The Hamlet Project

I like when words reappear in a scene. It feels like the characters are really listening to one another, letting their language bleed from one to the other. Before she started singing, Ophelia has said, “Nay,” in a sentence full of repeating sound. She has said, “SAY you? NAY, PRAY you, mark.”
And here is Gertrude echoing the NAY and then Ophelia will return with PRAY.
Tracking this sound throughout this scene is like a little bell chiming every time there is another “AY” – There will be THEY – with a near rhyme in GRAVE – and MAY – and LAY – and MAID – and BLAME.
Almost all of it in Ophelia’s language. This, though, is a reflection from Gertrude and it feels like it indicates that she’s really listening.