Play: Hamlet
Author: Shakespeare
Text used: Q1
Key:
Library ref:
enter from within
exit inwards
act/sc door
IN
1
Entering
characters
2 Centinels
Horatio
Marcellus
1st Cent.
Ghost
Ghost
Ghost
Ghost
Marcellus
2nd Cent
Horatio
2
King
Queene
Corambis
Leartes
2 Ambassadors
(Voltemand
Cornelius)
Attendants
Hamlet
Voltemand
Cornelius
King
Queene
Corambis
Leartes
Attendants
Horatio
Marcellus
Horatio
Marcellus
door
OU
T
enter from without
Exit outwards
Space-time indication
Commentary
and notes
1. Stand: who is that?
As for Q2.
2. Tis I.
1. O you come most carefully upon your
watch. (B)
1. See who goes there.
They too, come out from further
within the castle.
No exit marked but first sentinel
disappears from dialogue.
MAR. Breake off your talke, see where Entry from an unlocalised outwards
it comes againe.
place.
2. In the same figure like the King that’s
dead.
BARN. See, it stalkes away. (Bv)
Ghost exits whence he came...
HOR. But loe, behold, see where it
...and re-enters from outwards
comes againe
again.
MAR. ’Tis gone...
Ghost exits outwards again, amidst
BARN. It was about to speak when the
the portentous crowing of the cock.
Cocke crew.
HOR. Breake we our watch up, and by
They exit inside the castle with
my advise, Let us impart what wee
their intention to notify Hamlet
have seen tonight Unto young
about the ghost.
Hamlet.
MARKED congestion at inwards
door minimised by flourish.
Traditional court scene: entry from
inwards. Hamlet, as malcontent,
possibly enters from outwards to
emphasise his disenchantment and
disillusionment with and
displacement from the King and the
business of the court. Later in this
scene is evidence of split-staging,
with Hamlet performing several
asides; further indicating the
possibility that he enters from the
opposite door.
KING. And Wee heere dispatch Yong
Exit outwards to Norway.
good Cornelia, and you, Voltemar,
For bearers of these greetings to old
Norway...
KING. And there’s no health the King
Exit inwards, leaving Hamlet
shall drinke to day, But the great
onstage.
Canon to the clowdes shall tell The
rowse...
HOR. Health to your Lordship!
HAM. So fare you well, Upon the
platforme ’twixt eleven and twelve
I’ll visit you.
They arrive from outwards with
news for Hamlet.
They exit outwards, having
arranged with Hamlet to meet him
later that night.
2
Hamlet
3
Leartes
Ofelia
Corambis
4
Leartes
Corambis
Ofelia
Hamlet
Horatio
Marcellus
Ghost
Ghost
Hamlet
5
6
7
Horatio
Marcellus
Ghost
Hamlet
HAM. Would the night were come, Till
then, sit still my soule.
Enter Leartes and Ofelia.
LEA. My necessaries are inbarkt, I must
aboord.
LEA. Here comes my father, occasion
smiles upon a second leave.
LEA. Farewel.
COR. Come in Ofelia
HAM. The ayre bites shrewd; it is an
eager and An nipping winde, what
houre is’t?
HOR. I think it lacks of twelve.
HOR. Looke my Lord, it comes.
HOR. What if it tempt you toward the
flood my Lord...
HAM. Unhand me, gentlemen...By
heaven ile make a ghost of him that
lets me, Away I say, go on, ile follow
thee.
MAR. Let s follow, tis not fit thus to
obey him.
HAM. Ile go no farther, whither wilt
thou leade me?
Ghost
GHOST. Hamlet Adue, adue, adue:
remember me.
Horatio
Marcellus
MAR. Lord Hamlet!
Hamlet
Horatio
Marcellus
Corambis
Montano
HAM. Nay, come lett’s go
together...Nay, come lett’s go
together.
COR. Montano, here, these letters to my
sonne, And this same mony with my
blessing to him, And bid him ply his
learning good Montano.
Montano
COR. Wel, fare you well, commend
mee to him.
Ofelia
OFEL. O yong Prince Hamlet...He is
bereft of all the wealth he had...Hee
found me walking in the gallery all
alone.
COR. Lets to the King.
Ofelia
Corambis
King
Queen
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Attendants
KING. Right noble friends.
He too exits outwards
Entry from inwards; preparing to
farewell Leartes on his journey to
France.
Enters from inwards, sea/ ocean
being outwards.
Exits outwards.
Return inwards away from the
direction of the ship.
They are already on the
battlements, unlocalised outwards
place.
Ghost enters from outwards, as
previously.
Hamlet exits outwards after the
ghost, ordering his friends to let
him go.
Against Hamlet’s wishes, his
friends follow.
CAROUSEL move conveys timelapse and slight modification of
location as the Ghost has been
leading Hamlet around Elsinore
castle. Both characters have done a
backstage cross.
Exits outwards, whence he came.
Later stage direction of ‘the Gost
under the stage’, so ghost could exit
either down the trapdoor or access
the understage via the tiring house
in the fifty lines available to him.
CAROUSEL move; having
followed the Ghost and Hamlet
around the castle, also having done
a backstage cross, they too, enter
from inwards.
They exit inwards.
MARKED congestion at inwards
door, rhyming couplet concludes
end of ghost sequence. Time lapse.
Entry mid-conversation, domestic
scene.
Reynaldo sent off outwards to Paris
to spy on Leartes on behalf of
Corambis.
Comes out from further inside the
castle, presumably directly from
having seen Hamlet in the gallery.
They exit outwards to see King.
Court scene in the castle, flourish,
entry from inwards.
3
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Attendants
Corambis
Ofelia
Voltemand
Cornelius
Voltemand
Cornelius
Hamlet
Queen
Corambis
King
Hamlet
Ofelia
Corambis
King
King
Hamlet
Gilderstone
Rossencraft
Corambis
Corambis
GUIL. What we may do for both your
Maiesties To know the griefe troubles
the Prince your sonne, We will
indevour all the best we may So in all
duteie doe we take our leave.
Enter Corambis and Ofelia.
COR. My lord, the Ambassadors are
joyfully Return’d from Norway.
KING. Now Voltemar, what from our
brother Norway?
KING. Go to your rest; at night weele
feast togither.
Attendants take R and G off to find
Hamlet.
Arrives from outwards, having been
at his house. On second thoughts,
has he come directly from his house
or has he been at the court for some
time? I believe the latter, that there
has been a time lapse, since the
King is already aware within a few
lines of Corambis’ entrance that
Hamlet has been behaving
questionably. (see lines 51-55
below)
They enter from outwards.
Ambassadors exit inwards to rest,
presumably in the living/sleeping
quarters of the castle.
KING. See where hee comes poring
Hamlet, still alienated from the rest
uppon a booke.
of the court and rumoured to be
Enter Hamlet .
mad, enters from outwards, walking
into the plan devised by Corambis
to spy on him with Ofelia. Whether
or not Hamlet overhears part of this
discussion about him has
implications for the interpretation
of all his subsequent behaviour.
COR. Madame, will it please your grace Exit inwards, whence they came.
To leave us here?
QUEEN. With all my heart.
COR. And here Ofelia, reade you on
this booke, And walke aloofe, the
King shal be unseene.
HAM. To a Nunnery goe.
OF. Great God of heaven, what a quike
change is this? The Courtier, Scholler,
Souldier, all in him, All dasht and
splinterd thence, O woe is me, To a
seene what I have seen, see what I
see.
KING. Love? No, no, that’s not the
cause, Some deeper thing it is that
troubles him.
COR. Send you those Gentlemen, let me
alone To find the depth of this, away,
be gone.
COR. Now my good Lord, do you know
me?
HAM. Yea, very well, y’are a
fishmonger.
COR. You seeke Prince Hamlet, see,
there he is.
The Trumpets sound, Enter Corambis.
HAM. Do you see yonder great baby?
He is not yet out of his swadling
clowts.
Returns inwards.
They emerge from behind the arras
as Ofelia exits inwards.
King sent outwards to find
Rossencraft and Gilderstone...
....almost immediately after the
King has exited, Hamlet returns
from outwards.
Mid-scene crossover at inwards
door: as Corambis walks upstage he
passes Gilderstone and Rossencraft
entering, directing them to Hamlet
who is presumably downstage.
Corambis returns, Hamlet ridiculing
him to Rossencraft and Gilderstone
4
Players
Corambis
Players
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Hamlet
8
9
King
Queen
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Corambis
King
Queen
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Corambis
Hamlet
Players
GIL. That may be, for they say an olde
man Is twice a childe.
HAM. Welcome maisters, welcome all.
HAM. Will you see the Players well
bestowed...
COR. My lord, I will use them
according to their deserts...
Welcome my good fellowes.
HAM. T’is well, I thanke you: follow
that lord...Gentlemen, for your
kindnes I thanke you, And for a time I
would desire you leave me.
HAM. My giood friends, Ile leaue you
tell night, you are welcome to
Elsonoure.
.ROS. Good my Lord.
COR. Mary my good lord this, soone
when the sports are done, Madam,
send you in haste to speake with him,
And I my selfe will stand behind the
Arras, There quest on you the cause
of all his griefe...
QUEEN. With all my heart, soone I will
send for him.
HAM. Pronounce me this speech
trippingly a the tongue as I taught
thee, Mary and you mouth it, as a
many of your players do.
Return inwards, having plotted that
Corambis will eavesdrop on
mother and son following the
performance of the play.
King
Queen
Corambis
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
P. King
P. Queene
Enter King, Queene, Corambis, and
other Lords.
KING. How now son Hamlet, how fare
you, shall we have a play?
P. Queene
P. Queene
...as presumably do Rossencraft and
Gilderstone...
....leaving Hamlet onstage for
another soliloquy, after which, with
heightened resolve, he exits
outwards to prepare for the play.
Court scene, entry from inwards.
HAM. Well, goe make you ready.
exeunt players.
HOR. Heere my Lord.
Lucianus
They follow Corambis inwards as
requested by Hamlet...
HAM. I so God buy to you, now I am
alone...
HAM. The play’s the thing, Wherein
I’le catch the conscience of the King.
Enter the King, Queene, and Lordes.
KING. Lordes, can you by no means
finde The cause of our sonne Hamlets
lunacie?
Players
Horatio
P. Queene
Lucianus
The players enter from outwards as
heralded by the trumpets.
Exits inwards to prepare
accommodation for the players.
The players have done a backstage
cross signifying a time lapse;
presumably they have rested since
their last exit inwards and now
enter from outwards, where Hamlet
was last seen exiting, having been
‘rehearsing’ for the play.
Return outwards for further
preparation. As the players leave,
Horatio enters from inwards:
simultaneous mid-scene entrance/
exit.
Court scene, entry from inwards.
Enter in a Dumbe Shew, the King and
the Queene, he sits downe in an
Arbor,
she leaves him:
Then enters Lucianus with poyson in a
Viall, and poweres it in his eares,
and goes away.:
Then the Queene commeth and findes
him dead:
and goes away with the other.
“The other” must be the actor
5
P. King
Prologue
Duke
Dutchesse
Dutchesse
Murderer
Murderer
King
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Queene
Corambis
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
KING. Lights, I will to bed.
Exits whence he came.
ROS. Now my lord, how i’st with you?
Enter from inwards
ROS. Wel my Lord wee’le take our
leave.
HAM. Farewell, farewell, God bless
you.
COR. My lord, the Queene would
speake with you.
No adequate justification for their
return inwards, but presumably exit
whence they came.
Corambis
Enters from inwards, having come
from the Queen’s closet,
commencing the implementation of
his previous plan (see above)
HAM. Why then tell my mother i’le
Corambis is sent back whence he
come by and by...
came...
...Good night Horatio.
....as Hamlet farewells Horatio who
HOR. Good night unto your Lordship.
exits outwards.
HAM. I will speak daggers those sharpe Hamlet’s speech ends in a rhyming
words being spent, To doe her wrong couplet as he exits inwards towards
my soule shall ne’re consent.
his mother’s bedchamber as
requested.
Enter the King.
Text would seem to suggest that the
KING. O that this wet that falles upon
King has been walking in the rain,
my face Would wash the crime cleere so entrance from outwards is
from my conscience! When I looke up appropriate.
to heauen, I see my trespasse.
HAM. I so, come forth and worke thy
Carousel move: Hamlet,
last, And thus hee dies.
continuing his progress towards his
mother’s bedchamber, comes upon
the King.
HAM. My mother stayes.
Exits finally in direction of
bedchamber.
King exits whence he came.
COR. Madame, I heare yong Hamlet
comming,
COR. I’le shroude my selfe behinde the
Arras.
HAM. Mother, mother, O are you here? Second carousel move as he finally
arrives at his destination.
COR. Helpe for the Queene.
He is stabbed by Hamlet
Ghost
Enter the ghost in his night gowne.
Ghost
HAM. See how he steales away out of
the Portall.
HAM. Come sir, I’le prouide for you a
graue.
Exit Hamlet with the dead body.
Perhaps indicative of performance
tradition which would emphasise
Old Hamlet as husband here, in
contrast to soldier of initial ghost
scenes. He enters, therefore, from
inwards.
Exits outwards.
Corambis
Corambis
Horatio
Hamlet
10
King
Hamlet
Hamlet
11
playing the (dead) King
All entrances and exits in playwithin-play can be from outwards
door.
King
Corambis
Queene
Corambis
Hamlet
Hamlet
Corambis
6
King
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Hamlet
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Hamlet
Rossencraft
Gilderstone
Queene
King
12
13
Fortenbrasse
Drumme
Souldiers
Captaine
Captaine
Fortenbrasse
Drumme
Souldiers
King
Queene
Ofelia
KING. Lordes goe to him, inquire the
body out.
KING. See where he comes.
HAM. And so (my mother) farewel: for
England hoe.
exeunt all but the king.
KING. Gertred, leaue me, And take
your leave of Hamlet.
KING. He once being dead, why then
our state is free.
Enter Fortenbrasse, Drumme and
Souldiers.
FORT. Captaine, from us goe greete
The king of Denmarke: Tell him that
Fortenbrasse nephew to old Norway,
Craves a free passe and conduct ouer
his land...You know our Randevous,
goe march away.
KING. Hamlet is ship’t for England,
fare him well.
Enter Ofelia playing on a Lute, and her
haire downe singing.
QUEEN. O see where the yong Ofelia
is!
Ofelia
OF. God be with you Ladies, God be
with you.
Leartes
A noyse within. enter Leartes.
LEA. Speak, say, where’s my father?
Enter Ofelia as before.
LEA. Who’s this, Ofelia? O my deere
sister!
OF. So God be with you all, God bwy
Ladies. God bwy you Loue.
KING. No more of that, ere many dayes
be done, You shall heare that you do
not dreame upon.
exeunt om.
Ofelia
Ofelia
King
Leartes
Queene
14
KING. Now Gertred, what says our
sonne, how doe you finde him?
Queene
Horatio
Enter Horatio and the Queene.
HOR. Madame, your sonne is safe
arriv’de in Denmarke, This letter I
even now receiv’d of him.
Queene
Horatio
QUEENE. Horatio once againe I take
my leaue, With thowsand mothers
blessings to my sonne.
HOR. Madam adue.
Simultaneous mid-scene
entrance/exit, as King etc. enter the
bedchamber.
They follow Hamlet inwards...
....and return shortly afterwards
with him.
Hamlet and the lords exit outwards
for England, followed by Gertrude.
King exits inwards; no explicit
spatial indications, but opposition
to previous exit?
Arrive from Norway (outwards).
Captain continues inwards towards
the Danish court, Fortenbrasse and
army return whence they came to
await his return.
Court scene, entry from inwards.
Ofelia presumably enters from
outwards, symbolising her
estrangement from the court and
her mental instability, mirroring
what we have seen of Hamlet’s
contrived behaviour earlier in the
play.
After some incoherent rambling,
Ofelia exits inwards, but we cannot
be sure she is going in to bed as is
implied in Q2 and F.
Enters from outwards, having
returned from France.
Returns from inwards in a
dishevelled state...
...and this time exits outwards.
Presumably the King and Leartes
go inwards, but if the Queen
accompanies them then her
immediate re-entrance from the
other door is problematical. Perhaps
she goes outwards instead,
following Ofelia.
Presumably Horatio, with the letter,
is arriving from outwards; it may be
a mid-conversation entrance, or a
meeting with the Queen who,
contrary to the stage directions, has
remained on stage...
Obvious split exit.
7
15
King
Leartes
Queene
16
17
King
Leartes
Queene
Clowne
Other
Other
Hamlet
Horatio
KING. Hamlet from England! is it
possible?
MINIMAL congestion at inwards
door. They return from whence they
last exited.
QUEENE. O my Lord, the yong Ofelia.. From outwards with report of
Ofelia’s death; backstage cross
awkward, but over 30 lines since
previous exit.
LEAR. So, she is drownde: Too much
Presumably exiting outwards to see
of water hast thou Ofelia.
the body.
CLO. Fetch me a stope of beere, goe.
HAM. Hath this fellow any feeling of
himselfe..
King
Queene
Leartes
Lords
Priest
Coffin
Hamlet
Horatio
King
Queene
Leartes
Lords
Priest
Hamlet
Horatio
Enter King and Queene, Leartes, and
other lordes, with a Priest after the
coffin.
Bragart Gent
HOR. The Court knowes him, but hee
knowes not the Court.
HAM. heere comes the King.
King
Queene
Leartes
Lords
Voltemar
Ambassad.
Fortenbrasse
Traine
Voltemar
Ambassad.
Fortenbrasse
Traine
Hamlet
Horatio
King
Queene
Leartes
Lords
backstage
cross
Clowne and other enter to the
graveyard from their quarters.
Sent back inwards for beer.
Simultaneous mid-scene
entrance/exit as they arrive at the
graveyard.
From outwards, in procession to the
graveyard.
They exit the graveyard...
exeunt omnes.
...as do the others.
Enter Hamlet and Horatio.
Backstage cross (after 11 lines)
indicates change of location and
time-lapse.
From the court.
Ditto
Enter Voltemar and the Ambassadors
from England.
enter Fortenbrasse with his traine.
From outwards.
FORT. Beare hamlet like a souldier to
his grave...Take vp the bodie, such a
fight as this Becomes the fieldes, but
here doth much amisse.
Soldier and battle references
probably indicate a funeral
procession outwards. Other bodies
may be removed via inwards door.