Performance Choices

My partner in this assignment, Brynn, and I acted out the scene between Ophelia and Polonius on page 749, Act 2, Scene 1, lines 72-84. We decided to choose this scene because of the dynamics presented between father and daughter.My role was of Polonius' daughter Ophelia. I decided to portray this character as a genuine, submissive, and truly frightened daughter. In this particular scene, Ophelia is expressing her concern and worry for Hamlet to her father, who is attempting, as we interpreted, to extract any information he can instead of supporting his daughter's emotional breakdown. In my approach to Ophelia's character, I realized that she is a very naive and innocent girl, who simply needs some kind of a support system, which she is not able to get. Because of this, I thought it best to play her exactly how her words came across in the text, with no expression of an ulterior motive. Alternative to this choice was to show Ophelia as a slightly more critical or "street-smart" personality when speaking to her father. Instead of playing the role as genuine, I could have played the role as an inquisitive Ophelia, critical of her father in the results of his decision to tell his daughter not to speak to Hamlet ever again.