10/18/2010
About the Man
&
Context for the Play
English 621
2010
Generously Liberated from Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 The most influential
writer in all of English
literature, William
Shakespeare was born in
1564 to a successful
middle-class glove-maker
in Stratford-upon-Avon,
England.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 Shakespeare
attended grammar
school, but his
formal education
proceeded no
further.
 Don’t let that fact
give you any ideas
about quitting
though…
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 In 1582 he married an
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 Around 1590 he left his
older woman, Anne
Hathaway, and had three
children with her.
family behind and
traveled to London to
work as an actor and
playwright.
 History also suggests
 After he left for London,
that William took small
roles in other
productions to help
finance his writing.
she embarked on a
moderately successful film
career in Hollywood.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 Public and critical
success quickly
followed, and
Shakespeare
eventually became the
most popular
playwright in
England and partowner of the Globe
Theater.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
 His career bridged the
reigns of Elizabeth I
(1558–1603) and
James I (1603–1625),
and he was a favorite of
both monarchs.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 James granted
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 Wealthy and world-
Shakespeare’s company
the greatest possible
compliment by bestowing
the title of King’s Men.
famous, Shakespeare
retired to Stratford and
died in 1616 at the age of
fifty-two.
 His will never mentioned
any of his plays since, at
that time, they were the
property of the King’s
Men and not his.
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From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 Shakespeare’s works were
collected and printed in
many editions in the
century following his
death.
 By the early 18th Century
 The fascination with his
(1700s), his reputation as
the greatest Englishlanguage poet was well
established.
 However, the absence of
works led to a fierce
curiosity about
Shakespeare’s life.
biographical information
has left many details of
Shakespeare’s personal
history shrouded in
mystery.
 The First Folio was
published seven years after
his death by his actor
friends to preserve his
legacy.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 Where did he get all
 In Shakespeare’s time, an
acting company could not
expect a playwright to write
in a vacuum.
 Alone without help.
his great ideas?
 As was common,
Shakespeare
borrowed ideas for his
plays from earlier
literary works.
 Why did he have
to do that?
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
 The nature of the schedule, in
which a new play could be
demanded weekly, required
playwrights to get together
and share their ideas.
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From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 English playwrights at this
time freely borrowed material
from one another and shared
criticisms/edits.
 Christopher Marlowe was
Shakespeare’s closest rival.
 Each play definitely presents
Shakespeare’s work, but also
the contributions of actors,
managers, and so forth, who
all knew what parts of a play
to leave in or take out.
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 Shakespeare likely
wouldn’t be impressed to
learn that his work is
being studied.
 He wrote for entertainment
value; for the same
audiences who loved
watching executions.
 This crowd loved ‘staged
mayhem’.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
 Some people have concluded
 The English crowd loved
that Shakespeare’s plays were
really written by someone else
(Sir Francis Bacon and the Earl
of Oxford are the popular
candidates).
gore (blood and guts).
 Stage crews would do their
best to show blood, illness,
love scenes, etc. look real.
 His plays appealed to
everyone, even if they
didn’t understand many of
the words.
 Sound familiar?
 Support for this claim is
circumstantial and the theory is
not taken seriously by many
scholars, including one bald one
in this room.
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From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 Without credible
evidence to prove
otherwise, Shakespeare
must be viewed as the
author of the 37 plays
and 154 sonnets that
bear his name.
 The legacy of this body
of work is immense.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 Was probably
 Hamlet is Shakespeare’s
written in 1600 or
1601.
most famous play.
 Its original title:
 The Revenge of Hamlet
Prince of Denmark.
 It was most likely
first performed in
July 1602.
 It has been called the
‘perfect play’.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
 Why July?
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 Shakespeare could have
taken the story of
Hamlet from:
 A 12th Century Latin
history of Denmark;
 A French prose work
(story) entitled Histoires
Tragiques.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 The raw material that he
 The prince (Hamlet) then
‘borrowed’ from these
works in writing Hamlet
is of a Danish prince
whose uncle murders the
prince’s father, marries
his mother, and claims
the throne.
pretends to be feebleminded to throw his
uncle off guard, then
manages to kill his uncle
in revenge.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 This is where the
similarities end.
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 Earlier versions of the
 Shakespeare changed the
 Shakespeare made it poetic
story were quite bloody.
emphasis of this story
entirely, making Hamlet
a philosophical prince
who delays taking action
because his knowledge of
his uncle’s crime is so
uncertain.
and full of thoughtprovoking speeches on :







 He is too deliberate (thinks
The meaning of life & death
Eternity
Relationships
Hypocrisy
Truth
God’s existence
Other concerns of mankind.
too much).
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 Does Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude,
share Claudius’s guilt?
 He also went beyond
making uncertainty a
quirk of Hamlet’s,
introducing a number of
ambiguities into the play
that even the audience
cannot resolve for
certainty.
 For Example:
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
 Shakespeare makes it
 Does Hamlet continue to love
clear that the stakes
riding on some of these
questions are enormous.
Ophelia, even as he spurns her in
Act III?
 Is Ophelia’s death a suicide or an
accident?
 Does the ghost offer reliable
knowledge or does it seek to
deceive and tempt Hamlet?
 Most importantly, is Hamlet
morally justified in taking
revenge against his uncle?
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 The actions of these
characters bring disaster
upon an entire kingdom.
 At the play’s end, it isn’t
even clear whether
justice has been achieved.
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From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 Shakespeare was a keen
judge of humanity and
Hamlet is perhaps his best
character to do the same.
 As teenagers know,
Hamlet’s dual nature is very
recognizable:
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
 Hamlet is:
 Sensitive
 Poetic
 Artistic
 Loving
 He is also:
 Treacherous (stabs friends
in the back).
 Lecherous (treats his
girlfriend badly)
 Murderous (shows no
remorse for killing other
men).
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 It is the play which is
most quoted.
 It is also the play most
adapted to film.
 No one interpretation of
the play exists or is
accepted as the ‘correct
one’.
 They all stand alone.
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 Why?
 Because he is everyone.
 Most of the conflict Hamlet
must overcome results from
his own internal struggles,
not from outside influences
or other characters.
 He is driven to avenge his
father’s death, but his
emotions tear him in two:
 He wants to right a
horrible wrong, but his
morals tell him that murder
is a sin, no matter what.
 His indecision proves to be
his downfall.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
 Although there are a fair
share of external obstacles as
well.
 Polonius, Claudius,
Laertes, Gertrude,
Ophelia, Ghost,
Gravedigger, etc.
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From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 The only proof he has of
his uncle’s guilt is the
word of a ghost.
 To the world around him, the
cheese has slid of Hamlet’s
cracker. He is ‘insane’.
 The Danish subjects have no
reason to think his uncle is
anything but a noble king.
 Hamlet has no clear allies.
 He is alone.
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A Who’s Who in Hamlet
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 King Hamlet
 King of Denmark
 Castle in Elsinore
 Killed by his brother
 Now a ghost
 Gertrude
 Don’t call her ‘Gert’
 King Hamlet’s Wife
 Widowed
 Now Claudius’s Wife
 Claudius
 The King’s brother
 Murdered King Hamlet
 Hamlet
 Son of the King and Gert
 A Sad Boy…Man…Boy
man
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 Polonius
 Lord Chamberlain
 King’s Flunky
 Claudius’s Stooge
 Laertes
 His son
 Student in France
 Hot-tempered
 Ophelia
 His daughter
 Hamlet’s GFF
 Mentally unstable
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From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
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 Horatio
 Hamlet’s trusted friend/advisor.
 Marcellus
 Guard (ghost witness)
 Bernardo
 Guard (ghost witness)
 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
 Hamlet’s school chums
 Now working against Hamlet
for Claudius
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
 Old Norway
 Norway’s defeated King.
 Defeated by King Hamlet before the
play begins.
 Fortinbras
 Norway’s nephew, plotting to invade
Denmark
 Others:
 Osric, Voltimand, Yorick, Reynaldo,
Francisco, Cornelius, Lucianus, Roy,
Roy’s Mom.
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