Table of Contents

1. Shakespeare's Hamlet and the English Renaissance Stage or Playhouse
2. The State of the Texts of Shakespeare's Plays, Especially Hamlet; Foolishness of Writers Questioning Shakespeare's Authorship of the Plays; Recommended Editions
3. Shakespeare's Hamlet & the Visual Arts & Music
4. Shakespeare, Hamlet, and Classical (Greco-Roman) Culture -- Works Covered at the Beginning of Humn. 2001
5. Plot Summary of the Play
6. Notes and Questions on the Play: General
7. Notes and Questions on the Play: Specific

1. Shakespeare's Hamlet and the English Renaissance Stage or Playhouse

        As the ancient Greek playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes wrote their plays -- texts that were also scripts -- they had in mind the particular stage, the ancient Greek stage, for which they were writing: its physical aspects, which are still evident today both in archeological remnants and in some instances, remodelings or recreations. They had in mind how the text or script would interact with physical aspects of the stage for production and communication (themes, symbolism, characterization). Likewise, Shakespeare and the other English dramatists of his era, when writing their plays -- texts that were also scripts -- had in mind the particular stage, the English Renaissance stage, for which they were writing: its physical aspects and how their texts or scripts could make use of these for production and communication (themes, symbolism, characterization). The English Renaissance stage and playhouse developed from a combination of stages:

** the plain planks-on-barrels "booth stage" of the Middle Ages, which lasted into the eighteenth century because of its utility for producing plays in the countryside and small towns or even villages (Shakespeare alludes in 2.2 [Act 2, Scene 2] of Hamlet to this sort of touring enforced on adult acting companies because of competition from the privileged company of child actors, who were being favored by aristocratic audiences at the time to the annoyance of Shakespeare and other members of the professional adult acting community)

** the planks-on-barrels or "booth stage" that was moved into an inn-yard (Middle Ages onward), or bull-baiting or bear-baiting ring (Renaissance era: lots of fun from tethering a bull or bear to a post in the middle of the ring and then setting other wild animals, often dogs, on it to see how much physical damage could be done to the animals -- cock-fighting and dog-fighting go on in twentieth-century and twenty-first-century America, incidentally, for those who find this activity "entertaining")

** the architectural features of the typical aristocratic hall in one of the great houses or even a palace belonging to a member of the nobility

        The planks-on-barrels booth stage in the countryside had the advantage of being portable and easily set up; its disadvantage is that collecting money for the performance was more difficult than a restricted space entrance into which required an admission fee.

The planks-on-barrels booth stage was easily set up in an inn-yard or bull-baiting (or bear-baiting) ring, and had the advantage of a location associated with "entertainment" and, most importantly, a restricted space entrance into which required an admission fee.

The great houses of the aristocracy probably helped to contribute, along with the inn-yard, the idea of two doors at opposite ends of the stage, along with a balcony, for an elevated staging level.

What finally resulted was recorded by a visitor to England in 1596, Johannes De Witt, a Dutch priest, and is one of the few, precious contemporary drawings of what the public outdoors English Renaissance stage looked like (the picture is usually referred to as "the De Witt Swan drawing," since it was a cartoon of the Swan playhouse):

        In 1576, just outside London, and not so incidentally just outside the jurisdiction of the litigious and somewhat malevolent City Council, whose Puritan members disapproved of drama and theaters (and indeed closed them down when the Puritans came to power in 1641-42), James Burbage built the first English playhouse, which he named with an inspired sense of descriptive simplicity The Theater. After The Theater, there followed a succession of public playhouses, including The Curtain (1577), The Rose (1586), The Swan (1595), The Globe (1599), The Fortune (1600), The Red Bull (1605), and The Hope (1614). Also following The Theater, though eschewing its rather unsavory and disreputable neighborhood of Shoreditch, were the private playhouses, so-called, in part, because the sponsors of the first one sought privileges not granted to public playhouses, and in part because they charged a higher admission fee and attracted a more aristocratic audience. These included Blackfriars (1576 and 1600), St. Paul's or Paul's School (1599), The Cockpit (also called The Phoenix), The Cockpit-in-Court (1632), Rutland House, Salisbury Court, Whitefriars, and Whitehall. Most of these theaters were on Royal property and thus, like the public theaters built outside the city limits, exempt from City Council jurisdiction. The combined catalogue of all these playhouses, public and private, helps to underline an important point: that English playhouses in the Renaissance were many and different. As articles and books (some of the latter, multivolumed) on the English Renaissance playhouse have steadily multiplied to a sum of seventy or more since the crucial publication of Henslowe's Diary and Papers (1904-1908) and C.W. Wallace's momentous discovery in the Public Record Office in London of legal documents connected with Burbage's Theater (1910), an increasing number of critics have attempted to attack, qualify, or modify the concept of a "typical Elizabethan stage." Not only does the open-roofed, naturally-lighted public playhouse (such as Shakespeare's early theater, The Globe) differ from the enclosed, artificially illuminated private playhouse (such as Shakespeare's later theater, Blackfriars), but as a relatively recent essay such as "Staging at the Globe, 1599-1613" by J.W. Saunders (Shakespeare Quarterly, 11 [1960], 402-25) makes clear, so does public playhouse from public playhouse and even the same playhouse at one time from itself at another time. The facts that there were differences of size and proportion, that some playhouses were polygonal (or round) while others were square, that some had rectangular stages while others had trapezoidal ones, and that some had three stories while others two, provide a counterweight to the efforts of synthesizing critics and scholars.

        Of such critics, the one usually considered to be the most authoritative is John Cranford Adams. It is the information, extrapolation, and diagrams from his book The Globe Playhouse: Its Design and Equipment (1942, 1964) that the majority of other critics use in their discussion of British Renaissance drama. The evidence for such reconstructions, in Cranford's book and others, is meager. It consists of (1) contemporary maps, engravings, and drawings (the latter often bearing the descriptive title of "panorama of London"), (2) a drawing made of the Swan Theater by a Dutch traveler named Johannes De Witt (1596) that rivals J.C. Adams' diagrams and reconstructions in the frequency of its publication, (3) the Diary of Philip Henslowe, manager of the Rose and Fortune theaters, and such other builders' contracts and business records that have been accidentally preserved in bureaucratic or historical alluvia, (4) references in contemporary nondramatic writings (often satirical, Puritanical, or both), and finally (5) casual references and stage directions in the dramas themselves.

        The results of J.C. Adams' laboriously documented and rigorously considered conclusions (together with some additional information from other sources) may be briefly summarized. Adams expounds his view in the very first paragraph of his book that "the Globe was a three-story, octagonal structure surrounding an unroofed, octagonal yard . . . . The playhouse measured 83 feet between outside walls, 34 feet high to the eaves-line, and 58 feet across the interior yard" (1). Actually there are five levels that make up the stage as Adams conceives it. The bottom level is the cellar underneath the stage, called "Hell" (which with the technical term for the roof that partly covered the platform stage, "Heaven," serves as a reminder of the medieval religious origins of the British Renaissance drama and stage). Excavated a little to reach a depth of eight feet, the cellar area was large enough to receive or send anything through the trapdoors in the platform-stage up to and including a bedstead, Roman chariot, or troop of soldiers. "Hell" was also useful as a point for the origination of the sound of distant trumpets, cries, moans, or any of the other variegated off-stage noises that clamor for attention in English Renaissance drama.
 

        At the top level were the "huts," where a windlass, two trapdoors, and, most important to the actor portraying the dead Antony being hauled up by Cleopatra and her maids, in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, a group of strong, experienced stagehands. The ascent and descent of a heavenly throne in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (V.ii), of a dragon-drawn chariot, or gods and goddesses from Classically-oriented dramas, was through the floor (corresponding on the other side to the stage-roof or "Heaven") of a large rearward hut, which had a trapdoor no less than four feet wide and twenty feet long. Through a much smaller circular trapdoor a few feet in diameter in a hut toward the front of the stage came the fireworks through the stage-roof or "Heaven" that were the triple moons, blazing suns, comets, and similar fearsome portents in plays. In addition to these uses of the huts, says Adams: "There the trumpeter stood who 'sounded' thrice before the play began; there the cannon were shot off during battle and coronation scenes . . ; there hung the great alarum bell the dreadful midnight clamor of which roused the citizens . . ; [and] there the heavy 'bullet' was rolled to make thunder . . ." (366). Naturally, these huts had to incorporate enough storage space for this multiplicity of items.  A side view of a diagram of a different playhouse, the Swan, gives the idea about the use of the "Huts":
 

        In between the top and bottom levels were three stories, called collectively the "tiring-house," after the original medieval function of the curtained alcove, functioning as a dressing room, that could be put to a remarkable range of uses. The highest or third story was called alternatively the "high gallery" or "music gallery." About eight feet deep and twelve and one-half feet long, it normally housed the musicians. It could also become the high gallery of a castle, a turret, tower, keep, or masthead. The function of music and of the musicians had more pragmatic theatrical value than a critical reading of a dramatic text is likely to reveal. For in addition to the two trapdoors located in the huts already mentioned, there are seven more in the first and second stories yet to be discussed, and the potential of these and all the other props and machinery for producing a distracting cumulative creaking, groaning, squeaking, and clatter was great. It is for this reason, consequently, and not only for dramatic effect and meaning, that music accompanies the sudden appearance of fairies, "spirits," and other such apparitions. The thunder and general racket that attend on witches, devils, demons, and other unnatural monsters also has this twin purpose.
 

        With its complement of four separate dramatic areas or spaces, the two window-stages, the "Tarras" and "The Chamber," the second story is one of the more complex and diversified of the Elizabethan playwright's tools. The overall dimensions of the central room on the second floor when the curtains are drawn are 23 feet (length) by 10 feet (depth) by 11 feet (height). "The Chamber" in this situation may be used for all those purposes assigned earlier to the "gallery" and, in addition, as a living room, bedroom, dressing room, private room in a tavern, the second level of any of these, or of a palace or prison, or in conclusion simply an elevated vantage point. The ironic use of the Chamber for the latter, a trope in so many Elizabethan plays and signaled by the stage directions "enter X above," may be even further accentuated by means of the trapdoor through which the character or characters above may be seen looking or listening by most of the audience. Adams notes that his specificity, new because the second story appeared only in the last decade of the sixteenth century, added a new verisimilitude to the drama. But beyond this, he says:

        Whereas previously dramatists had been forced to interpolate an exterior between a pair of interior scenes, particularly when the second interior differed in locality and setting from the first, they were now able to devise an action involving two adjacent interiors . . ; or an action involving two separated interiors in sharp dramatic contrast . . ; or an action which flows logically from one interior to another in the same building. (275-76)

        Here, too, there is the significant use of the curtain as part of the setting. While above in the music gallery the curtain serves mainly as a screen for the musicians in order to make the music seem nonlocalized or localized where the play requires, below, when the curtains are drawn in front of the Chamber, a "tarras" or projecting balcony, is created. About three-feet deep and about twenty feet long, the "tarras" may serve either as an anteroom, hallway, or more usually the walls of a besieged city from which the defenders parley with their assailants. Because the "tarras projected far enough to conceal actors standing under it on the lower stage[from those above on the 'tarras'] (or at least to give the effect of such concealment) [249], it can create a dramatic effect ironic or otherwise exactly the reverse of that created by the revelation of the Chamber to the central lower stage. Characters standing under the "tarras" also appear to be hidden from those at the window stages, a fact which also can be exploited for comic, ironic, satiric, or even tragic purposes.
 

        The window-stages are probably the most localized component of the three stories. According to W.J. Lawrence in The Elizabethan Playhouse and Other Studies (1912): "The supreme gracefulness of the casement as a permanent stage adjunct lay in the degree of illusion its employment lent to scenes of gallantry and intrigue. This is evidenced by the remarkable number of upper-window scenes in Elizabethan drama" (2:33-34). Adams adds that the windows "were provided with thin but opaque curtains installed primarily with a view to making the window-stages available for musicians to play or sing unseen during the progress of some inner-stage [first floor] scene" (269). As an adjunct to the Chamber, the window-stage can provide a good deal of suspense and action. Adams demonstrates this use in an analysis of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, III.iv, where the lovers part just as Lady Capulet appears in Juliet's chamber or bedroom. Juliet's delaying tactics give her just enough time to pull up and in the window the rope ladder by which Romeo has taken his leave.

        By far the most complicated of the three stories in its dramaturgical possibilities is the first story, which is composed of twin pillars supporting the "Heavens" (or stage cover, or simply "shadow," as it is sometimes called), the large (942 square feet) stage-platform (replete with as many as five trapdoors), the twin stage doors, and study or inner stage (with its own trapdoor), Practically all the elements of this story can be used for some function, mimetic or symbolic. The posts or pillars, for example, might be used as "trees" or ships' masts, which could be easily climbed part way because of their square base. The doors, however, might become symbolic as they do in the first scene of Romeo and Juliet, where the opposing families sally out of opposite doors--opposite sides helping to establish with visual symbolism their distinctive antagonism--while Prince Escalus (the mediator here and later) enters from the center or "study."
 

        The "study" or inner stage (also called the "alcove" or "curtained recess") of course is capable of being used for more than merely the place where Barabas (in Christopher Marlowe's play The Jew of Malta), Faustus (in Christopher Marlowe's play Dr. Faustus), or Ferdinand and Miranda (in Shakespeare's play The Tempest), are "discovered" (the first two instances being those that helped determine the pattern). With the curtains of the study drawn, it becomes necessary, finally, to engage the question of whether or not there was scenery (in a modern sense) in the public playhouses. Most critics and scholars agree there was not. Lily B. Campbell in her book Scenes and Machines on the English Stage During the Renaissance (1923) makes a fairly strong case for movable scenery and painted backdrops, using perspective to create street scenes--in the academic and private theaters. But, she says in her chapter entitled "Scenery in the Public Theaters": "The consideration of the public stage is, it is evident, a matter of secondary importance in the history of Renaissance stage scenery, for stage decoration had its rise in the imitation of the classical stage through the careful research of scholars devoted to the revival of the art and learning of the ancients, and their theories found early embodiment in luxurious dramatic representations [i.e., the masques] before courtly circles prepared by the greatest artists of the time" (116). But though the use of painted backdrops on the stage of the public theater is highly questionable, the popular dramatist's masterful use of the curtain, traverse, and arras is not; nor is the use of props (some of them quite large), or striking and expensive costumes (which necessitated the sprinkling of rushes at strategic points on the stage to prevent the costumes, not the actors, from being hurt).

        In the diagram of a later scholar, C. Walter Hodges,  following up on Adams' work, the whole Globe theater may very well have looked like this:

 
 
          How the components of this theater would have been used in staging Hamlet is suggested by the following drawings of how the scenes with the ghost in Act 1 probably would have been enacted, using the two doors at opposite ends of the stage, as well as the trapdoor into the basement or cellar or "Hell" (and, indeed, the scenes have in some of Shakespeare's references in the text "in" jokes about the components of the stage being used to enact the scenes) :
 

        Likewise, the staging of the staging of Hamlet's play within the play, in Act 3 (look up recursion in your collegiate dictionary, as well as metapoetics) makes interesting use of physical components of the playhouse:
 

        And finally, the funeral of Ophelia in Act 5, along with the fight between Hamlet and Laertes, would have to use various physical components of the English Renaissance stage:
 

        As I've indicated in my Notes and Questions about Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the special components of drama include not only the set (not much scenery in either ancient Greek or English Renaissance drama, but imaginative use of the sets), but also props.  A fair sample of the variety possible in props emerges from a listing of the property-maker John Carow's estate in 1574-75 and a complete inventory of the properties belonging to the Admiral's Company in 1598 (both preserved in original legal and business documents). The first is comprised of:

properteyes videlicet Monsters, Mountaynes, fforestes, Beastes, Serpentes, Weapons for warr [such] as gunnes, dagges, bowes, ar[r]owes, Bills, holberdes, borespeares, fawchions[,] daggers, Targettes, poll-axes[,] Clubbes[,] headdes and headpeeces[,] Armor[;] counterfet Mosse, holly Ivye, Bayes, flowers quarters, glew, past[e], paper, and such lyke with Nayles[,] hoopes[,] hors[e] tails[,] dishes for devells eyes[,] heaven, hell, and the devell . . . . (L.B. Campbell, Scenes and Machines 111-112)

The second list, from Philip Henslowe's Papers (mentioned earlier) is even more impressive. In the items that follow, "i tomb of Dido," "Tamberlaine's bridle," and 1 cauldron for the Jew," there are obvious references to Marlowe's plays The Tragedy of Dido, Tamburlaine, and The Jew of Malta:

i rock, i cage, i tomb, i Hell mouth. i tomb of Guido, i tomb of Dido, i bedstead. viii lances, i pair of stairs for Phaeton. ii steeples, i chime of bells, and i beacon. i heifer for the play of Phaeton, the limbs dead. i globe, and i golden sceptre; iii clubs. ii marchpanes [elaborate kinds of cakes] , and the City of Rome. i golden fleece; ii rackets; i bay tree. i wooden hatchet; i leather hatchet. i wooden canopy; old Mahomet's head. i lion skin; i bear's skin; and Phaeton's limbs and Phaeton's chariot; and Argus' head. Neptune's fork and garland. i 'crosers' staff; Kent's wooden leg. Iris head and rainbow; i little altar. viii vizards; Tamberlain's bridle; i wooden mattock. Cupid's bow and quiver; the cloth of the Sun and Moon. i boar's head and Cerberus' iii heads. i Caduceus; ii moss banks; i snake. ii fans of feathers; Bellendon stable; i tree of golden apples; Tantalus' tree; ix iron targets. i copper target and xvii foils. iv wooden targets; i greeve [governor's] armor. i sign for Mother Redcap; i buckler. Mercury's wings; Tasso's picture; i helmet with a dragon; i shield with iii lions; i elm bowl. i chain of dragons; i gilt spear. ii coffins; i bull's head; and i 'vylter.' iii timbrels; i dragon in Faustus. i lion; ii lions heads; i great horse with his legs; i sackbut. i wheel and frame in the Siege of London. i pair of wrought gloves. i Pope's mitre. iii Imperial crowns; i plain crown. i ghost's crown; i crown with sun. i frame for the heading in Black Joan [a piece of stage machienry to produce the illusion of beheading]. i black dog. i cauldron for the Jew. (G.B. Harrison, Introducing Shakespeare 101-02)

        Although its precise uses on the Elizabethan stage are still unsettled, the curtain seems to have been one of the most serviceable of all props. According to one much debated theory, curtains were stretched over wooden poles to form booths, which were in turn moved forward toward the front of the stage so that several more dramatic "spaces" might be created. The curtains could be drawn on one side of the booth, and with as many as eight or ten of these booths arranged in two stories, an effect similar to that of "rapid cutting" in the movies might have been produced. However this may be, curtains were almost certainly used for wall-hangings, arrases, and traverses. The wall-hangings, in harmony with the strong emphasis on generic appropriateness and decorum in the Renaissance, may well have indicated the kind of play being presented. Various areas of the stage may have been draped in black, for instance, in order to denote a tragedy. The arras is familiar to all readers of Shakespeare's Hamlet as the locus of concealment, deception, and a rather unfortunate mistake the title character makes with respect (or disrespect) to Polonius, for whom the results are equally disagreeable. Actually, there could be as many as three arrases hanging in the "study" or inner stage, one on each side and one on the rear. Finally, the curtain was in all probability used as a traverse--a screen placed crosswise in the "study" or inner stage to create additional dramatic spaces. Such spaces might represent separate rooms, compartments, or tents for opposing armies. In this way the dramatist had available extra parallelism and contrast as conveyed by visual imagery and symbolism.  Hanging curtains in front of the doors and other entrances on stage would allow very swift entrances and exits, sometimes necessary in plays, like Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, which have rapid cutting back and forth between Egypt and Rome.  Any play with staccato scenes would obviously benefit from this use of the curtains.

        The indoor theaters or stages of the time, including the theater that Shakespeare and his company used, Blackfriars, was similar to the outdoor public theaters in construction, as well as to one of their ancestors, the great hall of a noble house:
 

        While there was a good deal of paraphernalia involved in the staging of British Renaissance plays, the drama and dramatist still mainly depended on the audience's imagination to supply many lacking details, on visual imagery and symbolism (gesture, stage grouping, movement, setting, and occasionally costume) and preeminently, of course, on language. There was no attempt to secure, nor even much concern to attain "realism" in any modern sense. The stage was extremely fluid and flexible, as it was relatively unencumbered, offering manifold visual possibilities both vertically and horizontally to convey movement, stasis, rapid or slow pace or tempo (e.g., change of setting or scene), symmetry, asymmetry, parallelism, and contrast. Counting the cellar, from which ghosts, devils, or a magical tree might arise, and the "huts," from which a god or throne might descend, an actor might appear at five levels, these levels being consonant obviously with the concept of hierarchy central in the Renaissance. Including trapdoors, there were as many as twenty-two points of "discovery" or entrance (L.G. Salingar, "The Elizabethan Literary Renaissance," in The Age of Shakespeare, Vol. 2 of The Pelican Guide to English Literature [Penguin Books, 1963], pp. 66-68).

        For all this, it was still an intimate theater, in which even from the worst vantage points minute visual and auditory details might be apprehended by the audience. As one critic notes, "Front stage, the actor stood next to the groundlings; rear stage, in the Globe, he was no more . . . than eighty-five feet away from the farthest spectator. There was thus no necessity to drop the old convention of direct address to the audience, in soliloquy or aside; it was a theatre for eloquence as much as for pageantry" (Salingar 68).

2. The State of the Texts of Shakespeare's Plays; Shakespeare the Undoubted Author of the Plays; Recommended Editions

          Shakespeare was unquestionably the author of the plays usually attributed to him: the actors who put together the first collected edition, called the "First Folio" (1623) knew him and had been actors with him; likewise, the other actors in the various acting companies in which Shakespeare participated, and even a famous, younger rival dramatist, Ben Jonson. It is true, however, that Shakespeare, like most other dramatists of his time (with the notable exception of Ben Jonson), took little care over the printing of his plays, for two main reasons. First, drama was considered a lowerclass or less prestigious literary form than poetry; Shakespeare did take more care for his two main long poems (Venus and Adonis and Rape of Lucrece), written when the theaters in London were closed, as they were periodically, for an outbreak of bubonic plague; Shakespeare hoped to secure a reputation among the aristocracy from these poems. Second, the publication of a play was disadvantageous to the acting company producing it because then other acting companies would have access to the script and could put on productions that would take away money from the acting company for which the play had been written. One result of these conditions was the sometimes confusing differences between published versions of the same play. Third, an acting company would sometimes take a scaled-down version of the play (and text) for touring in the countryside (where some of the elaborate components of the theaters would not be available), and some of these scaled-down versions were printed. Fourth, and last, an individual actor -- usually not one of the better-paid actors in the theatrical company -- would write down the whole play as best he remembered it and then sell this "pirated" version to a publisher for extra cash  (usually the lines for his part or parts were very accurate, enabling later scholars to figure out which actor produced the "pirated" script). In the case of Hamlet, the play was published in three main versions (in 1603, 1604, and 1623), which have serious discrepancies, and force any editor to make difficult decisions about what a modern edition should look like.  This is a diagram indicating the probable complicated relationship between handwritten manuscripts and printed versions of Hamlet:
 

        As a result of the complicated state of the texts of individual plays by Shakespeare, some texts probably reflecting cut versions to better fit playhouse conditions in the city or in the countryside (the latter without elaborate theaters or stage machinery), some of the authoritative one-volume modern editions of Shakespeare's works print two or even three versions of the same play. Older authoritative one-volume modern editions of Shakespeare's plays usually printed a conflated version of a play, taking parts from different textual versions of the play, though adhering to one main version as much as possible. David Bevington and G. Blakemore Evans in their fine editions (see the editions listed below) continue this practice; on the other hand, the Greenblatt edition has three different texts of King Lear (the Quarto Text, the Folio Text, a Conflated Text), and, in effect, two different texts of Hamlet (passages from the different main textual version "are indented, printed, in a different typeface, and numbered in such a way as to make clear their provenance" [p. 1667]); likewise, the Orgel and Braunmuller edition has two versions of King Lear (the 1608 Quarto and the 1623 Folio versions) .  The reason for confusion about the texts of Shakespeare's plays and many others in the period is that most English Renaissance playwrights did not have much concern about the publication of their plays. This indifference came from several causes. First, drama was considered a lower form of writing than poetry; Shakespeare had hoped to gain a reputation (and was more careful about the printing of the work) from his poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. The one English Renaissance dramatist, Ben Jonson, who was careful about the printing of his plays and entitled the collection his Works was satirized repeatedly in the period for presumption about this lesser form of writing. Second, most dramatists did not own the finished product, having been paid for piecework by an acting company; consequently, the acting company would decide whether to publish or not. Most acting companies were not eager to publish scripts, since the book could then be used for a production of the play by a rival acting company and theater.  However, plays did get published, through several means. Sometimes an acting company, in urgent need of money (the theaters were repeatedly closed because of outbreaks of Plague, for example), would publish a play from the author's papers (in handwritten form, which sometimes gave the printers a good deal of trouble in deciding about words or even whether a passage was prose or poetry). Sometimes an unscrupulous publisher would send a stenographer to a play to make an unauthorized transcription of the text for unauthorized publication. Sometimes one of the minor actors -- not being paid on the same scale as the regular company -- would memorize as closely as possible the other parts of the play and turn the transcript over to a publisher. (Texts from this source are easy to identify since the minor actor's part is perfect, while the other parts are patchy.) Sometimes a play existed in several forms, depending on whether it was for performance at a regular theater or a cut version for touring in the countryside. And sometimes the acting company or printer had to work from different versions or states of the text (some in manuscript form, some in book form).

    Just as there are several wonderful one-volume study editions of the Bible today, so there are several excellent one-volume editions of Shakespeare's works, which clearly surpass all other one-volume editions (listed alphabetically by surname of the general editor):

Bate, Jonathan, and Eric Rasmussen, eds. The RSC Shakespeare ; William Shakespeare: Complete Works. New York: Modern Library, 2007. [RSC = Royal Shakespeare Company; texts based as much as possible on the First Folio edition of 1623] [the title may make the book harder to order than the ISBN: 978-0-679-64295-4]

Bevington, David, gen. ed. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. 5th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. [Scores on a 100-point basis: annotations - 90; materials about Shakespeare's life, times, career, texts, and bibliography - 90.]

Evans, G. Blakemore, and J.J.M. Tobin, gen. eds. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. [Scores on a 100-point basis: annotations - 87; materials about Shakespeare's life, times, career, texts, and bibliography - 88.]

Greenblatt, Stephen, gen. ed. The Norton Shakespeare: Based on the Oxford Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. [Scores on a 100-point basis: annotations - 90; materials about Shakespeare's life, times, career, texts, and bibliography - 88.] 2nd edition, 2008.

Orgel, Stephen, and A.R. Braunmuller, gen. eds. William Shakespeare: The Complete Works [The Complete Pelican Shakespeare]. 2nd ed. Penguin Books, 2002. [Scores on a 100-point basis: annotations - 85; materials about Shakespeare's life, times, career, texts, and bibliography - 73.]

        For students who have extreme difficulty in comprehending the text, the editions Simply Shakespeare: Hamlet or Shakespeare Made Easy: Hamlet, two series of titles  from Barron's Educational Series (ISBN 0-7641-2084-0 or ISBN 0-8120-3638-7 ) may be helpful. The books have the original text on one page with a translation and expansion (for what would be footnoted) on the facing page. The most thoroughly annotated of the various series printing one separate volume per play of Shakespeare's plays are the following (all in paperback, listed alphabetically by title of series): (a) The Annotated Shakespeare (ed. Burton Raffel; Yale UP); (b) The Arden or New Arden Shakespeare (various editors and publishers -- in three separate editions over several decades; the first edition was the Arden, the second was the New Arden, and the third, confusingly, is the Arden); (c) The New Cambridge Shakespeare (gen. eds. Philip Brockbank, Brian Gibbons, and Robin Hood; Cambridge UP); (d) The New Penguin Shakespeare (Penguin Books); and (e) The Oxford [World's Classics] Shakespeare (Oxford UP).  For more information, see my Bibliography in my English 4420/Shakespeare webpage.  Just one instance among many instances of why a good annotated edition is necessary may be seen in Polonius's listing of fencing as one of the delinquent activities that servant Reynaldo should inquire about, in investigating (spying on) Laertes: "Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarreling/ Drabbing" (2.1.25-26; line numbers are always approximate, varying somewhat from edition to edition of the play). After all, fencing is held up as an honorable, courtly activity in which Laertes and Hamlet are to engage in Act 5. The Bevington, Evans, Greenblatt, and Orgel one-volume editions all fail to solve this puzzle for the attentive reader; however, the answer may be found in the multivolume (one volume per play) Arden, New Cambridge, and Oxford editions.

3. Shakespeare's Hamlet & the Visual Arts and Music

        Shakespeare's Hamlet continues to fascinate, as indicated by P.M. Pasinetti's introduction in the NAWM (Pasinetti is the general editor of the Renaissance section; I had him as a teacher of World Literature at UCLA); thousands and thousands of books, parts of books, and articles have been written about the play.  Also, it has inspired many famous or important artists, and many works of visual art. The French painter Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), a central figure of Romantic art, was inspired to do many illustrations of literary texts (e.g., Dante's Divine Comedy,  Shakespeare's Hamlet). Delacroix did a whole series of lithographs in the 1850's to illustrate Shakespeare's Hamlet. Delacroix's art may be exemplified by his lithograph of Hamlet and the Ghost, as well as his works in color of Hamlet and Horatio talking to the gravedigger, Hamlet retrieving the skill of Yorick referred to by the gravedigger, or Hamlet confronting his mother in front of the arras, or the death of Ophelia. (Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard [1839] and The Death of Ophelia [1844; 9" X 12"].) The important Anglo-Swiss artist Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) apparently did a painting of Hamlet confronting the ghost (1798), which was the basis of a lithograph in the 1800's. Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) portrayed Hamlet and Ophelia; John Everett Millais (1829-96) did a famous painting of the death of Ophelia -- Ophelia (1852; 30" x 44") which varies somewhat in reproductions;  British Victorian artist Arthur Hughes (1832-1915) did paintings of Ophelia gathering flowers (1865) and Ophelia just prior to drowning herself; French painter Odilon Redon (1840-1916) did a painting of the doomed Ophelia (1905); British artist John W. Waterhouse (1849-1917) did paintings of Ophelia in a blue dress, in the field while gathering her flowers, and by the river just before drowning herself. W.G. Simmonds, like so many artists, did a painting of Ophelia's death (1910). And Edwin Austin Abbey did a painting of Hamlet in Ophelia's lap at the performance of the play The Mousetrap or The Murder of Gonzago (1897).

        With regard to music, music continued to be important in the drama in Shakespeare's time, and indeed in Shakespeare's plays, just as it was in the ancient Greek drama (and discussed as such by Aristotle in his treatise The Poetics). In Hamlet, Ophelia sings songs -- explicitly identified in the original stage directions as "Song" -- in Act 4, Scene 5 (4.5); likewise, one of the gravediggers sings two songs (or two stanzas from the same song) -- explicitly identified in the original stage directions as "Song" -- in 5.1. How does music contribute to theme, characterization, and meaning in each of the scenes? How does music create connections (comparisons or contrasts or both) between 4.5 and 5.1? Additionally, with regard to music, Shakespeare's Hamlet has been the inspiration  of famous or important composers: a symphonic poem by Franz Liszt (composed 1858), written as a prelude to the play; a fantasy overture (1888) and incidental music (1891) by Pyotr ("Peter") Tchaikovsky, and operas by Faccio, Gasparini, Scarlatti, Mercandante, Szokolay, and Humphrey Searle.

4. Shakespeare, Hamlet, and Classical (Greco-Roman) Culture -- Works Covered at the Beginning of Humn. 2001

        Just as references to Classical culture -- ancient Greece and ancient Rome -- abound in Dante's Inferno and Machiavelli's The Prince, so they do in Shakespeare's works generally, including Hamlet. Several of Shakespeare's plays focus on material from ancient Greece (e.g., A Midsummer Night's Dream, Troilus and Cressida, Timon of Athens) and ancient Rome (Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus). How in 1.1 is material from ancient Rome cited and applied by Horatio?

5. Plot Summary of the Play
 
A difficulty for some readers is the presence of several doubles in the play, a motif that relates to one of the play's subjects: identity (who is who? what comprises our individual identities?). There are two Hamlets: Hamlet senior (the former King, who has died, and now seems to be a ghost haunting the castle environs) and Hamlet [junior], the son of Hamlet senior; and there are two men named Fortinbras: Fortinbras senior or the elder (who in a war with Hamlet senior lost territory) and Fortinbras [junior], who now seeks through war or banditry to recover the territory lost by his father, Fortinbras [senior]. (Other doubles or parallels would include Hamlet and Laertes; Hamlet and Fortinbras; and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.)  

Scene: Denmark

I,i. Elsinore. A Platform in Front of the Castle

In bitterly cold weather Bernardo relieves Francisco on guard duty at midnight after challenges about "who goes there." As Francisco prepares to go, Marcellus and Horatio join Bernardo for his watch. After inquiring anxiously if "this thing" has appeared again and learning that it has not, Marcellus tells Bernardo that he has brought Horatio with him to corroborate their story and speak to the apparition. Although the two officers claim to have seen the specter on two previous nights, Horatio is skeptical and predicts that it will not come again. But while Bernardo is describing their prior experiences, the Ghost appears. Because Horatio can address the spirit in scholarly fashion, his companions urge him to speak to it. Now harrowed with fear and wonder, Horatio agrees with Bernardo that the apparition resembles the recent King; he charges the Ghost to speak, but the spirit disappears. Forced to accept what he has seen, Horatio confesses his belief that the manifestation "bodes some strange eruption to our state." The three men review the wartime vigilance and industry that Denmark has instituted in anticipation of an invasion by young Fortinbras of Norway. Recalling the omens and prodigies preceding the assassination of Julius Caesar, Horatio assumes that the Ghost of the elder Hamlet has returned to forewarn the nation.

Suddenly the Ghost reappears. Resolved to force a reply, Horatio inquires: (1) if he can do anything to comfort the spirit; (2) if it is trying to warn the state of some impending calamity; (3) if it is restless because it buried extorted treasure during its lifetime. The cock crows, and the Ghost vanishes in spite of the listeners' efforts to detain it. The approach of day precludes any likelihood that the spirit will now return. Horatio advises that they inform Hamlet of all they have witnessed.

I,ii. Elsinore. A Room in the Castle

Claudius dispatches court matters efficiently. In graceful terms Claudius explains to the court how, having properly mourned the death of his brother, he has married Gertrude, his former sister-in-law. He then describes the threat of invasion by young Fortinbras, nephew to the present King of Norway. In an effort to preserve peace, Claudius dispatches the envoys Cornelius and Voltemand to the Norwegian king. Having thus attended to public business, Claudius turns to hear Laertes's request for permission to return to France. Satisfying himself that Laertes has the approval of his father, Polonius, Claudius consents.

Now Claudius directs his attention to Hamlet and ingratiatingly asks the cause of his melancholy. Hamlet resents his uncle's patronizing manner. Gertrude implores her son to accept the universal fact of death, cease mourning for his father, and let his eye "look like a friend" on Claudius. Taking his cue from Gertrude, Claudius delivers a short discourse on the futility of prolonged grief; asks Hamlet to think of him as a father, and urges the Prince to remain in Denmark instead of returning to school in Wittenberg. Gertrude adds her pleas to those of the King. Hamlet promises to obey his mother, and Claudius leads Gertrude away to celebrate the occasion.

In a passionate soliloquy Hamlet laments that divine law has condemned suicide as a means of escape from a "weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable" life. Rankled by his mother's hasty marriage to Claudius, he deplores the frailty of women and his mother's eager-ness "to post/With such dexterity to incestuous sheets." Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo enter, as he is concluding, "break my heart, for I must hold my tongue!"

After Horatio and Hamlet exchange a warm greeting, Horatio amazes Hamlet with the statement that he thinks he saw the elder Hamlet on the preceding night. With Hamlet eagerly attending every word, Horatio relates the encounters Bernardo, Marcellus, and he have had with the Ghost. Hamlet questions the three men about the spirit, resolves to watch with them on the parapet, swears them to secrecy, and arranges to meet them that very night. To himself Hamlet reflects that "All is not well," and impatiently awaits nightfall.

I,iii. Elsinore. Polonius's House

Preparing to embark for France, Laertes cautions his sister Ophelia against taking Hamlet's declarations of love seriously. Since even if Hamlet's intentions are honorable, he cannot as a member of the royal family exercise freedom in his choice of a wife, Laertes advises Ophelia to control her emotions. Ophelia promises to remember her brother's counsel but suggests that he be sure to follow his own advice. Laertes recollects that he is in a hurry as his father enters.

In a parting blessing, Polonius gives Laertes verbose, sound, but self-contradictory directions on how he should conduct himself in France. Laertes respectfully bids his father farewell, gives Ophelia a final word of caution, and departs. When Polonius questions Ophelia on what Laertes had in mind, she admits that their conversation related to Hamlet. Under her father's persistent interrogation, she confesses that Hamlet has avowed his love for her. Chiding the girl for taking Hamlet's wooing to heart, Polonius forbids her henceforth "to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet."

I,iv. Elsinore. The Platform in Front of the Castle

While Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus watch in the cold midnight air, cannon and martial music signal Claudius's carousal. Hamlet bitterly criticizes the bad manners and heavy drinking that char-acterize the Danish court and people. As he concludes his tirade, the Ghost appears. Seeing the spirit's resemblance to his late father and assuming that it has some message to impart, Hamlet addresses it.

The Ghost motions Hamlet to follow it. Horatio and Marcellus advise Hamlet not to accompany the spirit and try to restrain him by force, but the Prince breaks away and leaves with the specter. Anxious for Hamlet's safety and convinced that "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark," Horatio and Marcellus follow.

I,v. Elsinore. The Fortifications of the Castle

Commanding Hamlet's careful attention, the Ghost identifies itself as his father's spirit, doomed "to walk the night" until certain crimes done during his time on earth "Are burnt and purg'd away." Abruptly the Ghost orders Hamlet to revenge his father's "foul and most unnatural murder." To Hamlet's horror, the Ghost relates how Claudius first won Gertrude to an adulterous relationship and then poisoned his brother, thus taking the elder Hamlet's life, wife, and crown. Moreover, the former King died with his sins unconfessed and unforgiven. Adjuring Hamlet to revenge his father's murder and his mother's dishonor, the Ghost warns him not to harm Gertrude in the process. Rather he is to leave her to heaven and the remorse of her own conscience. "Remember me," the Ghost says and departs.

In a brief soliloquy, Hamlet pledges himself to keep the spirit's words uppermost in his mind and writes a memorandum to himself in his notebook. When Horatio and Marcellus find him and inquire about his welfare, Hamlet diverts them with "wild and whirling words." Horatio protests mildly, and Hamlet tells his friend that the "vision" they have seen "is an honest ghost" but to seek to know no more. Extending his sword hilt as a cross, he requests his two companions to swear on it that they will never reveal what they have witnessed that night, and beneath them the Ghost cries, "Swear." Hamlet intimates to Horatio that he may find it necessary "To put an antic disposition on." When he does, Horatio must not disclose by word or sign that he has any knowledge of the matter. Thanking his friends and again swearing them to secrecy, Hamlet escorts them into the castle. He declares, "The time is out of joint. 0 cursed spite,/ That ever I was born to set it right!"

II,i. Elsinore. Polonius's House

Polonius is sending Reynaldo with money and letters to Laertes. Curious to learn how Laertes is conducting himself in Paris, Polonius instructs Reynaldo to make private and provocatively leading inquiries of his son's friends and acquaintances. Reynaldo expresses surprise at these somewhat unethical tactics, but Polonius explains that in this way they may "By indirections find directions out." Reynaldo leaves on his mission, and Ophelia enters.

Clearly unnerved, Ophelia describes how Hamlet, disheveled and with his clothes deranged, seized her by the wrist, gazed into her face, sighed without saying a word, and backed away, never taking his eyes off her. Diagnosing Hamlet's behavior as "the very ecstasy of love," Polonius asks if she has "given him any hard words of late." Ophelia answers that, in accordance with her father's command, she has rejected Hamlet's letters and refused to meet him. Suddenly fearful lest his attempts to protect Ophelia from an improper relationship have resulted in Hamlet's mental derangement, Polonius takes Ophelia to see the King.

II,ii. Elsinore. A Room in the Castle

Gertrude and Claudius, having observed the changes in Hamlet's nature and manner, share a mutual, although not necessarily identical, concern. Hoping to learn the cause behind the Prince's "transformation," they have enlisted the services of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, onetime friends and schoolmates of Hamlet. The two courtiers indicate their readiness to undertake the commission and withdraw to talk with the Prince.

Polonius enters to announce the return of Cornelius and Voltemand from Norway. The Lord Chamberlain is more eager, however, to report that he has discovered "The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy." Claudius wants to know more about this, but Polonius insists that Claudius receive the ambassadors first and goes to usher them in. When Claudius repeats to Gertrude that Polonius has identified the source of Hamlet's ailment, the Queen expresses assurance that her son still grieves for his father and resents her "o'erhasty marriage."

Polonius brings in Voltemand and Cornelius. The envoys report that the King of Norway has effectively removed the danger of young Fortinbras's attack on Denmark but has approved an invasion of Poland with the same troops. To this end the Norwegian king requests Claudius to grant Fortinbras's army safe and peaceful pas-sage through Danish territory. Claudius commends Voltemand and Cornelius for discharging their mission satisfactorily and dismisses them.

Scarcely able to restrain himself until the ambassadors have gone, Polonius launches into an extended account of Hamlet's love affair with Ophelia and his resulting madness. Gertrude attempts to shorten the old man's recital, but he tediously reviews all the details in his characteristically loquacious style. Gertrude finds Polonius's explanation plausible, but Claudius remains skeptical and determines to seek additional proof. Knowing Hamlet's habit of walking for long intervals in the lobby, Claudius and Polonius arrange to eavesdrop on the Prince and Ophelia, whom Polonius will contrive to bring together at the appropriate moment. Hamlet enters "reading on a book," and Claudius and Gertrude leave hastily with their attendants while Polonius prepares to converse with the Prince.

Hamlet pretends not to recognize Polonius and confuses him with wordplay that is both pertinent and nonsensical. More certain than ever that he has diagnosed Hamlet's madness correctly, Polonius excuses himself to set up the encounter between Hamlet and Ophelia. On his way out he passes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are coming to try their hand at finding the cause of Hamlet's distraction. Speedily discerning the courtiers' purpose and detecting their suspicion that he is disappointed at not succeeding to the throne, Hamlet baits them with suggestive but inconclusive observations on the topic of ambition. After skillfully parrying their questions, Hamlet wrings from them a tacit admission that they are agents of the King and Queen. By this time Rosencrantz is happy to turn the conversation to the imminent arrival of a company of strolling players. Suddenly curious, Hamlet inquires the identity of the troupe. While he and Rosencrantz discuss the company's recent decline in popularity in the city and the reasons why the actors have come to Elsinore, trumpets outside signal the arrival of the Players. Shaking hands with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz in a sudden display of cordiality, Hamlet adds to their bewilderment by alluding to his own madness. Polonius reappears, and Hamlet's speech grows even wilder and more irrational, although he cleverly manages to insert touches of shrewd insight into life and character. When the Players enter, Hamlet welcomes them heartily and asks the First Player to deliver several lines from a particular play. After the Player concludes, Hamlet charges Polonius to entertain the actors hospitably and adds that he wishes to hear a play the following day.

Detaining the First Player for a moment, Hamlet secures his promise to perform "The Murder of Gonzago" with the insertion "of some dozen or sixteen lines" that Hamlet will supply. Cautioning the Player to treat Polonius with respect, Hamlet sends him after his fellows and then dismisses Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. In a long soliloquy, Hamlet contrasts the energy and vitality of the actor in declaiming his speeches with his own failure to revenge his father's murder. He wonders if he is actually a coward; then he chides himself for ranting and cursing instead of taking action. Finally he crystallizes a plan of inducing the actors to produce a play with action resembling his father's murder. He will observe Claudius closely on the chance that the King may in some way betray his guilt and thus corroborate the revelation of the Ghost. Aware that the devil has the power to assume "a pleasing shape" and thus damn people by betraying them into violent deeds, Hamlet is determined to find addi-tional proof of Claudius's crime. Confident of his scheme, he says, "The play's the thing/ Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."

III,i. Elsinore. The Castle

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report to the King and Queen that their efforts to pump Hamlet have revealed nothing more than "a crafty madness." When Gertrude inquires if they tried to amuse the Prince, Rosencrantz mentions Hamlet's pleasure at the arrival of the actors. Polonius conveys Hamlet's invitation to the King to witness a play. Relieved to know that his nephew has shown this much interest in entertainment, Claudius gives his ready approval and sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern back to Hamlet. Turning, Claudius informs Gertrude of his and Polonius's scheme to overhear an apparently accidental meeting between the Prince and Ophelia. After wishing Ophelia well and approving the match, Gertrude retires. Quickly, Polonius briefs Ophelia and sets the scene for Hamlet's appearance; he hears Hamlet coming and escorts Claudius to their hiding place.

"To be, or not to be-that is the question," Hamlet says as he contemplates the significance of suicide and its possible results, possibly reflecting on his task of revenge and his inactivity up to this point. He would welcome such a release from life's problems, but the uncertainty of what lies beyond death gives him pause. Suddenly Hamlet notices Ophelia, checks his philosophizing, and asks her to pray for him.

Patiently and repeatedly, Ophelia endeavors to determine the cause of Hamlet's estranged manner and aloofness. Maintaining his role of insanity, Hamlet twists her words, denies that he ever really loved her, and gruffly orders her to enter a nunnery. Then, possibly suspecting the presence of the eavesdroppers, he abruptly inquires the whereabouts of Polonius. When Ophelia replies that her father is at home, Hamlet expresses the hope that the fool will remain there. Growing coarser in his speech, Hamlet denounces all women, again orders Ophelia to a nunnery, and leaves after making a cryptic statement that there will be no more marriages and that of those already married "all but one-shall live."

Certain that her former suitor is completely mad, Ophelia laments the change that has reduced Hamlet, who was "The glass of fashion and the mould of form," to such a pitiable condition. Claudius and Polonius emerge from concealment. Although Hamlet has successfully convinced others of his insanity, Claudius rejects both love and madness as factors in his behavior. Uncertain of the real cause of the Prince's melancholy but apprehensive of its true nature, the King tells Polonius that he will dispatch Hamlet to England to collect overdue tribute. Possibly the voyage and change in environment will benefit the Prince. Polonius, on the other hand, continues to believe that Hamlet's distraction springs from "neglected love." In a final effort to prove his view, he urges Claudius to arrange a private conference between Gertrude and her son while Polonius overhears all they say. Claudius approves the plan and comments, "Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go."

III,ii. Elsinore. The Castle

Hamlet is giving three of the visiting actors detailed instructions on how to include the lines he has prepared and on the style in which he wishes them to enact the play itself. The Players leave; Polonius enters with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to inform Hamlet that the court is ready for the entertainment. Hamlet sends all three to hasten the preparations and calls for Horatio, who appears immediately. Assuring his friend of the trust and confidence he reposes in him, Hamlet explains his plan of testing Claudius's guilt by means of the forthcoming play. Horatio promises to observe the King carefully for any sign of uneasiness or confusion.

To the accompaniment of trumpets and kettledrums, the King and members of the court assemble to view the drama. Greeting the King and Polonius in turn, Hamlet sustains his pretense of madness. Gertrude invites the Prince to sit by her, but Hamlet declines, settles himself at Ophelia's feet, and launches into suggestive and obscene remarks. Hautboys play, and the dumb show begins. In this pantomime the actors sketch the plot of the play they are about to perform; it simulates the significant steps in the King's murder of the elder Hamlet and subsequent marriage to Gertrude. While Hamlet provides flippant answers to Ophelia's innocent questions, the Players commence "The Murder of Gonzago." Gradually the play unfolds until Claudius inquires if "there is no offence in't," and demands to know the title. Hamlet replies that it is called "The Mouse-trap" and is based on a Viennese murder case. He adds that those who "have free souls" will find nothing objectionable in the story.

In a moment the player-murderer pours poison in the ears of the sleeping player-king, and Hamlet foretells how the assassin will win the love of his victim's wife. Overcome with emotion, Claudius rises, calls for light, and departs with Gertrude and his attendants. Exultantly, Hamlet asks Horatio if he noted this confirmation of the Ghost's report. Horatio says that he did, and Hamlet calls for music.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report that Claudius is violently upset and indisposed and that Gertrude wishes Hamlet to come to her apartment. Rosencrantz makes another attempt to learn the cause of Hamlet's conduct, but the Prince discloses nothing except the suggestion that he chafes at not succeeding to the throne. The Players bring in their musical instruments. Hamlet invites Guildenstern to play one of them. When he replies that he cannot, Hamlet informs him and his companion that they cannot "play upon" him either.

Polonius comes to summon Hamlet to the Queen. After a wild exchange of observations with the old chamberlain, Hamlet sends everybody out. In a brief soliloquy he states his intention of visiting his mother. Although his emotion has reached a new height of excitement and bitterness, he will not attack Gertrude physically. "I will speak daggers to her, but use none."

III,iii. Elsinore. The Castle

Now thoroughly alerted to the danger Hamlet represents, Claudius tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that they must, for the security of the Crown, conduct him to England under royal commission. The two courtiers hasten off as Polonius appears on his way to hide behind the arras in Gertrude's boudoir, where Hamlet is presently going. Promising to inform the King before bedtime of what he learns, Polonius leaves. Immediately Claudius starts to soliloquize on his sin. His sense of guilt and his conscience prompt him to pray, but he knows that prayer without repentance is ineffective, and repentance depends on surrendering his crown, his ambition, and his queen. He craves forgiveness for his murder, but he cannot relinquish the fruits of his crime. Desperately trying to find a measure of spiritual peace, he kneels.

As Claudius falls to his knees in a futile attempt at prayer, Hamlet enters, sees the King, and realizes that he can easily kill his uncle. But a moment later he reconsiders. If he were to slay the King in the act of praying, the villain's soul might find eternal salvation. Remembering that Claudius killed the elder Hamlet without giving him opportunity for confession and extreme unction, the Prince resolves to delay his revenge until the King is engaging in some worldly or riotous pastime; then Claudius's soul "may be as damn'd and black/As hell, whereto it goes." Hamlet leaves to meet the Queen, and Claudius rises from his useless search for spiritual consolation.

III,iv. The Queen's Closet (Private Bedroom)

Polonius admonishes the Queen to speak roundly with her son, who calls from outside. Gertrude agrees to follow instructions, and Polonius slips behind the arras. Entering, Hamlet rebukes his mother in a most unfilial manner. Ordering her to sit down and not to budge until he finishes what he has to say, he becomes so threatening in word and gesture that Gertrude, fearing physical violence, calls for help. Behind the arras, Polonius echoes her cry. Supposing that Claudius has concealed himself in the Queen's chamber, Hamlet instantaneously draws his sword, thrusts it through the drapery, and kills Polonius. Horrified, Gertrude asks Hamlet what he has done and is bewildered when he implies that he has followed her example and killed a king.

Lifting the arras, Hamlet views the body of Polonius, whom he dismisses as a "wretched, rash, intruding fool." Resuming his reproof of the Queen, Hamlet depicts the enormity of her disloyalty to his father and of her indecent relationship with Claudius. Overcome with shame and remorse, Gertrude begs him to say no more. Suddenly the Ghost appears, and Hamlet asks for guidance. The Ghost answers that it has come to whet Hamlet's "almost blunted purpose" but urges him to comfort his mother. Because she neither sees nor hears the Ghost, Gertrude interprets Hamlet's actions and words as further proof of his madness. Hamlet is similarly puzzled by his mother's in-ability to discern the spirit, which vanishes.

Denying Gertrude's suggestion that he is insane, Hamlet exhorts her to confess and repent. When she admits that he has moved her deeply, Hamlet entreats her not to return to Claudius's bed. He adds that when she seeks divine blessing, he will ask her blessing on him. He repents his slaying of Polonius, an act by which heaven has punished him. Insisting that he has had to "be cruel, only to be kind," he bids his mother good night. In a moment, however, he re-assumes his bitter and cynical manner, suggesting that the Queen may submit herself to the King's wanton caresses and permit him to wheedle from her an account of all that has happened. Gertrude promises that she will tell nothing. Reminding his mother that he must leave for England, Hamlet indicates that he distrusts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and that he is enjoying the contest of wits between himself and Claudius. The Prince then removes the body of Polonius, who is finally "most still, most silent, and most grave."

IV,i. Elsinore. The Castle

Dismissing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Gertrude describes her interview with Hamlet to her most attentive husband. When she relates how Hamlet, mad and in a "lawless fit," slew Polonius, Claudius immediately realizes that the sword was intended for him. He argues that to leave the Prince at liberty is to endanger everyone in Denmark. Furthermore, public opinion will condemn Claudius for having failed to restrain and control him. Gertrude says that Hamlet is removing the corpse of Polonius, whose death he mourns. The King states that he must deport Hamlet at once. Recalling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he orders them to find Hamlet and the body of the old courtier. His soul "full of discord and dismay," Claudius leads Gertrude off.

IV,ii. Elsinore. The Castle

Meeting Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet evades their questions about Polonius's body and charges them with acting as informers to the King. Although he refuses to give them the information they seek, he agrees to accompany them to Claudius.

IV,iii. Elsinore. The Castle

Waiting the return of his two agents, Claudius reflects on how dangerous Hamlet is so long as he "goes loose." The Prince's popularity with his subjects makes it difficult to "put the strong law on him." Rosencrantz enters, says that he has learned nothing, but adds that Hamlet is outside awaiting the King's pleasure. In response to the King's command, Guildenstern brings Hamlet in under guard. Claudius presses Hamlet to reveal the whereabouts of Polonius's body. After teasing his uncle with a parable of "how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar," Hamlet indicates the location of the corpse. Claudius sends attendants to fetch the body and then tells Hamlet that he must depart for England with "fiery quickness." In a passionate show of madness, Hamlet says farewell to his absent mother and leaves. Claudius sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern posthaste after the Prince to insure his embarkation. In a brief soliloquy, Claudius reveals that Hamlet's two escorts carry instructions for the King of England to execute him on his arrival. Claudius will experience no joy until he hears that Hamlet is dead.

IV,iv. A Plain in Denmark

Fortinbras directs a Captain to proceed to the Danish court in order to secure authorization for his Norwegian troops to cross Den-mark. Fortinbras marches his army off, as Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Hamlet appear. In a brief conversation with the Captain, Hamlet learns that young Fortinbras is attacking Poland and is prepared to sacrifice many lives to acquire a small and worthless "patch of ground." Requesting privacy for a little while, Hamlet soliloquizes on the contrast between his own character and that of Fortinbras. Fortinbras risks heavy casualties to satisfy a trivial motive; Hamlet, who has every reason to act, has done nothing to implement his revenge. Having renewed his determination, Hamlet exclaims, "0, from this time forth,/ My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!"

IV,v. Elsinore. The Castle

A gentleman tells Gertrude and Horatio that Ophelia has gone out of her mind following Polonius's death and that she wishes to speak with the Queen. At first, Gertrude refuses to see the unfortunate girl, but Horatio advises that she be admitted lest she "strew/Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds." Reluctantly the Queen consents, and Ophelia appears uttering wild and confused words and singing scraps of lyrics. Claudius comes in and endeavors to calm the girl, whose raving implies grief for her father and distress for her departed lover. Calling for her coach, Ophelia departs. Claudius sends Horatio after her to "give her good watch."

Dismayed by this turn of events, Claudius laments to Gertrude that "When sorrows come, they come not single spies,/But in battalions." Polonius has been slain; Hamlet, insane, has been deported; the people of Denmark are restless; Ophelia is mad; finally, Laertes has returned secretly from France and blames Claudius for his father's death. A noise interrupts the King's recital, and a messenger enters to report that Laertes is storming the castle with a mob seeking to make him king. Another noise signals that the crowd has broken down the castle doors.

Posting his followers at the door of the room, Laertes violently confronts Claudius and demands restitution. Calmly the King faces the would-be avenger and invites him to speak freely. Gertrude displays equal dignity and courage in supporting her husband. Laertes angrily swears to revenge his father's death, whereupon Claudius replies that he will not be hindered. Rather, the King will prove his own innocence and give Laertes an accurate report of Polonius's death. At this instant, the mad Ophelia returns, again raves, and departs. Pity and sorrow for his sister's condition overwhelm Laertes. Swiftly Claudius promises Laertes to afford a detailed explanation and full satisfaction regarding all that has happened.

IV,vi. Elsinore. The Castle

Horatio directs his attendant to admit a group of sailors who wish to deliver a packet of letters. One is for Horatio. In it Hamlet requests Horatio to arrange for the sailors to convey other letters to the King. Hamlet also relates how pirates overtook his ship and he was able to escape with them. He intimates his imminent return to Denmark and says that Rosencrantz and Guilderstern have continued on course to England.

IV,vii. Elsinore. The Castle

Claudius has convinced Laertes of Hamlet's responsibility in Polonius's death and also of his attempt against the King's own life. Claudius explains his failure to prosecute Hamlet on the grounds of the Queen's love for her son and the Prince's popularity with the people. Laertes vows to get his revenge. The King is starting to tell Laertes of the measures he has already taken against Hamlet when a messenger enters and announces that he brings letters from Hamlet to both Claudius and Gertrude. Dismissing the messenger, Claudius reads Hamlet's brief note. In it the Prince says simply that he is "set naked" on Danish soil and requests permission to explain his return. Almost unable to believe the fact of Hamlet's statement, Claudius rapidly formulates a plan in which he enlists Laertes's will-ing assistance. Having heard from a Norman gentleman of Laertes's expertness in fencing, the King proposes that he challenge Hamlet to a fencing match. If Laertes leaves one of the foils unbated (without the protective button), he may easily kill his unsuspecting opponent. Eager to make certain of his revenge, Laertes determines to anoint the point of the weapon with a deadly poison. Taking every precaution against a miscarriage of the plan and possible detection, Claudius suggests that he will make a serious wager on the contest to lend it more plausibility. At last, if Hamlet eludes Laertes's specially prepared rapier, the King will have a poisoned drink ready for Hamlet's refreshment.

Gertrude interrupts their scheming to announce that Ophelia, attempting to hang garlands on a willow tree over a brook, has fallen into the stream and drowned. Unable to control his emotions, Laertes dashes out. Claudius, afraid that grief will rekindle Laertes's rage and reckless conduct, leads Gertrude after him.

V,i. Elsinore. A Churchyard

Two Clowns (rustics) are digging Ophelia's grave. While they work they discuss the nature of her drowning, whether she was or was not a suicide and whether she is entitled to burial in Christian ground. Their conversation turns to other and less serious topics as Hamlet and Horatio approach. One of the Clowns leaves to fetch "a stoup of liquor," and the other starts singing a garbled love lyric while he works. Hamlet and Horatio draw nearer, and the Clown turns up a skull with his spade. Hamlet begins to speculate on the identity and occupation of the person exhumed. After singing another stanza, the digger throws out a second skull, which inspires Hamlet to continue his discourse. Finally Hamlet asks the Clown whose grave he is preparing. In a rambling and ambiguous manner the man replies that it is for "One that was a woman" but is now dead. Slightly annoyed by the Clown's dryly humorous equivocation, Ham-let asks how long he has been a "grave-maker." The digger answers that he started work "the very day that young Hamlet was born" and has continued in the same occupation for thirty years. (These figures strongly imply that Hamlet is thirty years old, but this calculation conflicts with testimony by Ophelia and Laertes in the early part of the play that Hamlet is quite young. Editors have been unable to explain the discrepancy satisfactorily.) When Hamlet inquires how long a corpse lies in the earth until it rots, the Clown picks up one of the skulls he has uncovered and identifies it as I belonging to Yorick, the court jester, who died twenty-three years before. Taking the skull from the grave-digger, Hamlet examines it with distaste and recalls how the merry Yorick carried him "on his back a thousand times." Hamlet lays down the skull and reflects that Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar disintegrated into dust in similar fashion. At this moment Ophelia's burial procession approaches, and Hamlet and Horatio step aside.

While the Prince and Horatio listen, a priest explains to Laertes that a royal decree has superseded the church's decision to forbid burial in holy ground because of the suspicion that the corpse was a suicide. Laertes commands the bearers to lower the body into the grave and upbraids the "churlish priest" for his refusal to sing a requiem as part of the burial service. Not until Laertes uses the word "sister" does Hamlet learn that the grave is Ophelia's. Gertrude scatters flowers over the coffin. With bursting emotion, Laertes curses the person who caused Ophelia's madness and leaps into the grave. Demanding to know by what right Laertes displays such emphatic grief and identifying himself as Hamlet the Dane, the Prince jumps into the grave after Laertes. The two men struggle with each other until the King orders attendants to separate them. Utterly be-side himself, Hamlet declares that he loved Ophelia more than forty thousand brothers could have. Accusing Laertes of trying to shame him with such a display of grief, he cries that he will outdo every conceivable demonstration of sorrow. Suddenly he asks Laertes why he treats him in this fashion. "I lov'd you ever," he says to Ophelia's brother and leaves. Claudius sends Horatio after Hamlet; he then reminds Laertes of their plan to destroy Hamlet and urges him to be patient.

V,ii. Elsinore. The Castle

Hamlet is telling Horatio about his experiences aboard ship. Prompted by anxiety, he impulsively stole the King's commission from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the dark. When he took it to his cabin and examined it, he found that it was an order for his immediate execution. Horatio voices surprise, and Hamlet hands him the warrant to read at his leisure and continues his account. Thankful for his proficient handwriting, Hamlet thereupon substituted another commission purporting to be from Claudius and commanding the instant death of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Fortunately, Hamlet had his father's royal signet with which to seal the document. Hora-tio remarks on the fate Hamlet prepared for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but the Prince replies that they enjoyed their treacherous employment and he will not concern himself about them.

Horatio exclaims aloud at the enormity of Claudius's nature. Hamlet says that now he is surely justified in killing the man who murdered his father, dishonored his mother, usurped the throne, and tried to slay Hamlet himself. Horatio reminds his friend that Claudius will shortly receive news from England. Hamlet agrees but says that the interim belongs to him. He then professes regret for his behavior to Laertes at Ophelia's grave and says that he will make amends.

At this point Osric, a foppish and affected young courtier, approaches. Hamlet amuses Horatio and himself by making fun of Osric's speech and manners. Osric's intelligence and sense of humor are too limited to enable him to perceive what Hamlet is doing, and he grows increasingly bewildered and flustered. Finally he de-scribes the wager Claudius and Laertes have placed on the out-come of the fencing match in which they invite Hamlet to compete against Laertes. On learning the conditions, Hamlet accepts the challenge. Osric departs, and Hamlet and Horatio exchange deprecatory comments on his absurd affections. A lord appears to say that the King and Queen are ready to witness the match. He also mentions Gertrude's hope that Hamlet will greet Laertes cordially.

Horatio is afraid that Hamlet will lose the contest, but Hamlet believes that he can win "at the odds," which provide that Laertes must not exceed him by three hits in twelve passes. Nevertheless, Hamlet confesses to a certain uneasiness or presentiment of evil. Horatio urges him to withdraw from the match. The Prince, however, defies omens, says that death is certain except for the time when it comes; "the readiness is all."

Immediately the court gathers. Claudius places Laertes's hand in Hamlet's. Pleading his madness as an excuse for his previous actions, Hamlet asks Laertes's pardon and voices his own good will. Laertes replies that he is "satisfied in nature" but that he must withhold formal reconciliation with Hamlet until an official court of honor reviews the matter and frees him of further obligations; until then he accepts Hamlet's friendship on equal terms. The two men call for foils, which Osric hands them. Claudius directs his retainers to provide "stoups of wine" with which he may toast Hamlet's skill. If the Prince is successful during the first three exchanges, the King orders a salute from the battlements and promises to throw a large pearl into the wine cup.

Scarcely has the match begun when Osric rules that Hamlet has scored a hit. The King toasts Hamlet's success; a drum rolls; trumpets sound; a cannon fires. Hamlet declines the proffered drink and returns to the contest. Immediately the Prince hits Laertes again. This time Gertrude drinks to Hamlet's good fortune. Too late, Claudius observes that the Queen has drunk from the poisoned cup. Chiding his opponent for toying with him, Hamlet calls Laertes to the third pass. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the foil that is poisoned and unbated (not covered with a protective tip used in contest dueling rather than the real thing); they scuffle angrily together and exchange rapiers; Hamlet wounds Laertes with the fatal weapon.

In rapid succession, Gertrude falls; Laertes confesses his treachery; Claudius cries that the Queen has fainted; Gertrude calls that she has drunk poison. "O villainy! Ho! let the door be lock'd./Treachery! seek it out," Hamlet says. Laertes, who has fallen, tells Hamlet that no medicine can combat the poison of the foil in his hand. Admitting his guilt, Laertes says that the Queen is poisoned and that the King is to blame. Hamlet wounds Claudius with the rapier he still clutches. "I am but hurt," the King cries, but he dies immediately. With his last breath Laertes seeks Hamlet's forgiveness.

Hamlet also is dying. He pardons Laertes and begs Horatio to report him and his cause aright to the uninformed. Horatio lifts the poisoned drink in order to end his own life, but Hamlet snatches the cup and implores Horatio to live and tell the story. Martial music rises in the distance, and Osric announces the arrival of English Ambassadors and Young Fortinbras, who is returning victoriously from Poland. Hamlet will not live to hear the news from England; he does, however, nominate Fortinbras as successor to the Danish throne. Hamlet dies as Fortinbras and the Ambassadors enter.

Fortinbras asks what death's feast has required so many bodies. The Ambassadors report the execution of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and inquire who will thank them for their message now that Claudius is dead. Horatio requests Fortinbras and the Ambassadors to order the corpses prepared for burial, on which occasion Horatio will relate all that has happened. Fortinbras accepts the Danish throne and commands four captains to carry Hamlet away with royal ceremony. Others bear off the remaining bodies. Cannon fire a salute.

6. General Notes and Questions

G1. (G1a) How is the subject or theme of a person's identity repeatedly manifested in this play? (G1b) How would this subject be relevant to many persons today in the United States, and particularly to college students? How are college students trying to change or augment their identity, to become something more or something different? (G1c) In the view of the early Middle Ages, a person's identity was fixed; a prevalent concept was that God meant or intended for a person to be born a Duke or to be born a struggling peasant, and that accepting that identity and role was a religious or spiritual duty.  (Such fixity was often a matter of law as well as religion; actual laws forbade a peasant to move from a particular place unless granted leave by the aristocrat presiding over the specific geographical area.) A change in that view can be seen in Chaucer's General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales among some of the middle class pilgrims such as the Five Guildsmen and the Woman (or Wife) of Bath, who have some feeling for social mobility, for "movin' on up" (was the Canterbury Cathedral on the East Side or West Side relative to where the Pilgrims started out?); how is this idea manifested in the pilgrims cited? (G1d) With increased prosperity (partly from better wages of workers who weren't among the huge casualties of the Black Death in the Middle Ages, and partly from the raw materials, goods, and treasure that Renaissance explorers brought back to Europe from the New World), an idea of social mobility increased in the Renaissance.  Such a concept may be seen in the Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486) by the Renaissance scholar and (religious) humanist Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola, whose treatise elevates not only humanity but also the visual arts by repeatedly identifying God as architect or artist (or artisan):

    "But when His work was finished [in the Creation], the Artisan longed for someone to reflect on the plan of so great a creation, to love its beauty, and to admire its mnagnitude. When, therefore, everything was completed, as Moses [in the Pentateuch] and [Plato's] Timaeus testify, He began at last to consider the creation of man. But among His archetypes there was none from which He could form a new offspring, nor in His treasure houses was there any inheritance which He might bestow upon His new son, nor in the tribunal seats of the whole world was there a place where this contemplator of the universe might sit. All was now filled out; everything had been apportioned to the highest, the middle, and the lowest orders.

    But it was not in keeping with the paternal power to fail, as though exhausted, in the last act of creation; it was not in keeping with His wisdom to waver in a matter of necessity through lack of a design; it was not in keeping with His beneficent love that the creature who was to praise the divine liberality with regard to others should be forced to condemn it with respect to himself. Finally, the Great Artisan ordained that man, to whom He could give nothing belonging only to himself, should share in common whatever properties had been peculiar to each of the other creatures. He received man, therefore, as a creature of undetermined nature, and placing him in the middle of the universe, said to him: 'Neither an established place, nor a form belonging to you alone, nor any special function have We given to you, O Adam, and for this reason, that you may have and possess, according to your desire and judgment, whatever place, whatever form, and whatever functions you shall desire. The nature of other creatures, which has been determined, is confined within the bounds prescribed by Us. You, who are confined by no limits, shall determine for yourself your own nature, in accordance with your own free will, in whose hand I have placed you. I have set you at the center of the world, so that from there you may more easily survey whatever is in the world. We have made you neither heavenly nor earthly, neither mortal nor immortal, so that, more freely and more honorably, the molder and maker of yourself, you may fashion yourself in whatever form you shall prefer. You shall be able to descend among the lower forms of being, which are brute beasts; you shall be able to be reborn out of the judgment of your own soul into the higher beings, which are divine.'" (in The Portable Renaissance Reader, 2nd ed., eds. James Ross and Mary McLaughlin [Penguin Books, 1968], pp. 477-78)

This idea of being able to ascend (although we may also descend, as well) also underlies the popularity of such books as Baldassare Castiglione's The Courtier, which instructed some of those who were rising into higher ranks about how to think, behave, act, and talk. (G1e) How can the subject, issue, or theme of identity be seen in Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince? How is the idea of becoming someone better or superior (in a particular sphere of action) a key issue? How is instruction given about appearing or seeming to be something, as part of an identity? (G1f) How can the subject, issue, or theme of identity be seen in Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote? How is the idea of becoming someone better or superior a key issue? (G1g) In contemporary America (as noted by Erving Goffman in his seminal work of sociology The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life), how do many of us (in contrast to the Middle Ages) have multiple identities during a single day, complete with changes in language, behavior, denomination (e.g., "student," "mom"), and even clothing? (G1h) How is the issue of identity broached in the opening lines of Act 1, Scene 1 (1.1) of Hamlet? How do several characters identify themselves -- state their identities -- in 1.1 of the play, as well as later in the play? (G1i) How does Hamlet have a number of doubles in it (e.g., two men with the same name -- Hamlet, Fortinbras; or Hamlet and Horatio; or Hamlet and Laertes)? How does this component relate to the subject of identity?

G2. As pointed out by noted historian Laurence Stone in his book The Crisis of the Aristocracy, with the centralization of power in the royal court in Europe (and reflected in the assigned works of Machiavelli and Shakespeare), came increased anxiety and backstabbing (sometimes literally) as people sought for advancement by competing for a set number of higher positions at the royal court or dispensed at the royal court. Part of the rivalry would naturally include spying, the gaining of intelligence (in the spying sense) that would help advance the cause of a position-seeker. (G2a) How is the motif of spying pervasive in Shakespeare's Hamlet? For example, how is a parallel set of spying shown in 2.1 and 2.2 of Hamlet? (G2b) How has spying become pervasive in contemporary America? For example, what is "anti-spy software," and why is it necessary? What goes with "quality assurance" as so often announced in recorded telephone menus from various businesses? How do police know in some places, even when no police car is present, that a person has gone through a red traffic signal? How and why is virtually every consumer who pays by check or credit card part of at least one database somewhere?

G3. P.M. Pasinetti in his NAWM introductions to Machiavelli's The Prince and Shakespeare's Hamlet notes connections between the two works. What are these connections pointed out by Pasinetti?

G4. From the late Middle Ages (e.g., Dante's Divine Comedy) into the Renaissance (e.g., Machiavelli's The Prince, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Cervantes' Don Quixote) a shift in the language chosen for writing important works of literature occurred from Latin to the vernacular (the common language of the country -- Italian, for Dante and Machiavelli; English, for Shakespeare; Spanish, for Cervantes).  (G4a) In the Renaissance in Britain, most important writers evidence a great joy in discovering and using the new language (now, for the first time, modern English, as opposed to Old English and Middle English; see the brief history of the English language included in Prinsky's Notes and Questions on Chaucer). How is this joy in discovering and using the vernacular, English, shown in Shakespeare's Hamlet? (G4b) One figure of speech pervasive in Hamlet is antonomasia -- e.g., when Marcellus identifies himself and Horatio as "and liegemen to the Dane" (1.1.15) -- "the Dane" = the King of Denmark = King Claudius ; or when Horatio refers to the Ghost's seemingly wearing "the very armor he [Hamlet Senior, the recently-deceased King] had on/ When he the ambitious Norway combated" (1.1.60-61) -- "Norway" = King of Norway = Fortinbras Senior. How does this figure relate to -- and help convey something about -- the subject of identity in the play? (G4c) Another figure of speech pervasive in Hamlet is the pun (also called "paronomasia") -- the play on one word having two or more meanings, or two words sounding alike having different meanings. For example, when Horatio refers to "young Fortinbras,/ Of unimproved mettle" (1.1.95-96), there is a play on the words (and meanings) of "mettle" (= worth) and "metal" (= metallic substance, an idea picked up in the following lines). When Horatio refers to how young Fortinbrass (= Fortinbras Junior) has "shark'd up" some outlaw mercenaries "to some enterprise/ That hath a stomach in't" (1.1.98-100), there is a play on the meaning of "stomach" as "importance or substance" as well as the literal physical organ (the latter connecting to "shark'd up" and "food and diet" in the passage). Why is this figure of speech, which depends on doubleness, so appropriate to the subjects and themes of this play?

G5.  (G5a) The subject of Romantic love occurs in this play. How could it be said that Hamlet drives his girlfriend crazy? How could it be said that his girlfriend drives Hamlet crazy? Such processes couldn't happen today, could they? (G5b) As with Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, one issue in Hamlet relating to romantic love is the effects of external influence on a romantic relationship. How is this subject explored in Hamlet?

G6.  One issue in both Machiavelli's The Prince and Shakespeare's Hamlet is how important it may be for a leader or manager to have good morality. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are rather famous as instances contrasting with each other in morality and in effectiveness. How do Machiavelli and Shakespeare compare on this subject? Carter and Clinton?

G7. Professor Walter Evans and others have noted certain general connections among literature, music, and art of the three units for the Renaissance in Humanities 2001. For Unit 1, Renaissance/Reformation I : Renaissance Court , these themes are (1) Rationality, (2) Growing Secularism / Worldliness, (3) Exaltation of Human Potential, (4) Psychological Complexity (sense of reality less simple and unified), (5) Individualism, and (6) Expanded Roles for Women. How may these components be found in Shakespeare's Hamlet? For Unit 2, Renaissance/Reformation II: Christianity / Reformation / Counter-Reformation, connections among the literature, music, and art may be seen in how these subjects related to religion occur.