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Hi, welcome to Stratford for the last of the Hamlet MOOC video blogs. As you can see, we're
standing by the statue of Hamlet that's one of four figures surrounding the Gower Memorial
of Shakespeare.
And up behind the camera is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. It's been lovely having you along
for these six weeks and I have with me, from the MOOC team, Dr Abigail Rokison here being
dazzled by the sun which we haven't seen much of this winter which is one reason we all
came out and here Kate Alexander.
So, we might think about the last scene don't you think since we've got to the last week.
I know it's been 'To be or not to be' with Pippa and Ewan this week, but as we think
of what faces us beyond this course, we might think about what feelings that last scene
should leave us with.
Do we think now things are resolved. It's all going to fine under Fortinbras. At least
Hamlet's been put out of his misery. And do we think that Horatio's promise to retell
the story - that account he gives of how he's going to speak, that death's put on by cunning
and forced cause and so on - is that the play we get or is that a vision of a more simplified
version of the story of Hamlet?
That we as the audience of the play are privileged to know more about than the people who are
going to listen to Horatio. Yes, what do you think Abigail?
Well in terms of the last of those questions, clearly Horatio isn't present in a number
of scenes in Shakespeare's play so I guess we are privileged as an audience. We see a
lot more than maybe Horatio is going to tell. And also Horatio's description of what he's
going to tell doesn't fit particularly neatly with what we have actually seen in the process
Yes, it all sounds a bit fast moving and melodromatic compared to this wonderful play that's so
full of spaces and gaps for us to think our way into.
What do you think Kate?
Well I was actually thinking about Gertrude in the final scene and thinking about Claudius'
last statement, or not last sentence, 'Gertrude do not drink' and what that means about their
relationship and how much she really knows about her husband.
Also the ways in which Ophelia surfaces and resurfaces in a sense, even within the subtext
of the scene.
Erm, yes.
It's interesting one the 'Gertrude do not drink'. I've seen it played in a variety of
ways. Gertrudes who have turned alcoholic by this point in the play. Like Imogen Stubbs'
Gertrude whose 'I will my Lord' was very much 'don't tell me I can't have a drink'.
And then, somebody like Penny Downie for whom who had realised that the drink was poisoned
and who was saving her son Hamlet at the 'I will my Lord' was definitely accusatory, saying
'I know exactly what you've done and I'm now going to save my son'. So, just that one line
when you're playing Gertrude is an interesting one to think about. How am I going to deliver
that?
There's a nice essay about it by Imogen in one of the books on the reading list that
was supplied to you in the first week. So perhaps we should come full circle and suggest
as you'll have noticed by now there's an awful lot more stuff to read about Hamlet and there
will be many many more versions of Hamlet I hope in our lifetimes for us to go on thinking
about.
We've had an extremely exciting day at the Institute. We've had a talk by Andy Kessen
who is one of the theatre historians who worked on the Shout project about what was already
going on in the London theatres of the 1580s before Shakespeare even gets there which is
great. There's lots more work to be done there. But, gesturing off like that, I think we should
just say goodbye, you know. The rest is silence. Adieu, adieu, remember us. Hope you've enjoyed
the course.
Goodbye.
Bye.