Understanding Play
Structure
&Hamlet
Week2
段馨君 副教授
國立交通大學
人文社會學系
Play Structure
• Virtually all plays are divided into
what has come to be called three-act
structure.
• Act 1 : exposition
– having a lot of introductory element
• Act 2 : complication
– usually be the darkest with the
antagonists having a greater encompass
• Act 3 : resolution
– the resolution and the protagonists
prevailing
Act 1
• Plays don't begin at the beginning.
• Begin at a point just before the primary
conflict erupts out of the story.
• Point of Attack-first thing the audience
will see or hear as the play begins.
• High point- Act I has been heading for
from the moment the Inciting Incident
has been introduced earlier.
• The Inciting Incident- introduces the
major conflict of the play.
Act 2
• Climax
• Peak of conflict and tension
• Usually has to start at a lower
level of conflict than the end of
Act I.
Act 3
• This is the final summing up of the
Consequences of the events that
triggered the Conflict and the play.
• The Resolution is the last image
audiences carry away as they
leave the theatre.
Five-act play
• Until the 18th century, most plays
were divided into five acts
Act 1 : Exposition
Act 2 : Complications
Act 3 : The Climax of Action
Act 4 : Falling Action
Act 5 : Denouement
Five-act play
• Act 1 : Exposition
– time and place are established. We learn about the antecedents of the
story.
• Act 2 : Complications
– The course of action becomes more complicated, the "tying of knots"
takes place. Interests clash, intrigues are spawned, events accelerate
in a definite direction. Tension mounts, and momentum builds up.
• Act 3 : The Climax of Action
– The development of conflict reaches its high point, the Hero stands at
the crossroads, leading to victory or defeat, crashing or soaring.
• Act 4 : Falling Action
– Reversals. The consequences of Act 3 play out, momentum slows, and
tension is heightened by false hopes/fears. If it's a tragedy, it looks like
the Hero can be saved. If not, then it looks like all may be lost.
• Act 5 : Denouement
– The conflict is resolved, whether through a catastrophe, the downfall
of the hero, or through his victory and transfiguration.
Hamlet
About Hamlet
• Full title · The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince
of Denmark
• Author · William Shakespeare
• Genre · Tragedy, revenge tragedy
• Setting time · The late medieval period,
though the play’s chronological setting is
notoriously imprecise
• Settings place · Denmark
• Tone · Dark, ironic, melancholy,
passionate, contemplative, desperate,
violent
Background
• Tragedy by
William
Shakespeare,
believed to
have been
written
between 1599
and 1601.
Background
• Shakespeare's Hamlet was a
remake of an already popular play,
based in turn on an episode from
the Dark Ages, the lawless, mightmakes-right era that followed the
collapse of Roman-era civilization.
Background
• Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest
play and among the most
powerful and influential tragedies
in the English language. During
Shakespeare's lifetime, the play
was one of his most popular
works.
Character
Hamlet
Prince of Denmark, son
of Queen Gertrude and
the late King
Hamlet. He is believed
to be mad following
the death of his father.
Character
King Claudius
Brother of the late King
Hamlet. He murdered
his brother in order to
gain his throne.
Queen Gertrude
Mother of Prince
Hamlet, widow of
King Hamlet.
Character
Polonius
Father of Laertes and
Ophelia. Advisor to
King Claudius. He
believes that
Hamlet's madness is
caused by his love for
Ophelia which he has
ordered her not to
requite.
Character
Ophelia
Daughter of
Polonius and love
interest of
Hamlet. When
Hamlet rejects her
and eventually kills
her father, Ophelia
goes mad.
Character
Laertes
Son of Polonius and
brother of
Ophelia. He is sent
to France but
returns seeking
vengeance after the
murder of his father.
Character
Horatio
Friend and confidant
of Hamlet. Hamlet
shares with Horatio
all of his experiences
and misgivings in the
situation involving
his father.
Plot
• rising action · The ghost
appears to Hamlet and tells
Hamlet to revenge his
murder; Hamlet feigns
madness to his intentions;
Hamlet stages the
mousetrap play; Hamlet
passes up the opportunity
to kill Claudius while he is
praying.
Plot
• climax · When Hamlet stabs
Polonius through the arras in
Act III, he commits himself to
overtly violent action and
brings himself into unavoidable
conflict with the king. Another
possible climax comes at the
end of Act IV, when Hamlet
resolves to commit himself
fully to violent revenge.
Plot
• falling action · Hamlet
is sent to England to be
killed; Hamlet returns
to Denmark and
confronts Laertes at
Ophelia’s funeral; the
fencing match; the
deaths of the royal
family.
Film-DVD
•
•
•
•
•
Director: Laurence Olivier
Leading actor: Laurence Olivier
Year: 1948
Showing Part: the dead king
From 28:41 to 39:00
Film-DVD
• Director: Kevin Kline
• Leading actor: Kevin Kline, Dana
Ivey
• Year: 1990
• Showing Part: Polonius tests Hamlet
• From 43:55 to 47:20
Film-DVD
•
•
•
•
•
Director: Laurence Olivier
Leading actor: Laurence Olivier
Year: 1948
Showing Part: Ophelia and Hamlet
From 53:45 to 59:22
Film-DVD
• Director: Michael Almereyda
• Leading actor: Ethan Hawke, Julia
Stiles
• Year: 2000
• Showing Part: Hamlet in
Blockbuster, searching for DVD
• From 40:10 to 42:33
Film-DVD
• Director: Michael Almereyda
• Leading actor: Ethan Hawke, Julia
Stiles
• Year: 2000
• Showing Part: Hamlet tests his
uncle in the movie theater
• From 52:30 to 57:37
Film-clip
•
•
•
•
Director: Richard Schechner
Leading actor: George Hannah
Year: 2000
Showing Part: The fight of Hamlet
and Laertes
• From 02:18:00 to end
• http://hidvl.nyu.edu/video/000031
307.html
Major Conflict
• Hamlet feels a responsibility to
avenge his father’s murder by his
uncle Claudius, but Claudius is now
the king and thus well protected.
Moreover, Hamlet struggles with
his doubts about whether he can
trust the ghost and whether killing
Claudius is the appropriate thing to
do.
Hamlet’s role in revenge
• one of Hamlet’s flaws is that he
took revenge into his own hands
and not resort to law.
• However, in Shakespeare’s time,
Hamlet, the son of a murdered
father, and more importantly, the
son of an usurped king, was not
only the legitimate revenger, it
was his duty to take revenge and
restore order to Denmark.
why doesn't Hamlet kill the
King when he is praying?
• The King's praying, so he'll just go
to Heaven if Hamlet kills him now.
• Hamlet can never make up his
mind about anything.
• Hamlet thinks too much.
• He's a wimp.
Themes
•
•
•
•
The impossibility of certainty
the complexity of action
the mystery of death
the nation as a diseased body
Motifs
•
•
•
•
•
Incest and incestuous desire
ears and hearing
death and suicide
darkness and the supernatural
misogyny
Symbols
• The ghost
– the spiritual consequences of
death
• Yorick’s skull
– the physical consequences of
death
Many Hamlet
Laurence Olivier
Richard Burton
Mel Gibson, with Glenn
Close as Gertrude
Kenneth
Branagh
Many Hamlet
Campbell Scott
Ethan Hawke, with Julia Stiles as
Kevin Kline, with Dana Ivey as Ophelia
Gertrude
Ethan
Hawke as
Hamlet
Reference
• Play structure
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/playwriting/s
hapediagram.html
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~deis/fiveac
t.html
• Hamlet Analysis
http://www.novelguide.com/hamlet/in
dex.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespea
re/hamlet/