Stagecraft

The Tragedy of Ophelia: Two Essays

Is Hamlet just a philosophy-drenched melodrama of action alongside inaction till its absurdist/horrific end? Or does the play’s strongest theatrical irony work because, while Hamlet pretends to “an antic disposition” to avenge his father and save himself from vicious, smiling Claudius, obedient Ophelia—who, against her father’s judgment, loves and hopes to defend the Danish prince—once Hamlet kills her father, goes truly insane and drowns . . .? If we answer yes to both, how do we organize a performance, with both historical punctilio and narrative accuracy, conveying both sympathy and nobility from today’s screen or stage? THE TRAGEDY OF OPHELIA: TWO ESSAYS In 1997 Delany won the Kessler Award for LGBTQ Studies. In 2015 he was presented with the Nicolas Guillén Award for Philosophical Literature. Other honors include the William Whitehead Award for Gay Writing, the Brudner Prize, and, most recently, the Anisfield-Wolf Award. Widely taught works include Times Square Red / Times Square Blue (1999) and his newest “fragment collection,” Of Solids and Surds (2021). www.samueldelany.com