A term that has become fairly pervasive in the discussion of drama is "metatheatre". It usually refers to dramatic characters that are at least partially conscious of being in a play. It can also refer to the complex responses that audiences may have while viewing a multi-leveled piece. I became aware of many examples of both of the above senses during the time that I spent studying Hamlet recently. I'll give one example today, and one tomorrow. But perhaps a better word for these would be metapoetry, as they both deal with an awareness of the difficulties in its interpretation and comprehension. The first occurs at the beginning of 4.5, where a gentleman and Horatio are trying to convince the queen to intercede with Ophelia, who has recently gone mad after the death of her father. The gentleman is trying to warn the queen that the people will be made afraid and perhaps angry if Ophelia is left to wander about, talking of who-knows-what:

She speaks much of her father; says she hears

There's tricks i' the world; and hems, and beats her heart;

Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,

That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing,

Yet the unshaped use of it doth move

The hearers to collection; they aim at it,

And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;

Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,

Indeed would make one think there might be thought,

Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.

Of course, this could be also considered as a comment on the interpretation of poetry, where often readers might "botch the words up fit to their own thoughts". And in a play that deals deeply with themes concerning the nature of language, we are presented with one more pitfall to understand - and thus avoid. The second example is found in the conversation between Hamlet and Osric (the sycophantic courtier who has come to bring the formal offer of the fencing exhibition that will ultimately lead to the deaths of the four remaining central characters). Here Hamlet asks for a definition from Osric, who has been showing off his vocabulary for the prince to humourous effect, and Horatio comments, "I knew you must be edified by the margent ere you had done." At which point, the reader might look up "margent" in the margin or on the facing page (i.e. the glossary), and the joke becomes clear.