earticle

영어

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Hamlet’s role-playing from the perspective of stage clowns’ traditions in Shakespearean theatre. First of all, I propose three kinds of Shakespearean clowns: professional actor- clowns, mock-clowns and clownlike role-playing. In Shakespeare’s comedies, clowns, or often called as a fool, are a kind of theatrical device to encourage the festivity and dynamics of the play or its performance, crossing the boundary between the stage and the audience. They are like a critical advisor within the play, while communicating directly with audience as an interpreter or a mediator like Greek chorus. Shakespeare’s tragedies are no exception. In Hamlet, it is Hamlet himself who plays a role of a clown by putting an antic disposition on. His mask allows him to enjoy the liminal freedom of playing at the area of platea, where he can view his world from a distance and closely connect with audience as a clown does. Hamlet also leads other characters, such as Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to share his role of clowning. They function as mock-clowns, unconsciously sharing Hamlet’s clowning for the effect of comic relief. In addition, Hamlet continuously prepares for his final goal of revenge on Claudius in his main plot through this comically metaphoric subplot playing with his mock-clowns. Therefore, Hamlet’s clowning strategy accomplishes Shakespearean theatrical rhythm which mutually complements tragic seriousness and comic playfulness.