20 The Play Scene in "Hamlet" Upon these last words, as Shakspere has carefully indicated through Ophelia's exclamation, 16 the King rises. The moment for leaving has come; Hamlet's violence is such that his revelations are not to be risked further, and the ordeal of witnessing the represen- tation of the crime has become unendurable. So, calling for lights* the King rushes from the hall. It will be noted that while Hamlet's wildness through the play- scene partly leads to the king's self-betrayal, it also saves the king from exposure before the court. For it is perfectly clear that the noble spectators who attended the performance of the 'Murder of Gonzago' were not informed by it of the guilt of Claudius. That was not its intention, 17 and there is no evidence later on that any- one had guessed the truth. The court were looking at the play, and not, like Hamlet and Horatio, scanning the king's visage. 18 On the other hand, Hamlet's interpolated comments must have been heard by everyone, and the interruption of the play was sufficiently ex- plained for the courtiers on this ground. His outburst at the very end was hardly of a sort to be tolerated. Guildenstern tells Ham- let that the King is "marvellous distempered . . . with choler" exceedingly angry; the Queen has said that Hamlet's actions have bewildered and astonished her, and she confronts her son with the reproach that he has "much offended" Claudius; Polonius reminds her that Hamlet's pranks "have been too broad to bear with," and Claudius finds in the play-s^ene his final justification for send- ing Hamlet away. The terms of our estate may not endure Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow Out of his lunacies. 16 And as Greg has well emphasized. His comments in connection with this scene are often most suggestive; though I believe his interpretation of it, in the broader outlines, to be wholly mistaken. 17 See Bradley, Shakespearean Tragc Jy, p. 96. 18 The call for lights at the end may nu an that the action is to be imagined as taking place in a darkened hall, with the play-stage illuminated. On the general subject of lighting in Elizabethan theatres, see W. J. Lawrence, The Elizabethan Playhouse and Other Studies,' Second Series, Philadelphia, 1913,
pp. I ff.
