How does Shakespeare create and maintain our interest in Act One of Hamlet?

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Michela Bailey

How does Shakespeare create and maintain our interest in Act 1 of Hamlet?

        Before we can think about the ways in which Shakespeare’s writing creates and maintains the reader’s interest, one of the immediate things we notice about the first act is how the content differs from what was ‘the normal’. Hamlet is a ‘royal tragedy’, during the time in which the play was written this was a popular genre and plays in this genre always began with a bustling court scene. Shakespeare has grabbed the audience’s attention immediately by starting the play with the ‘changing of the guard’ and saving the court scene until Scene II. So as we can see before we even consider the language used by Shakespeare, the content of the first scene is the first grabbing point for the audience.

        Act one of Hamlet is a fantastic introductory act because he captures the audience’s attention in several ways. He does this by introducing major characters, the role of the supernatural, the revenge plot, the love plot, the contrast of Fortinbras’ plot and lastly Hamlet’s alleged madness. Through Shakespeare’s unique writing style he sets us up for the rest of the play, and therefore captures the reader’s attention, making them want to read more.

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        Shakespeare establishes the atmosphere of the play in Scene I. The scene takes place in Elsinore and during the night. The fact that the beginning of this scene is set at night instantly captures the audience as we, as humans have a schema that in the night there are possibilities of seeing things that you cannot see during the day and that secrets and tension can be revealed and created. The first dialogue that we receive from the characters capture the audience as their lines are short and quick and they are very responsive to each other, ‘Who’s there?/Nay, answer ...

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