Dramatic Tension in "Hamlet"

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Act One, Scene One opens in pitch darkness of the battlements of the castle of Elsinore: two guards, Barnardo and Fransico, evidently keep watch in a state of some anxiety which is immediately apparent in the edginess of their nervous questioning of each other's presence: “Who's there?”, “Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.” Tension is created in this terse exchange: as a sense of fear should be evoked in the audience of a potentially imminent attack from a yet undisclosed source. Furthermore, Barnardo orders Fransisco to return home upon midnight, in his reminder that: “'Tis now struck twelve. ” Midnight plays an important role in many texts in signifing the beginning of supernatural activities, which essentially warn the audience that a possible supernatural event is to ensue.

Obscurity plays an important role in shaping the mood of the opening scene: the fog is so dense that each new character finds it hard to identify each other, so that consequently all approaching figures are yet again questioned over their identity. Thus, upon the arrival of Marcellus and Horatio, ...

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