Read the excerpt from Hamlet, Act I, Scene ii.
[Exeunt all except HAMLET.]
Hamlet: O! that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew;
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d
His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world.
Fie on ’t! O fie! ’tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
What effect does the stage direction have on the scene?
By leaving Hamlet alone on stage, the audience learns how truly upset he is.
When everyone leaves, it shows how the rest of the family shuns Hamlet.
Having just Hamlet on the stage makes him the most appealing character.
When the audience sees Hamlet by himself they assume he has no friends.