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PAG2-rossetti-hamlet-jpg

This reproduced pen-and-ink illustration of Act II, scene I in Shakespeare’s Hamlet depicts the scene in which Ophelia tries to return Hamlet’s love letters at the insistence of her father Polonius, and Hamlet’s parents Gertrude and Claudius. Almost the entire scene is framed or enclosed within a wooded bench or settle with a 90-degree corner in it. There are two wooden chairs on each of the two walls of the bench. To the right, the seats are turned down. To the left, two seats are turned up. In the centre of the image is the figure of Hamlet, who spreads his arms in a Christ-like pose as he stretches them across the top of the bench. He wears long dark robes tied at the waist with his sword hanging from the belt. Hamlet’s face is in three-quarter profile and he gazes down to the right towards Ophelia. She is seated on the bench at the right of the image. Ophelia sits with her body in three-quarter profile towards the viewer and away from Hamlet. Her face is turned towards the rightside of the image, while her eyes gaze back to the left at Hamlet. She wears a long floral-patterned dress. Her hair is braided to the back of her head. Her right arm is stretched out towards Hamlet with his letters in her hands. There is also a string swirled around her fingers and the letters. She leans on her left shoulder with her left hand beside an open book on her lap. Her right shoe is visible from under her dress’s hem. Between Hamlet and Ophelia at the corner of the bench is a nook with an open door, revealing a crucifix and two books. Under Hamlet’s right arm, the chair depicts the tree of life, bearing fruit with a snake curling around its trunk. The tree is surrounded by two carved robed figures. The figure on the left is seen in full and there is a halo around its head. The upturned seat depicts Uzzah the moment he touches the ark of the covenant and dies. The floor is tiled. To the left of the image, a small flowering tree stands in a pot in the corner. The background shows archways, curtains and two curved stairwells depicting the grandeur of the castle where this scene takes place. Above Hamlet’s head, in the distant background through the window, two small figures with spears can be seen walking along the castle’s outer wall on lookout.