“The Mousetrap” Essay
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the play-within-the-play is intended to prove if King Claudius killed Hamlet's father. The best interpretation of the Mousetrap scene was with actor, Kenneth Branagh, because of the things were portrayed like the characters’ behavior, staging and movement, and audience reactions. The interpretation the acting company is trying to convey in this version was to have the people of Denmark begin to suspect that Claudius killed Hamlet’s father, as the play progressed. The company interpreted this by having the audience exchange looks among themselves, then exchange looks with King Claudius and Queen Gertrude.
Although there are many different interpretations, Hamlet’s behavior towards Ophelia stood out to me the most. He was being unmannerly and inappropriate with Ophelia makes her feel uncomfortable. For example, he had assumed that Ophelia was thinking about sex after asking her, “shall I lie in your lap.” Throughout the whole scene Ophelia seemed very uncomfortable around Hamlet. She responded quietly with short answers as Hamlet rudely spoke loud, causing audience members to turn their attention towards them.
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When things start to heat up during the dumb show we see audience members whispering to each other. Hamlet begins to look back to see if there is any discomfort with King Claudius. The spectator also sees Horatio looking at King Claudius through the binoculars as he begins to shift when the tension begins to rise. As a matter of fact, I liked how royalty sat in the balcony while the rest of the audience sat below them. I thought this signified the way that they are higher than the rest of the people