1.
Thomas Kyd
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Thomas Kyd was an English playwright, the author of The Spanish Tragedy, and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama. Thomas Kyd was the son of Francis and Anna Kyd and was baptised in the church of St Mary Woolnoth in the Ward of Langborn, Lombard Street, London on 6 November 1558. The baptismal register at St Mary Woolnoth carries this entry, Thomas, son of Francis Kydd, Citizen, Francis Kydd was a scrivener and in 1580 was warden of the Scriveners Company. In October 1565 the young Kyd was enrolled in the newly founded Merchant Taylors School, fellow students included Edmund Spenser and Thomas Lodge. Here, Kyd received an education, thanks to Mulcasters progressive ideas. Apart from Latin and Greek, the curriculum included music, drama, physical education, there is no evidence that Kyd went on to university. He may have followed in his fathers professional footsteps because there are two written by him and his writing style is similar to that of a scrivener. Evidence suggests that in the 1580s Kyd became an important playwright, Francis Meres placed him among our best for tragedy and Heywood elsewhere called him Famous Kyd. Ben Jonson mentions him in the breath as Christopher Marlowe. The Spanish Tragedie was probably written in the mid to late 1580s, however, the play was usually known simply as Hieronimo, after the protagonist. It was arguably the most popular play of the Age of Shakespeare and set new standards in effective plot construction, in 1602 a version of the play with additions was published. Other works by Kyd are his translations of Torquato Tassos Padre di Famiglia, published as The Householders Philosophy, plays attributed in whole or in part to Kyd include Soliman and Perseda, King Leir, Arden of Feversham and Edward III. Kyd is more accepted to have been the author of a Hamlet. Some poems by Kyd exist, but it seems that most of his work is lost or unidentified, the success of Kyds plays extended to Europe. Versions of The Spanish Tragedy and his Hamlet were popular in Germany, the influence of these plays on European drama was largely the reason for the interest in Kyd among German scholars in the nineteenth century. He is also the author of a pamphlet in prose entitled The Murder of John Brewen. From 1587 to 1593 Kyd was in the service of an noble, since, after his imprisonment in 1593, he wrote of having lost the favours of my Lord. Proposed nobles include the Earl of Sussex, the Earl of Pembroke and he may have worked as a secretary, if he did not also write plays
2.
William Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
3.
Thomas Lodge
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Thomas Lodge was an English physician and author during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Thomas Lodge, born about 1558 in west Ham, was the son of Sir Thomas Lodge, Lord Mayor of London. He was educated at Merchant Taylors School and Trinity College, Oxford, taking his BA in 1577, in 1578 he entered Lincolns Inn, where, as in the other Inns of Court, a love of letters and a crop of debts were common. Lodge, disregarding the wishes of his family, took up literature, when the penitent Stephen Gosson had published his Schoole of Abuse, Lodge responded with Defence of Poetry, Music and Stage Plays, which shows a certain restraint, though both forceful and learned. The pamphlet was banned, but appears to have been circulated privately and it was answered by Gosson in his Playes Confuted in Five Actions, and Lodge retorted with his Alarum Against Usurers —a tract for the times which may have resulted from personal experience. In the same year he produced the first tale written by him on his own account in prose and verse, The Delectable History of Forbonius and Prisceria, both published and reprinted with the Alarum. From 1587 onwards he seems to have made a series of attempts at play writing, though most of those attributed to him are mainly conjectural. Having been to sea with Captain Clarke in his expedition to Terceira and the Canaries, Lodge in 1591 made a voyage with Thomas Cavendish to Brazil and the Straits of Magellan, returning home by 1593. Another romance in the manner of Lyly, Euphues Shadow, the Battaile of the Sences, two years afterwards he received the degree of M. D. from Oxford University. He was abroad on urgent private affairs of one kind and another in 1616, from this time to his death nothing further concerning him remains to be noted. Lodge while practising medicine in London lived first in Warwick Lane, afterwards in Lambert Hill and he died in Old Fish Street in 1625, apparently in the Roman Catholic communion. Lodges known dramatic work is small in quantity, in conjunction with Robert Greene he, probably in 1590, produced in a popular vein the odd but far from feeble play, A Looking Glass for London and England. He had already written The Wounds of Civil War, a good second-rate piece in the fashion of its age. That Lodge is the Young Juvenal of Greenes Groatsworth of Wit is no longer a generally accepted hypothesis and his second historical romance, the Life and Death of William Longbeard, was more successful than the first. Lodge also brought back with him from the new world A Margarite of America, to this tale Shakespeare was possibly indebted for the idea of Venus and Adonis. In a lost work, the Sailors Kalendar, he must in one way or another have recounted his sea adventures. After Lodge received his M. D. Lodge seems to have married his first wife Joan in or before 1583 and that his family viewed his conduct at the time with disfavour may be inferred from the absence of his name from his fathers will in 1583. Lodge and Joan had a daughter Mary and he married secondly Jane, widow of Solomon Aldred, at one time a Roman Catholic agent of Francis Walsingham in Rome
4.
Hamlet
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlets father, Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brothers widow. It has inspired many other writers—from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and he almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor, Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeares time. In the 400 years since its inception, the role has been performed by highly acclaimed actors in each successive century. Three different early versions of the play are extant, the First Quarto, the Second Quarto, each version includes lines and entire scenes missing from the others. The plays structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny, the protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his fathers brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King Hamlets widow, Gertrude, Hamlets mother, Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighboring Norway, which culminated when King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway, and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbrass infirm brother, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian kings son, Prince Fortinbras, is imminent. On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal castle and they vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed. As the court gathers the next day, while King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser Polonius, after the court exits, Hamlet despairs of his fathers death and his mothers hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself, as Poloniuss son Laertes prepares to depart for a visit to France, Polonius gives him contradictory advice that culminates in the ironic maxim to thine own self be true. Poloniuss daughter, Ophelia, admits her interest in Hamlet, and that night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Hamlet, telling the prince that he was murdered by Claudius and demanding that Hamlet avenge him. Hamlet agrees and the ghost vanishes, the prince confides to Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to put an antic disposition on and forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge secret. Privately, however, he remains uncertain of the ghosts reliability, soon thereafter, Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving crazily. Polonius blames love for Hamlets madness and resolves to inform Claudius, as he enters to do so, the king and queen finish welcoming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two student acquaintances of Hamlet, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the students investigate the cause of Hamlets mood, additional news requires that Polonius wait to be heard, messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the King of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to re-fight his fathers battles. The forces that Fortinbras conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland, Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlets behavior, and speaks to Hamlet in a hall of the castle to try to uncover more information. Hamlet feigns madness but subtly insults Polonius all the while, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his friends warmly, but quickly discerns that they are spies
5.
Hamlet Q1
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Q1 of Hamlet, or the First Quarto as it is also called, is a short early text of the Shakespearean play. The intended publication of the play is entered in the Stationers Register in 1602 by James Roberts and it was published by the booksellers Nicholas Ling and John Trundell, and printed by Valentine Simmes. Roberts later printed the Second Quarto, the other two early printed texts of Hamlet are the Second Quarto and First Folio. Both Q2 and F1 are more than 1600 lines longer than Q1, Q1 was unknown until 1823, when the first of only two known copies was discovered by Sir Henry Bunbury. Since then the relationship between Q1 and the other early texts of the play, as well as its origin as a text, has been extensively debated. In addition to the fact that Q1 is much shorter than both Q2 and the F1 version of the play, it has a number of unique characteristics, there are many oddities and unexplained bits of action, consistent with crude cutting of the text. There is a scene between Horatio and Gertrude in which Horatio tells her that Hamlet has escaped from the ship after discovering Claudius plan to kill him. Gertrude says that she now recognises Claudius villany, but she will soothe, another significant difference is that the character of Polonius is called Corambis while his servant Reynoldo is named Montano. Various suggestions have been made to explain this, G. R. Hibbard argues that these last changes were made because Q1 derives from a touring version of the play, which was intended to include a performance at Oxford university. Hibbard believes that the names were too close to those of two famous Oxford scholars, the universitys founder Robert Polenius and the Puritan theologian John Rainolds. Since Polonius is a parody of a pompous pseudo-intellectual and his servant acts as a spy, the title page of Q1 specifically states that the play was recently performed in the Cittie of London, as also in the two Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and else-where. This view became increasingly prominent in the 20th century and it was one of the publications named by the bibliographer Alfred W. Pollard as a bad quarto in 1909, a term he coined to distinguish several texts that he judged significantly corrupt. In 1915 Henry David Gray analysed Q1 using the model of memorial reconstruction and he concluded that the actor who played Marcellus was responsible for the reconstruction. He explained the fact that the scene, in which Marcellus does not appear, was also accurate by suggesting that the same actor must have also played one of the roles in that scene. Grey argued that hired actors playing minor roles would be susceptible to bribery than established actors in the company. An anonymous writer filled out the missing verses. In 1943 G. I. W. W. Greg had argued that the actor may also have played another role, that of Voltemar. The publication of the so-called good quarto of Hamlet so soon after Q1 has been explained as the result of the fact that Q1 was so corrupt, possibly Shakespeare or his company thought it necessary to publish the true text to preserve the authors reputation
6.
Thomas Nashe
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Thomas Nashe is considered the greatest of the English Elizabethan pamphleteers. He was a playwright, poet, and satirist and he is best known for his novel The Unfortunate Traveller. Thomas Nashe was the son of the parson William Nashe and Margaret and he was born and baptised in Lowestoft, on the coast of Suffolk, where his father, William Nashe, or Nayshe as it is recorded, was curate. Though his mother bore seven children, only two survived childhood, Israel and Thomas, the family moved to West Harling, near Thetford in 1573 after Nashes father was awarded the living there at the church of All Saints. Around 1581 Thomas went up to St Johns College, Cambridge as a sizar, from references in his own polemics and those of others, he does not seem to have proceeded Master of Arts there. Most of his biographers agree that he left his college about summer 1588, Some years later, William Covell wrote in Polimanteia that Cambridge has been unkind to the one to wean him before his time. Nashe himself claimed that he could have become a fellow had he wished, then he moved to London and started his literary career in earnest. The remaining decade of his life was dominated by two concerns, finding a patron and participating in controversies, most famously with Richard. He arrived in London with his one exercise in euphuism, The Anatomy of Absurdity and his first appearance in print was, however, his preface to Robert Greenes Menaphon, which offers a brief definition of art and overview of contemporary literature. After this he was drawn into the Martin Marprelate controversy on the side of the bishops, as with the other writers in the controversy, his share is difficult to determine. He was formerly credited with the three Pasquill tracts of 1589–1590, which were included in R. B, mcKerrows standard edition of Nashes works, however McKerrow himself later argued strongly against their being by Nashe. But there is no evidence Nashe had either time or means to go abroad, in 1590, he contributed a preface to an unlicensed edition of Philip Sidneys Astrophil and Stella, but the edition was called in, and the authorised second edition removed Nashes work. At some time in the early 1590s Nashe produced an erotic poem and it has been suggested that The Choice of Valentines was written possibly for the private circle of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby. The Choice of Valentines circulated only in manuscript and it describes the Valentines Day visit of a young man named Tomalin to the brothel where his lover, Mistris Francis, has recently become employed. Having paid ten gold pieces for her favours, Tomalin makes his way towards his erotic goal, and make me happie, stealing by degrees. First bare hir legs, then creepe up to her knees, the object of his desire, A pretty rising womb, is revealed. Unfortunately Tomalin finds the moment so exciting that he spends his all before the fight has begun, mistress Frances is disappointed and does what she can to revive things. Unhappyie me, quoth she, and wilt not stand, com, let me rubb and chafe it with my hand
7.
Hardin Craig
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Hardin Craig was an American Renaissance scholar and professor of English. Craig was born on a farm near Owensboro, Kentucky, to Robert and Mary Jane Craig and he earned his A. B. from Centre College 1897, and served as principal at Stanford Academy in Kentucky for one year. He began graduate study in 1898 at Princeton University under Thomas Marc Parrott, during two summers he studied with John Matthews Manly at the University of Chicago, and studied at Exeter College, Oxford, from 1901 to 1903. He returned to Princeton as an English instructor from 1903-1905, where he became one of Woodrow Wilsons first group of Edgerstoune School preceptors from 1905 to 1910, from 1910 to 1919 he was a professor of English at the University of Minnesota. While there he took leave for two years to serve in the Army as a second lieutenant in World War I. In 1919 Craig joined the English Department faculty at the University of Iowa, while there in 1922 he founded the Philological Quarterly. In 1928 he left Iowa to go to Stanford University and he became Scholar-in-Residence at Stephens College and then at Centre College until 1967, thus completing 65 years of teaching. Craig was a member of the committee of the Modern Language Association of America. He was considered to be an authority on Shakespeare and Milton and he died in Houston in 1968 at the age of 93. New Lamps for Old, A Sequel to The Enchanted Glass A New Look at Shakespeares Quartos Anderson, biographical Note at Hardin Craig Papers. University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections and University Archives
8.
OCLC
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The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
9.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
10.
Characters in Hamlet
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What follows is an overview of the main characters in William Shakespeares Hamlet, followed by a list and summary of the minor characters from the play. Three different early versions of the play survive, known as the First Quarto, Second Quarto, and First Folio, each has lines—and even scenes—missing in the others, and some character names vary. See also, Synopsis of Hamlet Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark, he is son to the late King Hamlet, Claudius is the King of Denmark, elected to the throne after the death of his brother, King Hamlet. Claudius has married Gertrude, his brothers widow, Gertrude is the Queen of Denmark, and King Hamlets widow, now married to Claudius, and mother to Hamlet. The Ghost appears in the image of Hamlets father, the late King Hamlet, Polonius is Claudiuss chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Laertes is the son of Polonius, and has returned to Elsinore from Paris, Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, and Laertess sister, who lives with her father at Elsinore. She is in love with Hamlet, Horatio is a good friend of Hamlet, from the university at Wittenberg, who came to Elsinore Castle to attend King Hamlets funeral. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are childhood friends and schoolmates of Hamlet, who were summoned to Elsinore by Claudius, Fortinbras Norwegian crown prince, who assumes the throne of Denmark after Hamlets death. Osric A character watching the duel of Hamlet and Laertes, Marcellus, Bernardo and Francisco are sentries at Elsinore. Francisco gives up his watch to Bernardo in the opening of the play, and it is Bernardo and Marcellus, Marcellus goes with Horatio to tell Hamlet about the Ghosts appearance. Marcellus is the most prominent of the three, barnardo is spelled Bernardo in Q2 and Barnard in Q1. Voltemand and Cornelius are ambassadors sent by the King of Denmark, Claudius and he is a servant to Polonius. Polonius sends Reynaldo to Paris to check up on what Laertes is doing and he informs Gertrude of Ophelias strange change in behaviour, before Ophelias first mad appearance. He is the courtier sent by Claudius to invite Hamlet to participate in the duel with Laertes, osric, as well as Polonius, engages with Hamlet in the elaborate, witty discourse, fully consistent with Baldassare Castigliones 1528 work, The Courtier. This work outlines several courtly rules, specifically advising royal retainers to amuse their masters with inventive language, the Players are a company of actors who arrive at Elsinore Castle. Friends of Hamlet, they had performed in the city. At Elsinore, they perform a version—which Hamlet has modified and called The Mousetrap—of the play The Murder of Gonzago in the play within a play and he is the leader of the troupe of touring actors. In the play within a play, he takes the part of the king who is murdered and this role was traditionally performed by a man, as were all the female parts in Hamlet, since women did not appear on stage in Elizabethan times
11.
Prince Hamlet
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Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet. He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew to the usurping Claudius, and son of King Hamlet, at the beginning of the play, he struggles with whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and struggles with his own sanity along the way. By the end of the tragedy, Hamlet has caused the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, Claudius and he is also indirectly involved in the deaths of his love Ophelia and of his mother Gertrude. The play opens with Hamlet deeply depressed over the recent death of his father, King Hamlet, one night, his fathers ghost appears to him and tells him that Claudius murdered him in order to usurp the throne, and commands his son to avenge his death. Claudius sends for two of Hamlets friends from Wittenberg, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to find out what is causing Hamlet so much pain, Claudius and his advisor Polonius convince Ophelia—Polonius daughter and Hamlets true love—to speak with Hamlet while they secretly listen. Ophelia greets him, and offers to return his remembrances, upon which Hamlet questions her honesty and tells her to get thee to a nunnery. Hamlet devises a test to see whether Claudius is guilty, he hires a group of actors to perform a play about the murder of a king in front of the royal court, Claudius demands the play be stopped half through because it is the cause of his guilty conscience. When Claudius leaves the audience deeply upset, Hamlet knows that the ghost was telling the truth, a second attempt on Claudius life ends in Polonius accidental death. Claudius, now fearing for his life, sends Hamlet to England, accompanied by Rosencrantz, alone, Claudius discloses that he is actually sending Hamlet to his death. Prior to embarking for England, Hamlet hides Polonius body, ultimately revealing its location to the King, meanwhile, her fathers death has driven Ophelia insane with grief, and Claudius convinces her brother Laertes that Hamlet is to blame. He proposes a match between the two. Laertes informs the king that he will poison the tip of his sword so that a mere scratch would mean certain death. Claudius plans to offer Hamlet poisoned wine if that fails, Gertrude enters to report that Ophelia has died. In the Elsinore churchyard, two clowns, typically represented as gravediggers, enter to prepare Ophelias grave, Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with one of them, who unearths the skull of a jester whom Hamlet once knew, Yorick. Ophelias funeral procession approaches, led by Laertes, Hamlet interrupts, professing his own love and grief for Ophelia. He and Laertes grapple, but the fight is broken up by Claudius, later that day, Hamlet tells Horatio how he escaped death on his journey, disclosing that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been sent to their deaths instead. A courtier, Osric, interrupts to invite Hamlet to fence with Laertes, despite Horatios warnings, Hamlet accepts and the match begins. After several rounds, Gertrude toasts Hamlet, accidentally drinking the wine he poisoned, between bouts, Laertes attacks and pierces Hamlet with his poisoned blade, in the ensuing scuffle, Hamlet is able to use Laertes own poisoned sword against him
12.
King Claudius
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King Claudius is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of William Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle and he obtained the throne of Denmark by murdering his own brother with poison and then marrying the late kings widow. He is loosely based on the Jutish chieftain Feng who appears in Chronicon Lethrense, there had never been an actual Danish King of that name. Claudius is seen at the beginning of the play to be a monarch as he deals diplomatically with such issues as the military threat from Norway. It is not until the appearance of King Hamlets Ghost in the courtyard that the reader questions his motives, during the plays progression he takes a turn for the worse by first resorting to spying, and, when that fails, murder. It is in Act III Scene 3, when Claudius forestalls Hamlets revenge by confessing his sins to God in his own private chapel and he is shown to be discontent and unhappy with the events taking place. If he were to truly repent, he would have to confess his sin and give up all he achieved through it, which he chooses not to do. Despite his remorse, the King still seeks Hamlets death in an effort to both his throne and his life, as he believes the prince is now aware of his part in Old King Hamlets death. When Laertes seeks revenge for his father Polonius death at Hamlets hands, Claudius finally concocts a plan to deal with Hamlet once. He arranges a match between Hamlet and Laertes, but plots with Laertes to poison his foil and give Hamlet a poisoned drink. The character Claudius is both the major antagonist of the piece and complex and he is the villain of the piece, as he admits to himself, O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven. Yet his remarkable self-awareness and remorse complicates Claudiuss villain status, much like Macbeth, Claudiuss fratricide is the corruption permeating the plays world – that which is, in the words of Marcellus, something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Claudius cruelty is reflected in his schemes to kill Hamlet – sending him to England to be killed, Claudius is also a heavy drinker, proposing numerous toasts and presiding over a rowdy court, he appropriately succumbs to his own poisoned wine. The king is not without redeeming virtues, though and he is seen to be an able monarch as well as a quick thinker and smooth talker, who in Act IV, Scene 5 converts Laertes from rebel to accomplice. In Act III, Scene 1 he fleetingly shows remorse for his crimes, and attempts to pray in Scene 3, even as he realizes that he cannot sincerely repent, and eventually continues in his evil ways. Most commentators agree that the evil nature is evident. The king is named after the Roman emperor Claudius I, who was considered the archetype of a ruler in Shakespeares time. / O heart, lose not thy nature, let not ever / The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom, although the character is referred to as Claudius, King of Denmark in one stage direction, the name Claudius is never spoken by any character in the play
13.
Gertrude (Hamlet)
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In William Shakespeares play Hamlet, Gertrude is Hamlets mother and Queen of Denmark. Her relationship with Hamlet is somewhat turbulent, since he resents her marrying her husbands brother Claudius after he murdered the King, Gertrude reveals no guilt in her marriage with Claudius after the recent murder of her husband, and Hamlet begins to show signs of jealousy towards Claudius. According to Hamlet, she mourned her husbands death before marrying Claudius. Gertrude is first seen in Act 1 Scene 2 as she tries to cheer Hamlet over the loss of his father and her worry over him continues into the second act, as she sides with King Claudius in sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to raise the spirits of her son. In the next act, Gertrude tells Claudius of Polonius murder and she also shows genuine compassion and affection as she watches along with others as Ophelia sings and acts in absolute madness. At Ophelias burial, she expresses her hope that the young woman might have married her son. When Hamlet appears and grapples with Laertes, she asks him to stop and for someone to hold him back—saying that he may be in a fit of madness now, but that will alleviate soon. At the beginning of the play, Gertrude lies more with her husband than her son, in the final scene, Gertrude notices Hamlet is tired during the fight with Laertes, and offers to wipe his brow. She drinks a cup of poison intended for Hamlet by the King, against the Kings wishes, and dies, shouting in agony as she falls, No, no, the drink, --O my dear Hamlet--The drink, other characters views of the Queen are largely negative. When the Ghost of her husband appears to Hamlet, he describes her as a seeming virtuous queen. However, he expresses that his love for her was benevolent as he states that he would have held back the elements if they visited her face too roughly. Hamlet sees her as an example of the weakness of women, Gertrudes last words show affection towards her son. She does not confess to any sins before she dies which suggests she was naïve about the corruption in Denmark. Therefore, Gertrude is most likely an honest queen and a mother as she makes no attempts to ease her conscience regarding whether she would be sent to Heaven or Hell. Other considerations point to Gertrudes complicity in the murder of Hamlets father, S. Eliot suggests that the main cause of Hamlets internal dilemma is Gertrudes sinful behaviour. He states, Shakespeares Hamlet. is a play dealing with the effect of a guilt upon her son. In the 1940s, Ernest Jones—a psychoanalyst and Freuds biographer—developed Freuds ideas into a series of essays that culminated in his book Hamlet and Oedipus. Influenced by Joness psychoanalytic approach, several productions have portrayed the closet scene, in this reading, Hamlet is disgusted by his mothers incestuous relationship with Claudius while simultaneously fearful of killing him, as this would clear Hamlets path to his mothers bed
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Polonius
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Polonius is a character in William Shakespeares Hamlet. He is chief counsellor of the king, and the father of Laertes, in Act II Hamlet refers to Polonius as a tedious old fool and taunts him as a latter day Jeptha. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet, Hamlet unknowingly kills Polonius, provoking Ophelias fit of madness, ultimately resulting in her early death and the climax of the play, a duel between Laertes and Hamlet. Father of Ophelia and Laertes, and counselor to King Claudius, he is described as a windbag by some and a rambler of wisdom by others. It has also suggested that he only acts like a foolish prating knave in order to keep his position and popularity safe. It is important to note that throughout the play, Polonius is characterized as a typical Renaissance new man, some adaptations show him conspiring with Claudius in the murder of King Hamlet. In Act 1, Scene 3, Polonius gives advice to his son Laertes and he finishes by giving his son his blessing, and is apparently at ease with his sons departure. However, in Act 2, Scene 1, he orders his servant Reynaldo to travel to Paris and spy on Laertes, Laertes is not the only character Polonius spies upon. He is fearful that Hamlets relationship with his daughter will hurt his reputation with the king and he and the king test his hypothesis by spying on and interrogating Ophelia. In his last attempt to spy on Hamlet, Polonius hides himself behind an arras in Gertrudes room, Hamlet deals roughly with his mother, causing her to cry for help. Polonius echoes the request for help and is heard by Hamlet, Polonius death at the hands of Hamlet causes Claudius to fear for his own life, Ophelia to go mad, and Laertes to seek revenge, which leads to the duel in the final act. The literary origins of the character may be traced to the Kings counselor found in the Belleforest, however, at least since the 19th century scholars have also sought to understand the character in terms of Elizabethan court politics. Polonius was first proposed as a parody of Queen Elizabeths leading counsellor, Lord Treasurer, israel Gollancz also suggested that Polonius might have been a satire on Burghley. The theory was often finessed with supplementary arguments, but also disputed, arden Hamlet editor Harold Jenkins, for example, criticised the idea of any direct personal satire of Burghley as unlikely and uncharacteristic of Shakespeare. Polonius is Latin for Polish or a/the Polish man, the English translation of the book refers to its author as a statesman of the polonian empyre. In the first quarto of Hamlet, Polonius is named Corambis and it has been suggested that this derives crambe or crambo, derived from a Latin phrase meaning reheated cabbage, implying a boring old man who spouts trite rehashed ideas. Whether this was the name of the character or not is debated. Various suggestions have been made to explain this, since Polonius is a parody of a pompous pseudo-intellectual, the name might have been interpreted as a deliberate insult
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Laertes (Hamlet)
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Laertes /leɪˈɜːrtiːz/ is a character in William Shakespeares play Hamlet. His name is taken from the father of Odysseus in Homers Odyssey, Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia. In the final scene, he kills Hamlet with a sword to avenge the deaths of his father and sister. While dying of the poison, he implicates King Claudius. The Laertes character is thought to be originated by Shakespeare, as there is no equivalent character in any of the sources for the play. Before Laertes returns to France from Denmark, returning to Denmark only to attend the coronation of King Claudius, his father, Polonius, during Laertess absence, Hamlet kills Polonius in Gertrudes parlor. Laertes, informed of his fathers death, returns to Denmark, Laertes confronts the King, thinking he was responsible for Polonius death. The King explains to him who the killer was, and incites Laertes to kill Hamlet. When Ophelia appears in her mad condition, Laertes laments, saying if she had her wits she could not persuade him more to revenge. Later, Laertes is informed of her death and she had climbed into a willow tree that hung over a brook, and then fell into the water when a branch broke. Too insane to save herself, she drowned and his sisters death strengthens Laertess resolve to kill Hamlet. At her funeral, Laertes asks why the normal Christian burial ceremony is not being carried out for his sister and he leaps into her grave and begs the attendants to bury him with her. Hamlet, who was watching from afar, advances and himself leaps into Ophelias grave. When Laertes attacks Hamlet, the two have to be back to avoid a fight. In the next scene, King Claudius arranges a match between Hamlet and Laertes. Laertes uses his sharp, poisoned sword instead of a bated sword, the King provides a poisoned drink as a backup measure. Before the match begins, Hamlet apologizes publicly to Laertes for the wrongs he has dealt him, Laertes accepts the apology, so he says, but he proceeds with the scheme to kill Hamlet. Hamlet is eventually wounded with the poisoned sword, then, in a scuffle, the swords are switched
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Ophelia
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Ophelia is a character in William Shakespeares play Hamlet. She is a noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes. She is one of the two characters in the play. In Ophelias first speaking appearance in the play, she is seen with her brother, Laertes, Laertes warns her that Hamlet, the heir to the throne of Denmark, does not have the freedom to marry whomever he wants. Ophelias father, Polonius, who enters while Laertes is leaving, also forbids Ophelia from pursuing Hamlet, based on what Ophelia told him, Polonius concludes that he was wrong to forbid Ophelia from seeing Hamlet, and that Hamlet must be mad with love for her. Polonius immediately decides to go to Claudius, the new King of Denmark and also Hamlets uncle and stepfather, Polonius later suggests to Claudius that they hide behind an arras to overhear Hamlet speaking to Ophelia, when Hamlet thinks the conversation is private. Since Polonius is now sure that Hamlet is lovesick for Ophelia, Claudius agrees to try the eavesdropping plan later. The plan leads to what is called the Nunnery Scene. Polonius instructs Ophelia to stand in the lobby of the castle while he, Hamlet enters the room in a different world from the others, and recites his To be, or not to be soliloquy. Hamlet approaches Ophelia and talks to her, saying Get thee to a nunnery, Hamlet asks Ophelia where her father is and she lies to him, saying her father must be at home. Hamlet realizes he is being spied and he exits after declaring, I say we will have no more marriages. Ophelia is left bewildered and heartbroken, sure that Hamlet is insane and she knows that ultimately it is she that broke him because she lied. She was the woman he had loved and a friend whom he trusted, after Hamlet storms out, Ophelia makes her O, what a noble mind is here oerthrown soliloquy. The next time Ophelia appears is at the Mousetrap Play, which Hamlet has arranged in order to try to prove that Claudius killed King Hamlet, Hamlet sits with Ophelia and makes sexually suggestive remarks, he also says that womans love is brief. Later that night, after the play, Hamlet kills Polonius during a meeting between Hamlet and his mother, Queen Gertrude. At Ophelias next appearance, after her fathers death, she has gone mad and she talks in riddles and rhymes, and sings some mad and bawdy songs about death and a maiden losing her virginity. She exits after bidding everyone a good night, the last time Ophelia appears in the play is after Laertes comes to the castle to challenge Claudius over the death of his father, Polonius. Ophelia sings more songs and hands out flowers, citing their symbolic meanings, although interpretations of the meanings differ
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Horatio (Hamlet)
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Horatio is a character in William Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet. Horatios origins are unknown, although he was present on the battlefield when Hamlets father defeated the ambitious Norway, Fortinbras, Horatio is evidently not directly involved in the intrigue at the Danish court, thus, he makes a good foil or sounding board for Prince Hamlet. He is often not identified as any specific position. Horatio makes his first appearance in act one, scene one and he, having attended a university, is called upon as a scholar and is told to communicate with the ghost by Marcellus, and unsuccessfully attempts to do so. It is he who explains the conditions surrounding King Hamlets death. Later, in act two, Horatio is revealed to be Hamlets most trusted friend, to whom Hamlet reveals all his plans. Horatio swears himself to secrecy about the ghost and Hamlets pretense of madness and he is also the first to know of Hamlets return from England, and is with him when he learns of Ophelias death. Hamlet, speaking of death as felicity, commands Horatio to wait a while to tell the story, Hamlets last request creates a parallel between the name Horatio and the Latin orator, meaning speaker. Horatio is also present during the play, the discovery of Ophelias madness, Hamlets display at Ophelias grave. He is the major character to survive the action of the play
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The Gravediggers
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The Gravediggers are examples of Shakespearean fools, a recurring type of character in Shakespeares plays. The Gravediggers appear briefly in Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet, making their appearance at the beginning of Act V. They are first encountered as they are digging a grave for the newly deceased Ophelia, soon, Hamlet enters and engages in a quick dialogue with the first Gravedigger. The beat ends with Hamlets speech regarding the circle of life prompted by his discovery of the skull of his fathers beloved jester, the penultimate scene of the play begins with the two clowns digging a grave for the late Ophelia. They debate whether she should be allowed to have a Christian burial and this quickly leads them into a discussion of the impact of politics on the decision, and the two parody lawyer speech. They present Ophelias case from both positions, if she jumped into the water, then she killed herself, but if the water effectively jumped on her, the First Gravedigger laments the fact that the wealthy have more freedom to commit suicide than the poor. The pair get off the subject of suicide almost as quickly as they began it, however, the First Gravedigger begins to goad and test the Second, beginning by confusing him with the double meaning of the word arms. The dialogue between the two ends when the First Gravedigger is unsatisfied by the answer to the riddle What is he that builds stronger than either the mason and that the Second Gravedigger gives, and consequently sends him off to bring back alcohol. The Second Gravedigger exits as Hamlet and Horatio enter, and the First Gravedigger begins to sing a song on the topics of love and he throws a skull up and out of the grave. Hamlet then talks to Horatio about how inappropriate it is to treat what used to be someones and he decides to ask the Gravedigger whose grave he is digging, but the Gravedigger will not reveal the answer without another witty exchange. Soon, it is revealed that the Gravedigger has been digging graves since the day Hamlet was born, the two then briefly discuss Hamlets insanity. It is shortly thereafter that the Gravedigger points out a skull that used to belong to the Yorick, Hamlet asks if this could really be so, and the Gravedigger responds with, Een that, marking his last line in the play. When together, the Gravediggers speak mainly in riddles and witty banter regarding death, with the first asking the questions, Gravedigger What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter. Other The gallows-maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants, and later in the scene, Gravedigger And when you are asked this question next, say “A grave-maker. ”The houses that he makes last till doomsday. Gravedigger But age with his stealing steps Hath clawed me in his clutch, Gravedigger A pickax and a spade, a spade, For and a shrouding sheet, Oh, a pit of clay for to be made For such a guest is meet. Many major and important themes of the play are discussed and brought up by the Gravediggers in the time they are on stage. The manner in which themes are presented, however, is notably different from the rest of the play. While the rest of the play is set solely in the world of Hamlets Denmark
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Yorick
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Yorick is a character in William Shakespeares play Hamlet. He is the court jester whose skull is exhumed by the gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1. The sight of Yoricks skull evokes a monologue from Prince Hamlet on mortality, Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy, he hath borne me on his back a thousand times, here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar, the opening words are very commonly misquoted as Alas, poor Yorick. This theme of Memento mori is common in 16th- and 17th-century painting, appearing in art throughout Europe, images of Mary Magdalene regularly showed her contemplating a skull. It is also a common motif in 15th- and 16th-century British portraiture. A more direct comparison is with pictures of children or young men. It was also a motif in emblem books and tombs. Hamlet meditating upon the skull of Yorick has become the most lasting embodiment of this idea, the name Yorick has most often been interpreted as an attempt to render a Scandinavian forename, usually either Erick or Jørg, a form of the name George. The name Rorik has also suggested, since it appears in Saxo Grammaticus, one of Shakespeares source texts. There has been no agreement about which name is most likely, an alternative suggestion is that it may be derived from the Viking name of the city of York, a connection that was first made in 1866. More recently Gerald Kilroy has suggested that it is an anagram of the Greek word Kurios, which he takes to be a reference to the Catholic martyr Edmund Campion. The name was used by Laurence Sterne in his comic novels Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey as the surname of one of the characters, parson Yorick is supposed to be descended from Shakespeares Yorick. Travens novel The Death Ship the doomed vessel is named the Yorikke, the earliest visual image of Hamlet holding Yoricks skull is a 1773 engraving by John Hall after a design by Edward Edwards in Bells edition of Shakespeares plays. It has since become a common subject and he was portrayed by comedian Ken Dodd in a flashback during the gravedigging scene in Kenneth Branaghs 1996 film Hamlet. Pianist André Tchaikowsky donated his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical productions and his skull was used during rehearsals for a 1989 RSC production of Hamlet starring Mark Rylance, but the company eventually decided to use a replica skull in the performance. Musical director Claire van Kampen, who later married Rylance, recalled, As a company and it is possible that some of us felt a certain primitive taboo about the skull, although the gravedigger, as I recall, was all for it
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To be, or not to be
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To be, or not to be is the opening phrase of a soliloquy spoken by Prince Hamlet in the so-called nunnery scene of William Shakespeares play Hamlet. Even so, Hamlet seems to consider himself alone, in the speech, Hamlet contemplates death and suicide, bemoaning the pain and unfairness of life but acknowledging that the alternative might be worse. The meaning of the speech is heavily debated but seems concerned with Hamlets hesitation to directly and immediately avenge his fathers murder on his uncle, stepfather and this version preserves most of the First Folio text with updated spelling and five common emendations introduced from the Second Quarto. Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep, To sleep, perchance to Dream, aye, theres the rub, for in that sleep of death, what dreams may come, soft you now, The fair Ophelia. Nymph, in thy Orisons Be all my sins rememberd, although the First Quarto was the earliest edition of Hamlet in print it is considered a bad quarto rather than a first or earlier draft. Some parts of Q1 reflect the text well, its version of To be does not, being much shorter. For ease of comparison the spelling here is updated as above, to be, or not to be, Ay theres the point, To Die, to sleep, is that all. But for this, the hope of this, Whod bear the scorns and flattery of the world, Scorned by the right rich. Which puzzles the brain, and doth confound the sense, Which makes us rather bear those evils we have, aye that, O this conscience makes cowards of us all, Lady in thy orizons, be all my sins remembered. Q1, as mentioned above, differs from its source material, a puzzling example is that dread is changed to hope in the line, But for a hope of something after death. In the lines above this, Hamlet questions why one would suffer the calamites of life when a bare bodkin could quiet that suffering. In the Second Quarto, Halmlet suggests that humanity endures life because we dread what comes after death, the change from dread to hope makes the phrasing nonsensical, since he is now suggesting that we refuse death because of a hope of something after death. The Second Quarto is considered the earliest and authoritative version of the play, soft you now, The faire Ophelia, Nimph in thy orizons Be all my ſinnes remembred. The differences in To be are mostly typographic, with increased punctuation and capitalization, tis a consummation Deuoutly to be wiſhd. To dye to sleepe, To sleep, perchance to Dream, I, theres the rub, For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come, When we haue ſhufflel’d off this mortall coile, soft you now, The faire Ophelia. Nimph, in thy Orizons Be all my ſinnes remembred, to be, or not to be is one of the most widely known and quoted lines in modern English, and the soliloquy has been referenced in innumerable works of theatre, literature and music. In 1963 at a debate in Oxford, Black liberation leader Malcolm X quoted the first few lines of the soliloquy to make a point about extremism in defense of liberty, james dystopian novel The Children of Men refers to expected or forced mass suicides of the elderly as Quietus
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Induction (play)
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Typically, an induction precedes the main text of a play. Inductions are a feature of plays written and performed in the Renaissance period. While Shakespeare plays do not typically have inductions, they are depicted as part of the device of the play within the play. Examples include the show in Hamlet and the address to the audience by Puck in A Midsummer Nights Dream. Another example, in The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd, is the introduction to that play by the ghost of Andrea who preps the audience by laying out the story to come. Likewise, Shakespeares The Taming of the Shrew opens with induction scenes which involve characters watching the play proper
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Sources of Hamlet
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The sources of Hamlet, a tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601, trace back as far as pre-13th century Icelandic tales. The generic hero-as-fool story is so old and is expressed in the literature of so many cultures that scholars have hypothesized that it may be Indo-European in origin. A Scandinavian version of the story of Hamlet, Amleth or Amlóði was put into writing in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus around 1200 AD in the Gesta Danorum. Similar accounts are found in the Icelandic Saga of Hrolf Kraki, a reasonably accurate version of Saxos story was translated into French in 1570 by François de Belleforest in his Histoires Tragiques. Belleforest embellished Saxos text substantially, almost doubling its length, after this point, the ancestry of Shakespeares version of Hamlet becomes more difficult to trace. Many literary scholars believe that Shakespeares main source was an earlier play—now lost—known today as the Ur-Hamlet, possibly written by Thomas Kyd, the Ur-Hamlet would have been in performance by 1589 and was seemingly the first to include a ghost in the story. Using the few comments available from theatre-enthusiasts at the time, scholars have attempted to trace exactly where the Ur-Hamlet might have ended, a few scholars have suggested that the Ur-Hamlet is an early draft of Shakespeares, rather than the work of Kyd. Regardless of the surrounding the Ur-Hamlet, though, several elements of the story changed. Unlike earlier versions, Shakespeares Hamlet does not feature an omniscient narrator of events, the plays setting in Elsinore also differs from legendary versions. The story of the prince who plots revenge on his uncle for killing his father is an old one, older written and oral traditions from various cultures influenced Saxos work. Amleth probably derived from a tale told throughout Scandinavia. Parallels can be found with Icelandic legend, though no written version of the original Icelandic tale survives from before the 16th century, Torfaeus, a scholar in 17th century Iceland, made the connection between Saxos Amleth and local oral tradition about a Prince Ambales. Torfaeus dismissed the local tradition as an old wives tale due to its incorporation fairy-tale elements and quasi-historical legend, similarities include the princes feigned madness, his accidental killing of the kings counsellor in his mothers bedroom, and the eventual slaying of his uncle. The original Amlóði story has been surmised to be derived from a 10th-century Old Icelandic poem, the hero as fool story has many parallels and can be classified as a universal, or at least common Indo-European, narrative topos. In Saga of Hrolf Kraki, the king has two sons—Hroar and Helgi—who assume the names of Ham and Hráni for concealment. They spend most of the story in disguise, rather than feigning madness, the sequence of events differs from Shakespeares as well. In contrast, the Roman story of Brutus focuses on feigned madness and its hero, Lucius, changes his name and persona to Brutus, playing the role to avoid the fate of his father and brothers, and eventually slaying his familys killer, King Tarquinus. In addition to writing in the Latin language of the Romans, Saxo adjusted the story to reflect classical Roman concepts of virtue, a reasonably accurate version of Saxos story was translated into French in 1570 by François de Belleforest in his Histoires Tragiques
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Critical approaches to Hamlet
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From its premiere at the turn of the 17th century, Hamlet has remained Shakespeares best-known, most-imitated, and most-analyzed play. The character of Hamlet played a role in Sigmund Freuds explanation of the Oedipus complex. Even within the field of literature, the plays influence has been strong. As Foakes writes, No other characters name in Shakespeares plays, interpretations of Hamlet in Shakespeares day were very concerned with the plays portrayal of madness. The play was often portrayed more violently than in later times. The plays contemporary popularity is suggested both by the five quartos that appeared in Shakespeares lifetime and by frequent contemporary references and these allusions suggest that by the early Jacobean period the play was famous for the ghost and for its dramatization of melancholy and insanity. The procession of mad courtiers and ladies in Jacobean and Caroline drama frequently appears indebted to Hamlet, other aspects of the play were also remembered. There is some speculation that Hamlet may have been censored during this period, see Contexts. Theatres were closed under the Puritan Commonwealth, which ran from 1640–1660, when the monarchy was restored in 1660, theatres re-opened. Early interpretations of the play, from the late 17th to early 18th century, critics responded to Hamlet in terms of the same dichotomy that shaped all responses to Shakespeare during the period. On the other, Shakespeare remained popular not just with mass audiences but even with the critics made uncomfortable by his ignorance of Aristotles unities. Thus, critics considered Hamlet in a milieu which abundantly demonstrated the plays dramatic viability, John Evelyn saw the play in 1661, and in his Diary he deplored the plays violation of the unities of time and place. Yet by the end of the period, John Downes noted that Hamlet was staged more frequently and profitably than any play in Bettertons repertory. In addition to Hamlets worth as a hero, Restoration critics focused on the qualities of Shakespeares language and, above all. Critics disparaged the indecorous range of Shakespeares language, with Poloniuss fondness for puns, even more important was the question of decorum, which in the case of Hamlet focused on the plays violation of tragic unity of time and place, and on the characters. Jeremy Collier attacked the play on both counts in his Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage, published in 1698, comparing Ophelia to Electra, he condemns Shakespeare for allowing his heroine to become immodest in her insanity, particularly in the Flower Scene. Colliers attack occasioned a widespread, often vituperative controversy, Hamlet in general and Ophelia in particular were defended by Thomas Durfey and George Drake almost immediately. Drake defends the plays justice on the grounds that the murderers are caught in their own toils, in the next decade, Rowe and Dennis agreed with Collier that the play violated justice, Shaftesbury and others defended the play as ultimately moral
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Amleth
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Amleth is a figure in a medieval Scandinavian legend, the direct predecessor of the character of Prince Hamlet, the hero of William Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The chief authority for the legend of Amleth is Saxo Grammaticus, Saxos version is similar to the one given in the 12th-century Chronicon Lethrense. In both versions, prince Amleth is the son of Horvendill, king of the Jutes, the Old Icelandic form Amlóði is recorded once in the Prose Edda. The 12th-century Amlethus, Amblothæ may easily be latinizations of the Old Norse name, the etymology of the name is unknown, and there are various suggestions. Icelandic Amlóði is recorded as a term for a fool or simpleton in reference to the character of the early modern Icelandic romance or folk tale. One suggestion is based on the fool or trickster interpretation of the name, composing the name from Old Norse ama to vex, annoy, molest, amlóða kvren is a kenning for the sea in the Skáldskaparmál section of the Prose Edda, attributed to a skald named Snæbjörn. Attention has also drawn to the similarity of Amleth to the Irish name Amhlaoibh. Contemporary runic research does not support this conclusion and it has frequently been assumed that the Scandinavian legend ultimately goes back to an Old Norse poem of about the 10th century. But no such poem has survived, and the two 12th-century Latin versions of the story are our oldest source, briefly, Saxos version of Hamlets history is as follows, Gervendill, governor of Jutland, was succeeded by his sons Horvendill and Feng. Horvendill, on his return from a Viking expedition in which he had slain Koll, king of Norway, married Gerutha, daughter of Rørik Slyngebond, king of Denmark, she bore him a son, Amleth. Amleth, afraid of sharing his fathers fate, pretended to be an imbecile, among other things they sought to entangle him with a young girl, his foster-sister, but his cunning saved him. When, however, Amleth slew the eavesdropper hidden, in his mothers room, accordingly, he dispatched him to Britain in company with two attendants, who bore a letter enjoining the king of the country to put him to death. After marrying the princess, Amleth returned at the end of a year to Denmark, of the wealth he had accumulated he took with him only certain hollow sticks filled with gold. He arrived in time for a funeral feast, held to celebrate his supposed death and he slew Feng with his own sword. After a long harangue to the people he was proclaimed king, returning to Britain for his wife he found that his father-in-law and Feng had been pledged each to avenge the others death. On his return to Britain his first wife, whose love proved stronger than her resentment, in the ensuing battle, Amleth won the day by setting up the fallen dead from the day before on stakes, thereby terrifying the enemy. He then returned with his two wives to Jutland, where he had to encounter the enmity of Wiglek, Røriks successor and he was slain in a battle against Wiglek. Hermuthruda, although she had promised to die with him, married the victor, Saxo states that Amleth was buried on a plain in Jutland, famous for his name and burial place
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Hamlet bibliographies
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Over 30 years ago a renowned Hamlet scholar expressed his astonishment that some 400 works a year dealing with the play were being received at The Shakespeare Quarterly. The rate of Hamlet studies has increased considerably since then. To make any headway in the study of any aspect of Hamlet, the most up-to-date resource is the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D. C. their publication, The Shakespeare Quarterly, has one issue per year devoted entirely to bibliography. The first modern attempt at a collation of analyses was in 1877 and it has been reprinted as, Hamlet, The New Variorum Edition, Horace Howard Furness, ed. Vol. II, ISBN 0-486-41156-7 The following list of subsequent bibliographies is ordered chronologically, A Hamlet Bibliography and Reference Guide, Hamlet in the 1940s, An Annotated Bibliography. ISBN 0-8240-8844-1 Hamlet in the 1950s, An Annotated Bibliography, ISBN 0-8240-9119-1 Readings on the Character of Hamlet, 1661-1947. ISBN 978-0-415-35309-0 Hamlet in the 1960s, An Annotated Bibliography, ISBN 0-8240-8990-1 Aspects of Hamlet, Articles Reprinted from Shakespeare Survey. Kenneth Muir and Stanley Wells, eds, New York, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1979. ISBN 0-521-22228-1 Hamlet in the 1980s, An Annotated Bibliography, london, Routledge William L. Godshalk and Marsha Robinson, eds. ISBN 0-8153-1161-3 The Essential Shakespeare, An Annotated Bibliography of Major Modern Studies, ISBN 978-0-8161-7332-7 Hamlet, An Annotated Bibliography of Shakespeare Studies, 1604-1998. Mooney, Michael E. Asheville, NC, Pegasus Press,1999, ISBN 1-889818-21-6 Hamlet bibliography is flourishing online. Hamletworks is another project with encyclopedic aims, as in HyperHamlet, the database contains entries detailing the textual and critical history of every line of the play. Currently on the website is commentary from some 40 editions of Hamlet collated for every line of the play, the site also has facsimiles of promptbooks and editions from the 17th century on. Also available are the texts of Hamlet Studies. Hamlet on the Ramparts is devoted only to two scenes of the play, I, 4-5 and it has numerous sections on what goes into analyisis, facsimiles of some 18th-century editions, and a viewer with which two sets of material can be viewed on the same screen. For example, a text can be split-screened with a Quarto. Hamlet Haven covers in detail material published between 1991 and 2001, with sections that focus on the characters, popular subjects e. g. music, law, friendship. Hamlet Online is a small and eclectic site with Web links on the play
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Horwendill
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Horwendill was a legendary Jutish chieftain, who is the prototype for William Shakespeares King Hamlet, Prince Hamlets father. He appears in Chronicon Lethrense and in Saxo Grammaticus Gesta Danorum, the Chronicon Lethrense tell that the Danish king Rorik Slengeborre put Horwendill and Feng as his rulers in Jutland, and gave his daughter to Horwendill as a reward for his good services. Horwendill and the daughter had the son Amblothe, the jealous Feng killed Horwendill and took his wife. Saxo Grammaticus has a different version of events. Saxo states that Horvendill and Feng were the sons of Jutlands ruler Gervendill, on his return from a Viking expedition in which he had slain Koll, King of Norway, Horvendill married Gerutha, the Danish king Rørik Slyngebonds daughter, who bore him a son, Amleth. Horwendill is the hero of James Branch Cabells historical novel Hamlet Had an Uncle and his name also probably suggested that of Horvendile, the nemesis of Jurgen and his descendants in Cabells Biography of the Life of Manuel series. Ghost Gertrude Peter Tunstalls translation of the Chronicon lethrense at The Chronicle of the Kings of Lejre and Northvegr, The Saga of Hrolf Kraki, book Three of Gesta Danorum at the Online Medieval and Classical Library
27.
Saxo Grammaticus
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Saxo Grammaticus, also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund and he is the author of the first full history of Denmark. The Jutland Chronicle gives evidence that Saxo was born in Zealand and it is unlikely he was born before 1150 and it is supposed that his death could have occurred around 1220. His name Saxo was a name in medieval Denmark. The name Grammaticus was first given to him in the Jutland Chronicle and he lived in a period of warfare and Danish expansion, led by Archbishop Absalon and the Valdemars. The Danes were also being threatened by the Wends who were making raids across the border, Valdemar I had also just won a civil war and later Valdemar II led an expedition across the Elbe to invade Holstein. Sven Aggesen, a Danish nobleman and author of an earlier history of Denmark than Saxos, describes his contemporary, Saxo. This gives evidence that Saxo and Sven might have soldiered in the Hird or royal guard since Sven used the word contubernium in reference to them, there is also a Saxo to be found on a list of clergy at Lund, where there was a Sven recorded as Archdeacon. Likewise there is Dean Saxo who died in 1190, however the date does not match what is known about Saxo. Both arguments, for a secular or religious Saxo, would confirm that he was educated, as clergy he would have received training in Latin. Saxo comes from a family and writes that he is himself committed to being a soldier. He tells us that he follows the ancient right of hereditary service, Saxos education and ability supports the idea that he was educated outside Denmark. Some suggest the title Grammaticus refers not to his education but rather his elaborate Latin style and we know from his writing that he was in the retinue and received the patronage of Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, who was the foremost advisor to King Valdemar I. In his will Absalon forgives his clerk Saxo a small debt of two and a half marks of silver and tells him to return two borrowed books to the monastery of Sorø, the legacy of Saxo Grammaticus is the sixteen book heroic history of the Danes called Gesta Danorum. In the preface to the work, Saxo writes that his patron Absalon, the history is thought to have been started about 1185, after Sven Aggesen wrote his history. The goal of Gesta Danorum was as Saxo writes to glorify our fatherland, Saxo also may have owed much to Plato, Cicero and also to more contemporary writers like Geoffrey of Monmouth. Saxos history of the Danes was compiled from sources that are of historical value. He drew on oral tales of the Icelanders, ancient volumes, letters carved on rocks and stone, the history is composed of sixteen books and extends from the time of the founders of the Danish people, Dan I of Denmark and Angul into about the year 1187
28.
House of Gonzaga
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Their family includes a saint, twelve cardinals and fourteen bishops. Two Gonzaga descendants became empresses of the Holy Roman Empire, the first members of the family of historical importance are known to have collaborated with the Guelph faction alongside the monks of the Polirone Abbey. Starting from the 12th century they became a dominant family in Mantua, growing in wealth when their allies, the Bonacolsi, defeated the traditional familiar enemy, the Casalodi. Ludovico was succeeded by Guido and Ludovico II, while Feltrino, lord of Reggio until 1371, formed the cadet branch of the Gonzaga of Novellara, whose state existed until 1728. Francesco I abandoned the alliance with the Visconti of Milan. In 1530 Federico II received the title of Duke of Mantua, in 1531, the family acquired the Marquisate of Montferrat through marriage. Through maternal ancestors, the Gonzagas inherited also the Imperial Byzantine ancestry of the Paleologus, the Gonzaga-Nevers later came to rule Mantua again when Louiss son Charles inherited Mantua and Montferrat, triggering the War of the Mantuan Succession. Another cadet branch were first sovereign counts, later dukes of Guastalla and they descended from Ferrante, a younger son of Duke Francesco II of Mantua. Ferrantes grandson, Ferrante II, also played a role in the War of the Mantuan Succession, a further cadet branch was that of Sabbioneta, founded by Gianfrancesco, son of Ludovico III. Marie Louise Gonzaga, daughter of Prince Charles Gonzaga-Nevers, was a Polish queen consort from 1645 to her death in 1667. Two daughters of the house, both named Eleanor Gonzaga, became Holy Roman Empresses, by marrying emperors Ferdinand II of Germany and Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, from the latter Empress Eleanor, the current heirs of the Gonzaga descend. St. Aloysius Gonzaga was a member of a branch of this family. The House of Gonzaga is the inspiration for the play-within-the-play in Shakespeares Hamlet, in Act 3 scene 2, they act out a play called The Murder of Gonzago. Gonzaga rule continued in Mantua until 1708 and in Guastalla until 1746, both ruling lines became extinct, and the headship of the House of Gonzaga passed to the Vescovato line, descended from Giovanni, a son of Federico I Gonzaga. That branch, shorn of sovereign domains, is extant and its head is Don Maurizio Ferrante Gonzaga, Principe del Sacro Romano Impero, Marchese Gonzaga, Conte di Villanova, Conte di Cassolnovo, Marchese del Vodice, Signore di Vescovato, Patrizio Veneto. The branches of the Gonzaga family, showing marquises and dukes of Mantua in bold, dukes of Nevers and Rethel in italics and the Guastalla line to the right
29.
Literary influence of Hamlet
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William Shakespeares Hamlet is a tragedy, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. Hamlet is the longest play—and Hamlet is the largest part—in the entire Shakespeare canon, critics say that Hamlet offers the greatest exhibition of Shakespeares powers. See also Hamlet in popular culture Hamlet is one of the works in the English language. As such, it has proved an influence in literature. For instance, Henry Fieldings Tom Jones, published about 1749, merely describes a visit to Hamlet by Tom Jones, in the early 1850s, in Pierre, Herman Melville focuses on a Hamlet-like characters long development as a writer. Ten years later, Dickens Great Expectations contains many Hamlet-like plot elements, it is driven by revenge actions, contains ghost-like characters, academic Alexander Welsh notes that Great Expectations is an autobiographical novel and anticipates psychoanalytic readings of Hamlet itself. About the same time, George Eliots The Mill on the Floss was published, scholar Marianne Novy suggests that Eliot demythologises Hamlet by imagining him with a reputation for sanity, notwithstanding his frequent monologues and moodiness towards Ophelia. Novy also suggests Mary Wollstonecraft as an influence on Eliot, critiquing the trivialisation of women in contemporary society, also, because of the criticism of the sexism, American author Lisa Klein wrote Ophelia, a novel that portrays Ophelia, too, as feigning madness and surviving. The book has a focus on Ophelias role, and how the sexism from Shakespeares era translates to sexism in modern society for young women, saving Hamlet will be published by Disney Hyperion on November 1st,2016. All references to Hamlet, unless specified, are taken from the Arden Shakespeare Q2. Under their referencing system,3.1.55 means act 3, scene 1, references to the First Quarto and First Folio are marked Hamlet Q1 and Hamlet F1, respectively, and are taken from the Arden Shakespeare Hamlet, the texts of 1603 and 1623. Their referencing system for Q1 has no act breaks, so 7.115 means scene 7, penguin, London ISBN 0-14-028592-X Novy, Marianne. Engaging with Shakespeare, Responses of George Eliot and Other Women Novelists. in Thompson, narration and Staging in Hamlet and its afternovels in Shaughnessy. Thompson, Ann and Neil Taylor, eds, Hamlet, The Texts of 1603 and 1623. Hamlet in his Modern Guises in Thompson and Taylor, ISE — Internet Shakespeare Editions provides authentic transcripts and facsimiles of the First Quarto, Second Quarto, and First Folio versions of the play. Hamlet — plain vanilla text at Project Gutenberg, nine Hamlets — An analysis of the play and 9 film versions, at the Bright Lights Film Journal The Hamlet Weblog — a weblog about the play. HyperHamlet — A project at the University of Basel
