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Hamlet is replete with references to visual culture. Apparel, cosmetics, color, and accoutrements appear in the dialogue and stage directions of virtually every scene in Shakespeare's longest play. These references are more than literary allusions. They are also markers that hint at the way Shakespeare's original production was staged, seen, and understood in the early modern English theater. In recent years, scholars have addressed the importance that costumes served in establishing the visual world of performance on the Shakespearean stage. Interestingly, in these studies, Hamlet has received only passing attention.
This lapse is surprising in light of Hamlet's importance in literary his- tory and even more surprising when we note the sheer number of visual references that appear in the play. Additionally, it should be acknowledged that more textual evidence exists to establish how Hamlet appeared on stage in the early 17* century than there is for perhaps any other dra- matic character in the period. Examining the play, we can determine how Hamlet was dressed from head to foot. Hamlet mentions his "inky cloak" and "customary suits of solemn black" while talking with his mother (1.2.76-78).1 Additionally, if we trust Ophelia (and there is no reason at this point not to), his black apparel included a doublet, hat, and stockings with garters (2.1.75-78). Breeches would have accompanied the stockings. The shirt underneath his doublet is noted to be white, for Hamlet's face was as pale as it is. Hamlet also wears a sword, for he draws the weapon at two different points in the play (1.5 and 3.4). He has a beard, for he mentions it in a soliloquy (2.2.506-08).2 In the first quarto, Ophelia says that Hamlet's shoes were untied (6.43-44).3 Taken together, this informa- tion provides a fairly thorough image of the melancholy Dane.
To put on his antic disposition, Ophelia states that Hamlet wore his doublet unbraced, had no hat upon his head, and displayed stockings that were "fouled, ungartered and down-gyved to his ankle" (2.1.76-77). It is unclear if Hamlet ever appeared on stage in this state of disrepair. He may have simply appeared in his shirt to suggest madness. Anthony Scoloker's 1604 poem Diaphantus states that the hero "Puts off his cloathes; his shirt he onely weares, / Much...