Independent Project Research

Although my Musical Theatre song will be based on Ophelia and her emotional journey and story, I think it is important for me to understand the overall play and the underlying themes and plot surrounding Ophelia's story. English teacher, Trevor Lloyd, was asked for an overview to help me understand it better.  It starts with Hamlet seeing the ghost of his father and tells him that his Uncle, Claudius who is now married to his mum killed his father. Hamlet knows that he should avenge his father but he keeps procrastinating. Eventually he gets a group of actors who come to court to act out the killing of his father in-front of the king in hope that 'the play is the thing to catch the conscious of the king' (Shakespeare 1603) and it becomes clear that the king has committed the murder because of his reaction. Meanwhile the king sends someone  to England carrying a letter for the English king and Hamlet finds out the letter says to kill Hamlet. (Trevor Lloyd 2016)

The character that will be playing and focusing my song upon is the character of Ophelia. She is a character who is 'driven mad by her love' (Cliff Notes 2016) for Hamlet who does not love her back and this quote will be the focus for my song. The song comes at the point where she starts to become mad, and this happens through the duration of the song and explores all her emotions. Ophelia is naive and sweet (Spark Notes 2016) and so melodically this needs interpreted perhaps through the instrument choice - piano and strings often can suggest this as they are from the romantic era and therefore this connects thematically in our minds. The romantic period was developed to 'express deep feelings' (Walker 2016) and that is exactly what I'm showing through the piano. Because she often sings about flowers throughout the play and then ends up drowning in a flower garland (Spark Notes 2016) I think it is important to touch upon this in my song that she is singing because it is such a symbolic aspect related to Ophelia due to her being dainty,delicate and feminine. I will try to reference this lyrically and musically due to this being an important part of her story and storyline. 

In my piece I am hoping to use lines from Shakespeare. Whether this be actually using the quote directly, or using this to inspire musical themes or motifs within my piece. I think this will link my song to the original writer and original play which is good as it connects with its roots and is relatable for an audience who know Shakespeare. It relates to the theme of the song and is relevant to the genre which I've looked at through the song William Shakespeare from Horrible Histories (adrico46). In this they cleverly tie lots of Shakespeare lines together although it is a different theme as it is Shakespeare singing about himself in contrast to Ophelia singing about her love for Hamlet. It has given me ideas for what lines might work well in a song and fit with my theme. I have mind-mapped all the lines from the song used for research and underlined those that might work well in my song. I think I definitely will use 'to be or not to be' (Shakespeare 1603) as this is from the play that I am looking at, Hamlet,  It also links with the character as it is suggests uncertainty which communicates exactly how she is feeling because she is unsure of whether Hamlet loves her or not.