (I'm not just talking about Ophelia. Gertrude needed a sassy gay friend like WHOAH.- see end of this post for some sassy gay friend delightfulness.)

Polonius is convinced Hamlet's whole trouble is that he is love sick and says to kill him if he's wrong. (oh... Polonius... you know not what you say...) So then Polonius hatches his plan to use Ophelia as bate for Hamlet and they can all spy on the interaction. I'm not exaggerating with the bate thing, he literally says:  I'll loose my daughter to him- like she's a caged animal. They break off their planning because Hamlet is coming and Polonius, thinking he knows the answer to all Hamlet's problem and eager to prove it, sends the King and Queen away to talk with him. (This interaction and when it comes based on the varying order from folio to quarto is particularly poignant. in the quarto the Polonius/Hamlet exchange comes AFTER the get thee to a nunnery scene. that's just... a huge difference, no? man, textual choices are wonderful things. maybe that's why so many people like conflated texts?) Anyway, Hamlet enters reading and he and Polonius talk about a lot of disturbing conception imagery before this famous exchange:

Or, if you saw the ASC production, John Harrel's cheeky adaptation: Word, sword, swords (ah, same letters, same order, totally different meaning. #brilliant #verbalslippage #imissgradschool) Again there is so much I want to talk about. more pregnancy/conception stuff. matter in madness. repetition and the actor choices there. This play just gets more wonderful each time I re-read. 

This exchange is ended with the entrance of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern who come joking about how they are happy because they are not the top of society (kind of insensitive considering Hamlet's troubles come from this whole kingship dilemma, right? but what's insensitivity when there's a sex joke coming about being in fortune's middle.) Hamlet calls fortune a strumpet, not surprising considering he seems to hate women and all things personified as women at the moment. But aside from the woman hate, that line reminds me of LOST when Ben Linus says that destiny is a fickle bitch. Fact.

Hamlet talks of Denmark being a prison and when his friends disagree he shoots them down with the philosophy:  there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so (there's something that echoes back to Macbeth in that and how things cannot be good cannot be ill... and how he chooses what to make them) this philosophy simultaneously terrifies and reassures me. I can't break it down for you more than that but I could read it over and over again and not be sure which feeling on the thought wins. Maybe someday I will look back at this blog and have a more firm opinion. Any thoughts from you, o readers? I DO however know how I feel about Hamlet's next sentiment:

O God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count
myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I
have bad dreams.

AMEN, sir. A to the freaking MEN. (also, the sleep troubles come up again. At least I know while I fight insomnia that I'm in good company.)

This next part of the scene breaks my heart. It seems that Hamlet is about to speak some truth to his friends when he realizes that perhaps they are not there simply out of friendship. And then he seems to know they are not. And they lie to his face and betray him. There are few things worse than "friends" stabbing you in the back and watching a Hamlet who is not crazy but completely aware of what is happening just makes me crumble in the midst of this seemingly lighthearted scene. (I think I need to memroize all of Hamlet's big speeches because I love them .: . I have of late--but wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, (etc. etc.) ... And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? I am so glad I'm reading this play during Lent. What better prayer can you get?!)

The conversation then moves to the players coming to town. There's some lovely competitive mocking of the boys companies (oh those little eyases). Polonius then comes to announce these same players and goes off on a fantastic mocking of genre

The best actors in the world, either for tragedy,
comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical,
historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-
comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or
poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor
Plautus too light.

(Dan and I quote this all the time. we love it. and we add in about a dozen more. and then people stare at us strangely and we are glad we married each other because surely there are few people int he world who get such a kick out of this activity...)

There's a disturbing allusion to Jepthah (a man in the old testament who sacrificed his daughter to win a battle. politics over family Polonius... but Polonius just thinks hamlet is cray cray so he doesn't get it...) Then Hamlet turns his attention to the players and asks him to recite the fall of troy, a speech that plays a major role in Dido Queen of Carthage and is indeed as stunning as we get a taste of in this play in all its full length glory (or it is when you have exceptional actors performing it!)

Polonius, of all characters, interrupts to say that this speech is too long (and it is an epic monologue but "too long" is certainly a matter of opinion. it reminds me of Mozart being told his music has too many notes in the play Amadeus.) Polonius seems to start enjoying the speech after this but gets weirded out that the player is actually feeling things and has tears in his eyes.

Hamlet asks Polonius to tend to the players and this wonderful exchange occors:

LORD POLONIUS

My lord, I will use them according to their desert.

HAMLET

God's bodkin, man, much better: use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping?

(Another perfect moment for the lenten season. Why on earth would they close the theatres during this time?! It seems we need to remember our humanity most during such a time of self reflection. But I think a lot of people still just think of theatre as a silly extravagance so I guess I'm the odd one out.) After Polonius leaves Hamlet asks the players if they can do the Murder of Gonzago. My colleague, Tony, has written an excellent blog post on this moment which you can find here. 

That being done, the scene/act ends with another soliloquy. Now I am alone (you know, aside from all those audience members. brilliant.) others may now this as the rogue and peasant slave monologue. This might be my favorite soliloquy, although I love them all clearly, but this one I love for the pure vain reason of the focus on actors/the theatre/ our emotional relationship to each other and the suffering of humanity in general.

What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her?

as an actor sitting in the audience, I always have the urge to answer back "She's everything! mother brother sister tybalt romeo ophelia ourselves! we weep for ourselves and for everyone we love who has lost!" I'm fairly sure there are poets and philosophers who have put such feelings in much better terms than that, and I'm sorry I didnt look them up for you. There's of course also the "meta" situation of Hamlet being played by an actor etc etc. 

Then we have another beautiful moment for direct address: Am I a coward? This moment is theatrical gold. and after the string of questions we get a single syllable short line of: Ha! (not the only magnificent short line in this speech)

Then there's this little troublesome gem:

Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,

On the one hand: yes! exactly. all the big things that can't seem to fit neatly into words. on the other: one of my favorite cartoons shows one character saying "I love you more than words can describe" and the other character saying "but... isn't that's what words are for?" as someone who believes that words are powerful and important. does trying to use words and claim our voice make us all whores? maybe?

Then Hamlet moves into his "mousetrap" play within a play plan- I have to say that I used to think his claim about guilty parties confessing at plays was crazy. in what world does this happen?! But the more i go watch theatre and see direct address the more i realize how often this seems to happen. (at the very least via body language reactions, but I went to see Dan in a production of August Osage County, and when they were describing how the character with a pill addiction got so many pills someone 2 rows ahead of me said OUT LOUD "that's exactly how you do it" and i dont even think they realized they'd said it.)

And that's Act II. Until next time... here's that video I promised. Spoiler alert... but odds are you've already read the play or heard the cultural allusions anyway...