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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Though this be madness, yet there is method in't : madness, melancholy, and mirth in the acting of Hamlet

Stewart, Stacey Anne
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1147792258

Abstract Details

1997, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Theatre.
Shakespeare's Hamlet, throughout the centuries, has come to be almost universally recognized as the "melancholy Dane." This study examines the performance of Hamlet's melancholy in light of contemporary medical practices and societal perceptions of madness and melancholy. It uses as examples the successful interpretations of three famous Shakespearean actors: Richard Burbage (c.1576-1619), David Garrick (1717-1779), and Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905). For each time period, this cultural investigation explores prominent issues in medicine and psychology, acting styles, audience composition, and public perceptions of the mentally ill to shed light on the actor's portrayal of Hamlet's mad scenes. Chapter One reconstructs the nature of Richard Burbage's Hamlet by examining Shakespeare's sources for the play, evidence of Elizabethan acting styles, and contemporary attitudes toward madness and melancholy. In all likelihood, Burbage played Hamlet's mad scenes for comic effect. Chapter Two considers the eighteenth-century Hamlet of David Garrick, who played Hamlet's madness as feigned. Garrick was known to observe those around him to create his roles, and his longtime friend, the melancholic and scholar Samuel Johnson, probably formed the basis for his interpretation of Hamlet. Chapter Three explains the unusually gentle nature of Henry Irving's Hamlet as an appropriate artistic response to nineteenth-century lunacy reform, which emphasized the humane treatment of the insane. Across three centuries, interpretations of Hamlet's madness were influenced either directly or indirectly by prominent trends in psychological medicine and treatment of the insane, as well as by the public's attitude toward the mentally ill in society.
Joy Reilly (Advisor)
102 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Stewart, S. A. (1997). Though this be madness, yet there is method in't : madness, melancholy, and mirth in the acting of Hamlet [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1147792258

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Stewart, Stacey. Though this be madness, yet there is method in't : madness, melancholy, and mirth in the acting of Hamlet. 1997. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1147792258.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Stewart, Stacey. "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't : madness, melancholy, and mirth in the acting of Hamlet." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 1997. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1147792258

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1147792258
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© 1997, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.
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