The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 19.0047 Saturday, 26 January 2008
From: Larry Weiss <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 24 Jan 2008 00:16:35 -0500
Subject: 19.0041 Soliloquies - Truth or Lie...or Overheard
Comment: Re: SHK 19.0041 Soliloquies - Truth or Lie...or Overheard
Scott Shepard is to be congratulated for pointing out
>What matters is the action, and this *is* emphasized
>in the text, by the redundant "There, my lord." A
>rhymed couplet has signaled the end of Ophelia's
>speech; it is Hamlet's turn to say something or at least
>take the gifts, but he doesn't. That "There, my lord" is
>not even a fragment of a pentameter, when Ophelia
>has been perfectly iambic since the beginning of the
>scene, is further evidence that there is some sort of
>awkwardness here. Apparently, Hamlet just stands
>there like a neutral to his will and matter, and she
>has to press the gifts into his hand.
Exactly! I haven't bothered you with this before, but I regard that
little tag as further evidence for my reading. The unmetrical half line
tag provides a few needed beats for the actor playing Hamlet to register
recognition and alert the audience to the significance of Ophelia's
slip. It is something akin to the cinematic closeup on an actor's face
when he realizes something he missed before.
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