“What is established in act 1?”
“What is established in act one?” is a broad question which could be approached in a number of ways. Throughout Act one of Hamlet, a number of aspects of a revenge tragedy are set up, to assist the responders understanding of the play and its plot. Factors such as atmosphere, character profiles and personalities, values held in the Elizabethan time, themes of importance and settings are also explored in this exposition as the play builds up to the climax and tension develops.
Hamlet is one of the most well know examples of revenge tragedy. Within a revenge tragedy there is always a central figure who has the task of avenging a wrong. In the case of Hamlet, as displayed in scene five, the prince of Denmark is convinced by the ghost of his father to act in a revengeful manner towards Claudius. “I have sworn’t.”. More often than not, the avenger within the revenge tragedy suffers from periods of insanity or melancholy, and it may be noted that in Hamlet’s first soliloquy he appears deeply melancholic. As in Hamlet, a revenge tragedy often has a ghost calling for revenge “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” and setting up the motivation for the deed “...by a brother’s hand...cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,”
The first act is divided up into a number of scenes. In each of these scenes, the reader is required to interpret the way in which the playwright has intended the scene to be displayed. At the beginning of each scene, the reader is told the setting in which the events are about to unfold. Furthermore, Shakespeare has used language techniques such as descriptive language and the ability of the actor to convey greater meaning and detail of the setting in which they have been placed. For example the exposition of scene one is set late at night, and it is bitterly cold. This is conveyed through lines such as “tis now struck twelve...” and “...’tis bitter cold”.
The atmosphere of the