When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at Heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Branagh’s Hamlet. My favorite interpretation of this scene. The mirrors, the raw emotion from both of them, etc. Truly heartbreaking. I also think Kate plays the best Ophelia, although Carter’s Mad Scene is inspired.
Statue of the Bard of Avon himself.
Located in Leicester Square, in London.
The inscription on the scroll that hangs down from his finger reads:
THERE IS
NO DARKNESS
BUT
IGNORANCE
from his play Twelfth Night
Hamlet: Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;
And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven;
And so am I revenged.
Hamlet 3.3 (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2009)
Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
Ophelia: No, my lord.
Hamlet: I mean, my head upon your lap?
Ophelia: Ay, my lord.
Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters?
Hamlet 3.2 (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2009)
