ABSTRACT
The presence of a writer/director is one plausible explanation for the scarcity of stage directions in printed play texts; another is that the absence of detailed directions in printed texts may have been a habit early modern theater companies developed to prevent a successful production from being duplicated by another company. Shakespeare's frequent use of stage directions both visible and buried to direct the actor's face is not an uncommon practice among early modern dramatists; surviving stage directions instruct actors to look wrathfully, angrily, in great sorrow, and expressing all signs of joy. A familiar example of Shakespeare's use of indirect stage directions to complicate questions of identity and virtue is found in the first act of Hamlet. The Ghost's actions convey a nuanced account of his emotions guilty and sorrowful; offended and fearful; longing to speak but unable or unwilling to do so and reinforce the mysteries of his origins while complicating the motive for his appearance.
