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Question
the tragedy of hamlet, prince of denmark
act iii. scene ii.
a hall in the castle
enter hamlet and certain players.
hamlet: speak the speech, i pray you, as i pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, i had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus; but use all gently: for in the very torrent, tempest, and—as i may say—whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance, that may give it smoothness. o! it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb-shows and noise: i would have such a fellow whipped for o’er-doing termagant; it out-herods herod: pray you, avoid it.
first player: i warrant your honour.
hamlet: be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature; for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. now, this overdone, or come tardy off,
what line from act iii of hamlet supports the conclusion that shakespeare is critical of actors?
for in the very torrent, tempest, and—as i may say—whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance, that may give it smoothness
it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters
but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance
and let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them
In this line, Hamlet is criticizing actors (the “robustious periwig - pated fellow”) for over - acting and “tearing a passion to tatters”. This shows Shakespeare's (through Hamlet's voice) criticism of actors' excessive and improper acting styles, while the other lines are more about giving acting advice on moderation or matching action and word, not direct criticism of actors.
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It offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig - pated fellow tear a passion to tatters