SARAH: Ophelia portrays Hamlet as the conventional distraught lover who's gone mad from love: his jacket's undone, he's hatless, his stockings are unfastened and down around his ankles, and his face is as pale as his white shirt.

RALPH: Shakespeare has used a similar description elsewhere, in his comedy As You Like It, to make fun of the way that lovers look.

SARAH: Why does it matter that Hamlet's not wearing a hat? Well, it was customary to wear a hat indoors — remember, castles are cold! — and it was a required piece of clothing for a social meeting such as this.

RALPH: No wooing your beloved without a hat.

SARAH: Notice that once again we see Hamlet's external appearance as a reflection of his inner state. His interview with the ghost, and the revelation about his father's murder, has bewildered and shocked Hamlet, and it seems to have literally tranformed his appearance.

RALPH: Sarah, it's fascinating how Ophelia describes him as somone returning from Hell, not knowing in fact that Hamlet's just seen someone who's literally come back from the dead.