The actor John Gielgud believed that of all Shakespeare's characters Hamlet is probably the one most like Shakespeare himself–since, of all Shakespeare's characters, only Hamlet can be imagined to have written all the Shakespearean plays. How good an understanding of Hamlet's character does Gielgud's belief reflect ?
Answers
Explanation:
I agree with John Gielgud. There is one moment in particular that strongly suggests we are hearing Shakespeare’s voice through Hamlet’s words. Act III sc. ii has Hamlet instructing the players, “Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines.” Hamlet goes on to warn them not to “saw the air” with their hands (don’t overdo it, in other words), but also not to “be too tame,” either. This doesn’t sound like a Prince focused on springing a trap on a usurping king, but it does sound like a writer/director who wants his lines delivered properly. He even warns the acting company to prevent their comedians to ad-lib or laugh too much, even though the lines Hamlet penned contain no comic roles or humorous lines.