History TearJerker / Hamlet

* The scene with [[AlasPoorYorick Yorick.]] Hamlet just found the skull of one of friends who died a long time ago bring so much joy to Hamlet, but now he's dead.

* Sian Brooke's Ophelia (2015 National Theatre production) just sounds so devastated as Creator/BenedictCumberbatch's Hamlet raged at her in the "nunnery" scene.

--> "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath [[TrueCompanions borne me on his back a thousand times;]] and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have [[HoYay kissed I know not how oft.]] Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?"

* The real context of the "what a piece of work is man" line - What Hamlet's really saying is that he's so depressed, no matter how lovely the world is, he cannot appreciate it.
* One version played Hamlet as TheStoic around all others; even the scene with Gertrude was done in an almost blank, totally unnerving near-monotone. Then when Horatio goes for the goblet, Hamlet gets hold of it and says "As thou'rt a man, give me the cup." Horatio does not. Hamlet's control wavers as he demands "Let ''go!''" and yet Horatio fights for the poisoned chalice. The next sentence is startlingly anguished, so much so that Horatio releases the cup on reflex and Hamlet flings it away, proceeding to give his last sets of lines with an overwhelming emotion that seems to have been bottled up throughout the entire play. It could easily have gone [[{{Narm}} over-the-top]], but somehow it worked.

** In one production, Ophelia had a heartbreakingly plaintive voice--and there was an extra dimension added to the scene by the fact that the guy who played Laertes was ''really her brother.''

** Let's not forget that Ophelia is the one character in the play who is 100% innocent, yet she is manipulated by Claudius and her own father, shoved away and persecuted by her supposed beloved, and abandoned by her brother (though not by his own intentions), not to mention having her father murdered by her beloved, all in the midst of an impending attack by the nation's enemy. For all her resolve, she eventually cracks. Her final scene is a complete heartbreaker, seeing her regress to an innocent, child-like demeanor rather than turn into a manipulative jerk or blind-rage asshole (or both, in Hamlet's case), like most other characters in the play aside from Horatio and Fortinbras, and maybe Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, depending on whether or not you believe in Tom Stoppard's follow-up play (there is some speculation that even Gertrude is manipulating emotions, though it is probably more out of guilt than greed).

* The scene when Insane!Ophelia comes wandering onstage, right as the newly-returned Laertes is flipping out at Claudius about his father Polonius' death. So his father's been murdered, and now his sister has lost it. A couple scenes later, he learns that she's drowned.

** In one middle school production, the girl playing Ophelia played her as [[{{Moe}} incredibly cute and sweet]]. Her despairing voice and singing that oscillated between [[HollywoodToneDeaf terrible]] and [[BeautifulSingingVoice beautiful]] brought tears to the eyes of many audience members.

* Hamlet's opening monologue, especially the last line - ''"break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue"''

** When Ophelia hands out (what she thinks are) flowers, babbling about their meanings, what, exactly, she's handing out varies from production to production. Some have her giving out actual flowers, while others have her giving out useless bits of grass and leaves, while still others have her giving out random objects; one production at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2016 had her ripping out chunks of her ''hair.'' The 2019 production at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater had her come onstage carrying a torn, bloodstained curtain, ripping pieces of fabric off of it and handing those out. Yes... the very curtain her ''father was stabbed through''. [[BreakTheCutie Poor girl]]...

*** A Korean comic had her handing out different household objects – such as scissors for her and Gertrude's rues –, which is PlayedForLaughs but somewhat even more tearjerking.

--> "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of [[TheJester infinite jest]], of most excellent fancy: he hath [[TrueCompanions borne me on his back a thousand times;]] and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have [[HoYay kissed I know not how oft.]] Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?"

** When Ophelia hands out (what she thinks are) flowers, babbling about their meanings, what, exactly, she's handing out varies from production to production. Some have her giving out actual flowers, while others have her giving out useless bits of grass and leaves, while still others have her giving out random objects; one production at the Royral Shakespeare Company in 2016 had her ripping out chunks of her ''hair.'' The 2019 production at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater had her come onstage carrying a torn, bloodstained curtain, ripping pieces of fabric off of it and handing those out. Yes... the very curtain her ''father was stabbed through''. [[BreakTheCutie Poor girl]]...

** When Ophelia hands out (what she thinks are) flowers, babbling about their meanings, what, exactly, she's handing out varies from production to production. Some have her giving out actual flowers, while others have her giving out useless bits of grass and leaves, while still others have her giving out random objects. The 2019 production at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater had her come onstage carrying a torn, bloodstained curtain, ripping pieces of fabric off of it and handing those out. Yes... the very curtain her ''father was stabbed through''. [[BreakTheCutie Poor girl]]...

--> "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that."''

* The ending of ''Hamlet''.

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-->'''[[AC:Hamlet]]''': The rest is silence.

* In the Theatre/TakarazukaRevue [[TheMusical production]], Ophelia sings most of her mad scene in a childish voice, on a disturbingly dissonant melody, right up until the "And will he not come again" line. The melody then becomes solemn and sad. Ophelia (played by Ranno Hana) looks straight at the camera, seemingly ''much'' more lucid than she had been throughout the scene, and returns to a normal voice. As this is her last time onstage [[note]]in the flesh, anyway. This production has her reappear with [[FourIsDeath three other ghosts]] to inform Hamlet of Claudius' wager on a duel between him and Laertes, which Osric does in the original.[[/note]], this implies that she is [[DyingAsYourself Dying As Herself]] and DrivenToSuicide.

** Seconded. The Ophelia in the production I saw had a heartbreakingly plaintive voice--and there was an extra dimension added to the scene by the fact that the guy who played Laertes was ''really her brother.''

*** A Korean comic had her handing out different household objects - such as scissors for her and Gertrude's rues -, which is PlayedForLaughs but somewhat even more tearjerking.

* For me, it's the scene with [[AlasPoorYorick Yorick.]] Hamlet just found the skull of one of friends who died a long time ago bring so much joy to Hamlet, but now he's dead.