The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 19.0528 Friday, 5 September 2008
From: Ina Centaur <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wednesday, 3 Sep 2008 23:51:27 -0700
Subject: Hamlet I.i.1 - An Emphasis on Character
The reversal of who asks "who's there?" in the first line of Hamlet has often
been taken to foreshadow that there's something amiss in the state of Denmark,
but I've interpreted and staged this "reversal" as insights on minor characters
that, through the nuances of good acting, could be transformed into a dynamic
backstory.
I've interpreted Barnardo as a Danish guard of rank higher than Francisco. The
way they address each other seems to support this, with Francisco addressing
Barnardo as "you" at all times, and Barnardo addressing Francisco as "thee"
until a certain point-where he could be seen to lend Francisco respect. I've
also interpreted Barnardo as brawny and eager to show off his ghost to
scholars-but, perhaps, only when surrounded by friends and the light... say when
he's about to tell a story of "last night... when yond same star...", and not if
he were alone taking Francisco's solo shift. Thus, Barnardo opens the scene with
fear and anticipation in his voice demanding, "Who's there?" He'd heard the
creak of a proverbial wooden plank-perhaps as Francisco marched around while on
duty-but which, in his fear of things spiritual, he took to be the ghost he'd
summoned Horatio and Marcellus for. After Francisco admits that he's been out
there alone in the cold (indeed, for a playwright who's capable of extravagance
in stage directions like "enter the whole army", isn't it curious that Francisco
is the only guard on duty for Elsinore Castle?), and he's "sick at heart,"
Barnardo addresses this poor young recruit with greater respect (could he be
sick at seeing a ghost?), as he asks the question, in different words, but with
fear again, "Have you had quiet guard?" Francisco, who detects and mocks
Barnardo's fear, replies condescendingly, "Not a mouse stirring." Barnardo
regains his composure, but still lends Francisco the respect of an equal,
addressing him as "you," again, but seeming desperate for company to avoid the
lone watch, in wishing Marcellus and Horatio to make haste (of course, it could
be because he wouldn't want them to miss the ghost). Francisco cuts him some
slack and tells him (and verifies, in proper guardly way) that they're here now
before exiting.
The dynamics of the rest of the scene seem to have Marcellus as the commanding
one who drives Horatio to do things (to speak to it, to question it, to stop
striking at it [well, this would be to himself, since he offered to strike at it
with his partisan] since it's gone), and also the one whose yes gets the trio to
tell Hamlet, and Barnardo the one who seems to want vindication/credit of the
ghost's appearance ("And let us once again assail your ears / That are so
fortified against our story...", "Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio",
"See, it stalks away!" [CGI doesn't exist yet, so it must be the real thing!],
and who seems to gloat when Horatio catches fright, "How now, Horatio! You
tremble and look pale / Is not this something more than fantasy? What think you
on't, [now!]?"
Comments appreciated.:-)
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