 Apart from the dramatic linking of the character of Hamlet with the murderer Brutus (foreshadowing Hamlet's murder of Polonius later in the play), the audience's awareness of the identities of the actors and their previous roles is comically referenced.In the modern era, the rise of realism and naturalism led to the development of a performance convention known as the "fourth wall".The metaphor suggests a relationship to the mise-en-scène behind a proscenium arch.