Hamlet Act 1.1.1-18

It’s worth considering the circumstances under which Hamlet would have been performed. The full text as we have it might very well have not been performed. Even given the Elizabethan emphasis on the spoken (and less on the visual) with probably a higher rate of words delivered, the complete play would have still been very long (nowadays a complete version would take three-and-a-half to four hours). So probably (though not absolutely certainly) the text would have been modified for any given performance (as is again the case with many modern productions). Remember too that the initial performances would also have been given outdoors, about which the opening of the play becomes quite revealing. The scene is the battlements of Elsinore and it’s nighttime; however, the audience (and cast) are fully aware that they are seeing the performance in broad daylight. To reinforce the notion of darkness, Bernardo’s and Francisco’s lines tell us that they can’t see each other–therefore, it must be dark!! This idea is swiftly reinforced by Francisco demanding that Bernardo must “unfold yourself” and by Bernardo telling us the clock has just struck twelve. And, of course, we the audience believe all this, or rather enter into the theatrical conspiracy that this is so. Another interesting point about the opening exchange is the fact that the military roles are reversed. Bernardo is given “Who’s there?” but Francisco’s retort–“Nay, answer me”–makes it clear that he is the one who is on guard duty and thus entitled to challenge Bernardo. Are we to make much of this? In the theatre it might well slip by an audience that is still settling down. However, in retrospect it is easy to see that this situation is a microcosm of at least one aspect of the play as a whole–that the normal order of things has been reversed or inverted, a sign of discord and disorder (never a good thing in the English Elizabethan mind).  Obviously the “darkness” and even the “bitter cold”serve to emphasize this aspect. This sub-scene ends with the arrival of Horatio and Marcellus, and, since Bernardo has relieved Francisco, Francisco’s exit. Perhaps it is also worth noting the short, conversational speeches all these characters employ–they have directness and serve to establish quickly the relationships–“friends to this ground.”

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