Hamlet

[Big brotheR]

Hamlet

[Big brotheR]

Hamlet
Hamlet was likely written in 1600, but the date of composition is uncertain. Most scholars feel that the play came after Julius Caesar (http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/julius_caesar/essays.html), which is alluded to in 3.2.93 by Polonius (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:characterPopup%283218%29).



The first known edition is in a quarto dated 1603, but printed by Nicholas Ling and John Trundell. This text is only 2200 lines long, making it one of the shorter versions of the play, as well as one of the inferior copies. Many scholars believe this version to have been reconstructed from memory alone, probably by one or two of the actors in Shakespeare's company.



The next edition, in 1604, seems to have used Shakespeare's handwritten draft, and is significantly larger and more comprehensive. The third main edition is that of the First Folio in 1623. This version of the play seems to have used the promptbook as its source, and thus more accurately portrays the play as Shakespeare's audience would have seen it. Due to discrepancies in the 1604 and 1623 texts, many modern editors have conflated the two versions into a unified text.





The narrative behind Hamlet derives from the legendary story of Hamlet (Amleth) recounted in the Danish History from the twelfth century, a Latin text by Saxo the Grammarian. This version was later adapted into French by Francois de Belleforest in 1570. An unscrupulous Feng kills his brother Horwendil and marries his brother's wife Gerutha. Horwendil's and Gerutha's son Amleth, although still young, decides to avenge his father's murder. He pretends to be a fool in order to avoid suspicion, a strategy which works. With his mother's active support, Amleth succeeds in killing Feng. He is then proclaimed King of Denmark. There is no uncertainty in this story, although Belleforest's version claims that Gerutha and Feng are having an affair. In fact, in this version the murder of Horwendil is quite public, and Amleth's actions are considered to be a duty rather than a moral sin.

This version of Hamlet is likely what Shakespeare knew, along with another play done in 1589 in which a ghost apparently calls out, "Hamlet, revenge!" However, this other play from 1589 is largely lost, and scholars cannot agree on what parts of it Shakespeare may have adopted or not, or if it even existed. Assuming it did exist, most scholars attribute it to Thomas Kyd (http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/authors/about_thomas_kyd.html), author of The Spanish Tragedy (http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/spanishtragedy/essays.html) in 1587. The Spanish Tragedy (http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/spanishtragedy/essays.html) includes many of the elements that Hamlet has, such as a ghost seeking revenge, a secret crime, a play-within-a-play, a tortured hero who feigns madness, and a heroine who goes mad and commits suicide.



This play is focused on revenge, and actually precipitated the genre of revenge plays of which Hamlet is a part.
The revenge play that Hamlet falls into includes five typical assumptions. Revenge must be on an individual level against some insult or wrong. Second, the individual may not have recourse to traditional means of punishment, such as courts, because of the power of the person or person's against whom revenge will be enacted. Third, the lust for revenge is an internal desire, which can only be satisfied by personally carrying out the revenge. Fourth, the revenger must make the intended victim aware of why the revenge is being carried out. Lastly, revenge is a universal decree that supercedes any particular religious doctrine, including Christianity.

Hamlet is a play of questions. Unresolved questions are constantly being asked, about whether the ghost of Old Hamlet is friendly or a demon, or whether Ophelia (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:characterPopup%283220%29) commits suicide or dies accidentally. The first act sets the scene for the rest of the play, "What art thou" (1.1.45), "Is it not like the king?" (1.1.57), "What does this mean, my lord?" (1.4.8). The inability to know the truth and to act on it is encapsulated in Hamlet himself, who is constantly seeking the answers to his questions throughout the play. This sense of constant questioning is perhaps best epitomized in the opening line, "Who's there?" (1.1.1).

Hamlet as a character remains tantalizingly difficult to interpret. The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/authors/about_johann_goethe.html) described him as a poet, a sensitive man who is too weak to deal with the political pressures of Denmark. The twentieth century has had Sigmund Freud (http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/authors/about_sigmund_freud.html), who viewed Hamlet in terms of an Oedipus complex, a sexual desire for his mother. This complex is associated with the wish to kill his father and sleep with his mother. Freud points out that Hamlet's uncle has usurped his father's rightful place, and therefore has replaced his father as the man who must die. However, Freud is careful to note that Hamlet represents modern man precisely because he does not kill Claudius in order to sleep with his mother, but rather kills him to revenge his mother's death. Political interpretations of Hamlet also abound, in which Hamlet hides the spirit of political resistance, or represents a challenge to a corrupt regime.

Stephen Greenblatt, the editor of the Norton Edition of Shakespeare, views these interpretive attempts of Hamlet as mirrors for the interpretation in the play itself. Polonius attributes Hamlet's madness to his rejection by Ophelia, Rosencrantz (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:characterPopup%283223%29) and Guildenstern (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:characterPopup%283224%29) feel Hamlet suffers from ambition, a desire to succeed his father on the elective throne of Denmark. Hamlet's madness is itself doubtful at times, Hamlet claims to be pretending, Claudius doubts his nephew's madness, but at the same time Hamlet's melancholy nature is clearly expressed in the beginning by his continued mourning for his father. In Shakespeare's time excessive melancholy was often associated with forms of madness, and so Hamlet, already exhibiting bouts of melancholy, makes himself a natural candidate for madness.
The soliloquies are dramatically rhetorical speeches of self-reflection. These have already been seen in the characters of Brutus in Julius Caesar (http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/julius_caesar/essays.html) and Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part I. Hamlet is a culmination of these characters, capable of far more complexity and psychological introspection. Indeed, in order to allow Hamlet to bring his mind to full expression, Shakespeare allegedly introduced over 600 new words into the English language in this play alone.

[Big brotheR]

http://media.wiley.com/lit_note_images/121/1.png

[Big brotheR]

Watching Shakespeare's Hamlet enacted on stage and on film over the years, like many, I have been puzzled by various aspects of the play. Is Hamlet really mad? Are we mad if we fail to understand him? Why does he appear to be so indecisive? Other than the fact that everyone is dead at the end of the play, why is Hamlet's life a real tragedy?


What is the Truth? Chan suggests the truth is this...in the end we all die, but before we do, we will find multiple ways to avoid facing the reality of this eventuality. Some of us like Ophelia conform and hide behind someone else's mores, no matter how destructive their ideas are. Some like Laertes and Polonius take refuge in status and material wealth, still others like the King seek power, no matter how many others he must crush to achieve his goal.

His book has provided me with illumination about a topic that has been a lifelong interest and I recommend it to anyone on a step wise path.

[cute angel]

Peace be upon you

I don't know whether I have the write to comment or not but I'm interested in this play even I faced a lot of difficulties in understanding every word or let's say general sentences

I want just to say how someone uses a ghost to be the caller of revenge I think that this shows the reality of that era in which pople believed in ghosts spirits and were guided by the church .If a ghost can ask for revenge how can a person agree and believe in him???this is something strange.

By the way I want to ask ,do writers in the past used the TH as a mark for the S of the verb because I found HE HATH for example?

Also I want to know if the play that the players were going to performe had the same story???I mean Hamlet ask those players to do

And finally I want to ask about what I have read above , you said this is a Dunish story but is it really happend in the past???

Sorry for bothering you by my questions:lam:

Regards

[little voice]

i wil try to read it in the vacation in shaa allah

i am very excited to read it

[Big brotheR]

Peace be upon you

I don't know whether I have the write to comment or not but I'm interested in this play even I faced a lot of difficulties in understanding every word or let's say general sentences

I want just to say how someone uses a ghost to be the caller of revenge I think that this shows the reality of that era in which pople believed in ghosts spirits and were guided by the church .If a ghost can ask for revenge how can a person agree and believe in him???this is something strange.

By the way I want to ask ,do writers in the past used the TH as a mark for the S of the verb because I found HE HATH for example?

Also I want to know if the play that the players were going to performe had the same story???I mean Hamlet ask those players to do

And finally I want to ask about what I have read above , you said this is a Dunish story but is it really happend in the past???

Sorry for bothering you by my questions:lam:

Regards


i will be back

[little voice]

I decided to read it in this vacation )

when i finish it , I will comment in shaa allah :15:

[Big brotheR]

Reading Pointers for Sharper Insights

As you read Hamlet, be aware of the following themes and concepts:
Death: Trace Hamlet's understanding of death from his first encounter with his father to Act V, scene ii, when he quotes the Book of Matthew. Does he come to an understanding of death, or does he protest against it?
Symbols of death to look out for: skulls, maggots, worms, rot, dust, ghosts
Sickness, imbalance: Writers of Shakespeare's day used the word “complexion” to mean not only “appearance of the face,” but “mood or character.” One's complexion was the result of four fluids called humors (see page 132). If these were out of balance, a person could, become ill, develop mood disorders or even go insane.

In Hamlet, not only the characters, but the whole state of Denmark, with King Claudius at the head, is out of balance. What kind of medicine will it take to heal the kingdom?
Take special note of the melancholy humor, associated with depression and anger, the color black, and earth, cold, and dryness. Which character best fits this humor? Trace the appearance of these qualities in the play.
Madness: It is sometimes difficult to say who is sane and who is insane in this play. Hamlet believes that he, and perhaps Horatio, are the only sane observers in the court; other characters, especially Gertrude, fear that Hamlet is ill (see above).

As Hamlet points out, the whole court is full of spies and corruption; if he refuses to go along with his uncle, whom he considers evil, is he really insane?
Do any of Hamlet's actions convince you, in spite of what he says, that he really has lost his mind?
What characters besides Hamlet exhibit signs of madness? What causes their behavior?
Acting and plays: Look for references to acting, pretending, and lying. Where does one stop and the next begin?

Hamlet declares to Horatio that he will “put on” an “antic disposition.” “Antic” means “foolish and silly,” but also “grotesque”; Hamlet will become an actor portraying a madman.
In Act II, a troupe of traveling players arrives at the castle. Hamlet knows them all, and shows himself to be a big fan of the theater. Shakespeare makes some references to his own actors at this point.
In Act III, Hamlet inserts lines into the speech of one of the traveling players in order to “catch the conscience” of King Claudius.
Children and parents:

How is Hamlet's relationship to his father different from that of Ophelia and Laertes to Polonius?
What does Gertrude think of Hamlet? Does her attitude toward him change during the play?
Sleep and dreams: In the most famous speech in English literature, Hamlet discusses suicide, and wonders why people choose to live rather than to die. “But in that sleep of death/ What dreams may come,” he says, “must give us pause.” He compares the boundary between life and death to that between sleep and waking, between the dream world and reality. This whole play takes place right on that line.




enotes

[gentle]

this admired me,thanks

[alla*]

"Hamlet Without the Ghost:Monetary Policy Without Money"

[Florist]

really, valuable i will keep it