Question

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 . . .

–Hamlet,
William Shakespeare

Based on the passage, what is Hamlet’s opinion about theater?

Actors should try to represent people as they really are.
Plays should impart a moral or religious lesson.
Actors are too tame and should be as loud and emotional as possible.
The theater is not a proper place for someone who is modest and virtuous.

Answer 1

Actors should try to represent people as they really are.

Hamlet says the purpose of playing is “to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature,” and instructs actors to match action to word without overdoing it, i.e., to portray realistic, natural behavior.