hamlet: Act 4 scene 5
Unit Three Hamlet Literary Essay
Time has a large effect on the roles of writers, directors and playwrights. As time passes, each must change their approach to a piece in order to ensure that it is current and relatable for their respective audiences. Like actors, they must play to the people watching. Act IV, Scene V of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is, in comparison to the film version by Kenneth Branagh, widely open to interpretation. In part, this is due to its varying target audiences.
In the Elizabethan era, audiences easily understood the importance of the flower references in Act IV, Scene V and how they helped with the understanding the scene. In contrast, modern day society uses different costumes and sets to help with the understanding of the scene as well as through a strong female actress such as Kate Winslet. Both the play and the movie choose to different methods to depict the madness that came upon Ophelia.
Ophelia’s plead for insanity is a key factor in act IV scene V. When Ophelia enters the scene, she is using speech patterns similar to that of someone who is drunk. She is also not paying too much attention as to what she’s actually saying and sings songs that made no sense. Ophelia then proceeds to hand out flowers to the King, Queen and her brother Laertes. For Ophelia, each of the flowers represents different things. “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. / Pray you love remember. And there’s pansies, that’s / for thoughts” (IV.v.174-176). It has been said that loss of innocence, resulting in experience, can lead to the destruction of a person. Both the film and the play use loss of innocence to help foreshadow Ophelia’s death.
There’s fennel for you, and columbines. / There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me. We may / call it herb of grace o’ Sundays. O, you must wear your / rue with a difference. There’s a daisy. I would give you / some violets, but they withered all when my father died. (IV.v.179-183)
According to
Time has a large effect on the roles of writers, directors and playwrights. As time passes, each must change their approach to a piece in order to ensure that it is current and relatable for their respective audiences. Like actors, they must play to the people watching. Act IV, Scene V of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is, in comparison to the film version by Kenneth Branagh, widely open to interpretation. In part, this is due to its varying target audiences.
In the Elizabethan era, audiences easily understood the importance of the flower references in Act IV, Scene V and how they helped with the understanding the scene. In contrast, modern day society uses different costumes and sets to help with the understanding of the scene as well as through a strong female actress such as Kate Winslet. Both the play and the movie choose to different methods to depict the madness that came upon Ophelia.
Ophelia’s plead for insanity is a key factor in act IV scene V. When Ophelia enters the scene, she is using speech patterns similar to that of someone who is drunk. She is also not paying too much attention as to what she’s actually saying and sings songs that made no sense. Ophelia then proceeds to hand out flowers to the King, Queen and her brother Laertes. For Ophelia, each of the flowers represents different things. “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. / Pray you love remember. And there’s pansies, that’s / for thoughts” (IV.v.174-176). It has been said that loss of innocence, resulting in experience, can lead to the destruction of a person. Both the film and the play use loss of innocence to help foreshadow Ophelia’s death.
There’s fennel for you, and columbines. / There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me. We may / call it herb of grace o’ Sundays. O, you must wear your / rue with a difference. There’s a daisy. I would give you / some violets, but they withered all when my father died. (IV.v.179-183)
According to
Cited: Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. John Crowther. USA: Spark publishing. 2003