Madness In Hamlet By Shakespeare

Hamlet is a five act tragedy written by Shakespeare around the year of 1600. It’s a story about Prince Hamlet living through his father’s death only to discover through his father’s ghost that he was murdered by his own brother. Uncle Claudius, the murderous brother, becomes King Claudius when he marries the widowed Queen Gertrude. As the story progresses and Hamlet seeks revenge, he decides to feign madness in order to buy himself time. King Claudius becomes suspicious and sends his people to spy on him and see what the cause of his behavior is and it is hypothesized that his madness is because of his love for Ophelia, the daughter of Lord Chamberlain. After a test of Claudius guilt turning out to be right and Hamlet missing the most opportune moment to kill the king, everything starts to go downhill. He accidentally kills Lord Chamberlain and Claudius banishes him to England with two men as escorts with orders to kill him once they arrive. While they’re going through their journey, Ophelia drowns herself in grief of her …show more content…
Instead of performing it traditionally as Shakespeare intended, the Royal Shakespeare Company chose to perform it in a more modern manner. This choice helped make it more relatable to the viewers and frankly more understandable. The sets and costumes were beautifully modified to fit the vision the director had for this production. It still had the regal feel that Shakespeare intended, but the modern aspects definitely stood out when Hamlet walked around with a ratty old shirt on or when Ophelia was just wearing a light sundress, or more obviously, when some scenes were shot through the lens of a surveillance camera. However, despite the obvious attempts to modernize the show, it was a difficult feat because the dialogue itself ages the show. But that’s where the acting comes into play and creates the bridges between old English and