The Hamlet Site: Watching III, i, 1-90

Notes on Staging Elements in Part of One Scene: III.i.90-141

typehand.gif (8738 bytes) Directions: After you view this scene (the approximate clock and counter numbers are shown above, right), jot down comments about the elements of staging in the Zeffirelli movie. A list of topics follows the list of camera shots/events in the scene--with a sample comment about the use of music at the end of the scene. A preview should help you see how to apply elements you notice in this scene to the motives and mental states of the characters--Hamlet and Ophelia.

Open a word processor to make your comments about the staging elements in this scene using the list at the bottom of this page. From there you can copy them to your email, to send to a classmate for comments or to your instructor. You can also save them for yourself and print them.

Rewind and rewatch the scene as often as you need in order to view these elements and list more than one example of each just in the confrontation between Ophelia and Hamlet.

(Click here for a hint on re-opening a word processor.)

In the record of camera shots listed below, the numbered item overviews a segment of the action, and then the asterisks list the camera shots within that segment. Even the asterisked note may apply to more than one actual camera shot.

As you watch, you may notice some shots are from a distance, others mid-range shots (from the waist up), some close-ups on a face. You might also notice whether the camera seems to be looking up, down, or at eye level to the characters. Of course, the point of watching for staging elements, including camera position and angles, is to see what impact these have on the mood, emotions, conflict in the scene.

Preview: At one point in this scene, Hamlet asks Ophelia--after a discussion of honesty and beauty--where her father is. When she answers, we viewers can see Hamlet's face and his reaction; we can also see Ophelia put her book--either a prayer book or a Bible--to her lips after she lies to Hamlet. Given what we see, we have to ask why her lie hurts him so much. Perhaps he cared for her more than he suggests in his rant that is being played to the rafters so that her father and his step-father assassin will think he's crazy, but he isn't.

What does Ophelia's lie to Hamlet cost her? This single pivotal moment in the play challenges actors, camera and sound crews, and director to convey complex emotions, what Hamlet and Ophelia want to convey to each other and what Hamlet needs to convey to Polonius and Claudius. Doing all that takes planning and craftsmanship.

In "The Making of Hamlet," Zeffirelli explains that this scene is where Ophelia starts to go crazy. To suggest that, he needed to roll the camera in a 270-degree arc around the action, creating a sort of spiraling effect. Accomplishing that required hoisting nearly all of the lights, reflectors, and sound equipment into scaffolding built above the scene's set so that only the director, cameraman, and a dolly camera on a wheeled tripod would be on the floor with the actors during the scene.

1. Gertrude, Ophelia, Polonius, and Claudius arrive at the top of the stairs at an inner courtyard.
*Shots back & forth between Gertrude & Ophelia as they speak; Gertrude kisses Ophelia on the forehead.
*Polonius positions Ophelia; Gertrude leaves.
*Hamlet approaches across a balcony, sees through an opening [above and from some distance] Polonius & Claudius retreating.

2. Polonius & Claudius retreat to a balcony & hide behind a column. (We see them and their shadows a number of times during this scene, especially on Hamlet's line, "Where is your father?")

3. Ophelia greets Hamlet as they pass each other in the cobblestone courtyard within the castle. She stops him to return a necklace, which he spurns.
*Hamlet comes down the stairs as Ophelia crosses from the audience's right.
*Hamlet exits the screen as Ophelia pursues with necklace from her pouch.

4. Shadow of Claudius or Polonius seen on balcony wall.
*Hamlet looks up. [This gesture, used more than once in this scene, reminds us that Hamlet knows he is being monitored by the man who killed his father and by Ophelia's father.]
*Hamlet steps in front of Ophelia; his question turns her.

5. "Are you honest?"
*Series of shots on each as they confer about whether he loved her. [Notice that he spurns her before he asks her where her father is; is he perhaps making it easier for her to carry through her betrayal of him by obeying her father and thereby siding with and being used as the tool of Polonius?]

6. Hamlet asks where her father is. (The question is overheard in the background as the camera shows Polonius and Claudius cringing in the shadow.)
*She lies, covering her lips with her book. (Is that a Bible or a prayer book?) Hamlet knows she's lying and feels betrayed.
*Polonius & Claudius seen in hiding again as Hamlet starts ranting against marriage.
*Hamlet strides past Ophelia toward a window and back to circle around her. [The camera is on a tripod dolly.]
*Claudius & Polonius shown again in the shadows.

7. Hamlet whirls around Ophelia, some shots close on her face, especially when he grabs it and shoves her against a stone wall. [Asked how she felt about the physicality of this scene, Helena Bonham-Carter responded, "Well, I have to do some acting here."]
*Hamlet approaches, goes halfway round her.
*Ophelia turns away; Hamlet gets in front of her.
*Hamlet grabs her face and begins completing the circle.
*Hamlet shoves Ophelia into the wall. (Actually, he shoves her off camera, and another shot shows her against the wall?)
*Close up on injured, confused Ophelia

8. Hamlet rails up the steps, seen from below, tossing Ophelia's necklace back at her.
*Halfway up steps, Hamlet pauses to ban marriage.
*He pauses at the top to say all but one married person will live. [Wouldn't Claudius take this threat personally? He seems to as he resolves to send Hamlet away; the resolution to have him killed is unspoken at the end of this scene.]
*Camera follows the necklace back to Ophelia.

9. Ophelia is seen from the top of the stairs bending to pick up her necklace. [How many elements are at work in this segment to make us sorry for Ophelia? Something to notice about the set: Above Ophelia are either the ends of rafters or the ends of downspouts, perhaps, if the wall used to be an outer wall. These have faces carved into them, which seem to be smiling, even grotesquely, perhaps mocking Ophelia, perhaps foreshadowing her insanity.]

10. Polonius & Claudius are shown watching from a balcony.
*Hamlet seen closing door as he has apparently overheard Claudius planning to send him to England and to watch his "madness."

Music: [Sample Comment] At the end of the scene, violins playing quietly in the background amplify the camera shot looking down on Ophelia after she has just been slammed into the wall and seemingly cursed by Hamlet; she is bending to pick up the token of affection (a locket or necklace) once given to her by Hamlet, who just threw it back toward her, causing its click to echo hollowly against the walls of this inner courtyard. The violins help us to feel sorry for Ophelia, who was doing what she was asked by her elders. She doesn't really understand the stakes or even see the conflict between Hamlet and Claudius, other than perhaps a stepson chafing against his stepfather.