By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Although it is not his most famous soliloquy from the play, Hamlet’s ‘’Tis now the very witching time of night’ speech, which brings Act 3 Scene 2 to a close, is notable for the imagery Hamlet uses as he prepares to go and speak to his mother, Gertrude.
Indeed, as the very phrase ‘witching time of night’ suggests, this speech is one of the reasons Hamlet is so often considered a ‘Gothic’ play, along with its castle setting, its Ghost, and its dark secret threatening to tear the family and kingdom apart.