AN HISTORICAL
CONTEXT FOR HAMLET
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction to History and the
Tudor saga
Culture
Theater
Customs specific to Shakespeare
Introduction to the Elizabethan Renaissance
• Early 16th century into the early 17 th
century
• Time of “rebirth” and new ideas
• writing poetry and drama
• composing music
• painting
• experimenting in monarch’s name
• Exploration became vital in this era.
• This was the first time people in
England had excess wealth to spend.
• This was one of the factors that
created the theater
The Beginning of the
Renaissance:
The Arrogant King
Henry VIII
• The Renaissance really begins with Henry
VIII.
• Inherits peaceful kingdom
• Second son, very educated (much like
Hamlet)
• First marriage: Katherine of Aragon is
arranged, loveless
• Only a daughter, heirless
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Anne Boelyn  Elizabeth I
Denied divorce
Creates the church of England
Centralizes all power under his rule
Has many wives
Finally has a son, dies young
Bloody Mary
• Edward dies
• Mary inherits throne
• Catholic
• Converts country quite violently
• Tyrannical rule
• Childless
• Imprisons Elizabeth
Return of Protestantism:
Queen Elizabeth
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Not accepted due to birth, gender
First real female ruler
Refuses to marry; leaves no heir
Returns the country to Protestantism
Tolerant
Loved the theater and the arts
Defeated the Spanish armada, then is
accepted and grows to be liked
Survives several assassination attempts
Dies in 1603
Throne goes to her nephew, James
Stewart
Ends the Tudor Dynasty
King James 1: The New Era
• King James takes the throne
• Scottish
• Hamlet spans this transition
• Private
• Still supports the theater, in particular
Shakespeare’s company
• Commissions the Bible in English
• Interested in the occult and unknown
• Not as much pomp and circumstance
(or drama)
• Shakespeare dies when he is king
Shakespeare’s World:
THE CULTURE
London: Cultural Epicenter
• Major trade center
• Population hits 100,000
• Rise of a new middle class of tradesmen, or merchants
• Zero Sanitation
• Disease is high, plague closed down theaters
• High infant and female death rate
• Rise of the theater (on the other side of the themes, technically not
London)
• Women were treated as property
and could own nothing (unless they
were widowed)
• Only options for women: Brothel,
Nunnery, marriage
• Husbands could beat wives. No real
divorce options for women.
• Laws were in place that determined
what a person could wear, where
they could live, what they could eat;
all based on social standing and
class
• Marriages are arranged. The upper
class, courtier marriages, had to be
approved by the monarch. Esp.
under Elizabeth
Life and Laws
Unintended Results
of Rejection of
Catholicism
• Henry VIII’s break from the church allowed
several other advancements that were
originally outlawed. These include:
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Medicine (new ideas and experiments)
Astronomy and science
Mathematics
Exploration (the newest and coveted thing
in Elizabeth’s court was tobacco)
• A consolidation of power and a very
powerful monarch
• The printing press and quartos
• New exchanges of ideas with other noncatholic countries
• First time translations of Greek and Roman
texts into English– Mythology was like pop
culture
• Still much experimentation with English
• The Puritans
The Elizabethan Theater
• The theater was for the uneducated masses.
• Considered a “low” profession
• No women on stage. Young boys only.
• Buying in to a company would insure financial
stability
• Puritans hated the theater and tried to close them
• Open to the elements
• Few set pieces, costumes came from rich patrons
• The Groundlings
• No “fourth wall” audience interacted with actors.
• Shakespeare would have played some of the parts.
• Most could not read. The color of the flag that
flew above the theater indicated what type of play
was being performed.
More Theater
Before a play could appear on the
Elizabethan stage, it first had to be
approved by the Master of the Revels
Parts were often written for certain
actors. Most likely the part of Hamlet was
written for lead actor Richard Burbage,
for example.
Only the property master has complete
script.
Actors have their lines only and lines
before entrances and exits
Rhymed Couplets
Quartos
Shakespeare’s Globe
• Shakespeare’s theater was not the first,
but one of the most famous.
• It was built on in the seedy area outside
of London proper.
• An almost exact replica was created in
London in the mid 1980’s. Only additions
were safety features and speakers. It is
built right next to the original Globe site.
• Shakespeare's plays are intentionally
ambiguous in places
Globe virtual tour
Hamlet
CULTURAL CONTEXT
AND CUSTOMS
A Few Notes on Customs….
Marriage and Women
• Marriages are arranged
• Members of the royal family are
“subject to their birth”
• Virginity is valued above all else in a
woman
• A divorced or unmarriable woman is
a disgrace to her family and has two
options: nunnery or brothel.
• Not permitted to be in the company
of men unaccompanied
The King and His Position
• One must have permission from
the king to leave his palace.
• Mourning period for a king is 6
months to a year
• Speaking against a king is
considered “treason” and can be
punished by death.
• King may hire a traveling acting
group to entertain at a party (like
with a Scop and Beowulf)
• Kings are often sent away to
school (from about age 13)
More Customs…
• Children were excepted to avenge
a parent’s murder.
• Suicide is a mortal sin
• Last rites
• Belief in Astrology and the
supernatural
• Women are considered fragile and
weak
• Duals or playing are common
entertainment in a Renaissance
castle
• Honor is of the utmost importance
Hamlet/Amleth
Historical Context
The story on which Hamlet is based was an ancient one:
1
Hamlet is part of an old tradition of revenge plays, and is based on an
old oral legend about Amleth, a prince whose father was killed by his
uncle, who then married his mother.
Rorik was real enough, a viking who (among other things*) was King of
Jutland. But Rorik's grandson, Amleth, was a figure of legend rather
than history, a heroic avenger who outsmarted his rivals and ended up
with two wives. Rorik's daughter, Gerutha, was given in marrriage to his
favourite, Horwendil, whose son was Amleth (Hamlet). . . and the
legend begins.
The play centers around Hamlet’s decision whether or not to avenge
the murder of his father, the King of Denmark. This weight of this
decision drives all the other action and relationships in the play.
Hamlet in Modern Day…
Hamlet in Modern Day…
Deeper Thematic Questions
Hamlet is also a play concerned with the question “Who Am I?”
First line of the play➔ “Who’s there?”
• Is our role in life defined by fate? Family? Our own choices? Are
we completely alone in the world, or are we irrevocably tied to
others?
Hamlet’s struggle with these “existential” questions has led critics
such as Harold Bloom and Freud to suggest that Hamlet is a
representation of a fully modern man
• Able to look at the stupidity, falsity, difficulty and sham of
everyday life, without relying on easy answers
Existentialism
A term applied to the work of certain late 19th- and
20th-century philosophers who, despite profound
doctrinal differences, shared the belief that
philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—
not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling,
living human individual.
In existentialism, the individual's starting point is
characterized by what has been called "the existential
attitude", or a sense of disorientation and confusion in
the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.
Existential Questions
•Who am I?
•What is mankind?
•What is the meaning of life?