ct II scene i, line 134)At the time of the first productions of this play the Elizabethans had endured many bad summers and so Titania and the play makes reference to a real life situation saying that the discord of fairy world upsets the weather in the mortal world. However, it is a fairy that crosses the divide between real and unreal to speak about Elizabethan reality. A twisting Shakespearean metadramatic construct that foregrounds the theatrical and its constructed interaction with reality. Perhaps the best example of this crossing the boundaries between art and real life is in Hamlet. In Prince Hamlet’s soliloquy at the end of Act II scene ii lines 521-580 Hamlet is disgusted with himself because the actor could weep for Hecuba in the ancient story, but Hamlet "can say nothing; no, not for a king, / Upon whose property and most dear life / A damn'd defeat was made" (lines 542-545). He cannot act, upon a real life and more deserving incident. He continues by vilifying Claudius "bloody, bawdy villain! / Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!" (lines 554-555). Hamlet reproaches himself for his procrastination - for acting mad instead of acting on the revenge. He then reflect on his own words, instead of doing anything, he "Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words” (line 560) Now he is cursing because he is doing nothing but cursing, and he realizes it. He is actually acting like the melodrama of the Elizabethan period and it becomes like ‘A part to tear a cat in’ - he is overacting. This is metadrama where an actor reproves himself for his acting in the ‘real life’ of the play. Regular Elizabethan theatre goers would, no doubt have appreciated this sophisticated metadramatic construction. Hamlet’s idea of using a play as a truth testing mechanism to see Claudius’ reaction to the murder is a wonderful example of uniting the themes of theatre and real lif...
