Deep Plots and Indiscretions in ‘The Murder of Gonzago’

Summary

The question of whether or not Claudius should see the dumb-show preceding ‘The Murder of Gonzago’ is one of the hoariest in Hamlet criticism; but it remains an essential one, because on that scene, a turning-point in the play, hangs much of the relationship between Hamlet and Claudius. There appears, as things stand, to be an inconsistency, a dramatic inelegance even, which some are tempted to explain in terms of the complexity of the texts and the possibility that this very long play contains alternative versions springing from differing conditions of performance; yet to omit the dumb-show altogether in production, as is occasionally done, might put us in danger of misinterpreting that vital scene, and that relationship. In what is still the fullest account, John Dover Wilson concludes that the dumb-show is necessary to the audience but not to the characters in the play. Indeed, he argues, Hamlet is seriously upset at the likelihood that this addition to the programme (unexpected, in Dover Wilson’s opinion) will spoil everything; but since all goes smoothly after all, ergo the King cannot have seen it. This drives producers to find something else for him to do: to have him drinking jocund healths, perhaps, or dallying with the Queen.