Answers to Rehearsal Questions

6/19/26:

• Can we get some clarity on how Early Modern audiences would have understood madness' appearance onstage? Does Hamlet use any familiar tropes in his madness exchange with Polonius in the "fishmonger" scene?

Tropes of madness:

• repetition of words/phrases

• lack of control over one's limbs/face

• rumpled/soiled/untidy clothing and grooming

• fragmented thoughts + phrases -- these are more exhibited in Ophelia than Hamlet, but Hamlet does try to embody this in the fishmonger scene

  • "Among traditional early modern stereotypes of madness, two in particular, one male and one female, externalize mental disorder into a shocking spectacle of constant physical agitation; these distinguish the madman as an aggressive, potentially combative figure and the mad-woman as a sexually provocative, primarily self-abusing one" (Karin S. Coddin, "Such Strange Desygns: Madness, Subjectivity, and Treason in Hamlet and Elizabethan Culture", Renaissance Drama, 1989, New Series, Vol. 20)

    • • The threat Hamlet's madness poses to the kingdom writ large is this "aggressive" and "potentially combative" violence... during the fishmonger scene, he is not yet a physical threat, but he is combative verbally towards Polonius. Note too that madness and wittiness were not mutually exclusive (in men) during the period. One could be both sassy and melancholic, as we see in Hamlet. The threat posed by Hamlet's brand of madness is in his treasonous speech, thinly disguised at this point, that grows as the play progresses. For more on this, see the essay below.

  • feminized affect-- Hamlet's melancholy is described as "unmanly grief" by Claudius and Ophelia's as "all for the death of her father"

More context: 

Audiences may have visited the hospital of Bethlehem (Bedlam) and viewed the patients on display there during this time as a part of the "entertainment" they could cheaply access. They may have read Hamlet's madness with the same skepticism displayed by Polonius in this scene due to the incongruence of his behavior VS those institutionalized there. 

The biggest indicator for Polonius that Hamlet may be mad would be the apparent disruption to his "natural" humor in the fishmonger exchange, which he attributes to stemming from the "shock" of lovesickness over Ophelia. The "thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to" is rooted in this idea... too many "shocks" to one's humor would result in imbalance and may eventually result in madness or even death. See below for a little snippet about humors:

• "Its fundamental principle of physiology recognized four basic fluids, or humors — blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm — as the essential substances in the body... complexions produced specific psychological traits, so that, for example, those with a prevalence of blood were believed to possess a highly charged, sanguine personality; those with black bile were melancholic and pensive; those with yellow bile were choleric and irascible; and those with phlegm were sluggish and mentally dull" (Charles H. Parker, "Diseased Bodies, Defiled Souls: Corporality and Religious Difference in the Reformation", Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 67, No. 4 (Winter 2014), p. 1269).

6/6/26:

• We had a question come up in rehearsal today - would the Queen sit on the right or left of the King?

Answer: In England, the highest ranked royal sits on the right. Since Claudius is the King, Gertrude would be to his left. See the image below for a rendition of the play scene reflecting this standard.

• On page 29, is the italicized section of Hamlet’s lines from a poem or proverb of some kind? Could you look into that for us?

Answer: According to the Arden edition, the "Why, let the strucken deer go weep" section originates from a ballad, now lost to time. Some have speculated that the ballad may have originated from William Cornysh, a former courtier of Henry VIII, but no written record of it exists. I have included an article below which grapples with the section in more depth, if that would be of interest!

6/3/26: 

• We had a question come up in rehearsal today about the pronunciation of “caviary.” Can you look into that for us?

Answer: The root of "caviary" comes from an old word for guinea pig, "cavy", which is pronounced "cave-y". According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, caviary rhymes with blackberry. Therefore, the correct pronunciation would be "CAVE-ee-air-y". Fun fact: here's the link to a website for a modern-day caviary called Fuzzibutts!