Critical Articles – Literary Analysis of Hamlet
Topic A: Hamlet’s Tragic Flaw
Levy, Eric. “The Problematic Relation between Reason and Emotion in Hamlet.” Renascence 53.2
(Winter 2001): 83-95. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 71. Detroit:
Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 May 2011.
Lidz, Theodore. “Hamlet’s Precarious Emotional Balance.” Hamlet’s Enemy: Madness and Myth in
Hamlet (1975): 60-67. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Dana Ramel Barnes. Vol. 35.
Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Pearce, Brian. “Hamlet, the Actor.” Shakespeare in South Africa 19 (2007): 63-69. Rpt. in
Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. Vol. 129. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Werder, Karl. “The Heart of Hamlet’s Mystery.” Trans. Elizabeth Wilder. The Heart of Hamlet’s
Mystery. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris.
Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1984. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 May 2011.
Topic B: Hamlet’s Moral Beliefs
Andrews, Michael Cameron. “Hamlet: Revenge and the Critical Mirror.” English Literary
Renaissance 8.1 (Winter 1978): 9-23). Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Dana Ramel
Barnes. Vol. 35. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr.
2011.
Knowles, Ronald. “Hamlet and Counter-Humanism.” Renaissance Quarterly 52.4 (1999): 1046.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Levy, Eric P. “‘What should we do?’: The Predicament of Practical Reason in Hamlet.” Renaissance
and Reformation 23.4 (1999): 45-62. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. Vol.
101. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 May 2011.
Stegner, Paul D. “Try what repentance can’: Hamlet, Confession and the Extraction of Interiority.”
Shakespeare Studies 35 (2007): 105-129. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee.
Vol. 120. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Topic C: Ophelia’s Madness
Chapman, Alison A. “Ophelia’s ‘old lauds’: madness and hagiography in Hamlet.” Medieval and
Renaissance Drama in England 20 (2007): 111+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 May 2001.
Cohen, Joshua. “Mermaid-like: the tragedy of Ophelia.” Shakespeare Newsletter Fall 2006: 57.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 May 2011.
Dreher, Diane Elizabeth. “Dominated Daughters.” Domination and Defiance: Fathers and
Daughters in Shakespeare. The University Press of Kentucky, 1986: 76-95. Rpt. in
Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Dana Ramel Varnes. Vol. 36. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 May 2011.
Showalter, Elaine. “Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist
Criticism.” Shakespeare and the Question of Theory. Ed. Patricia Parker and Geoffrey Hartman.
1985: 77-94. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Dana Ramel Barnes. Vol. 35. Detroit: Gale
Research, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 May 2011.
Topic D: Horatio’s Friendship
Doubt, Keith. “Hamlet and Friendship.” Hamlet Studies 17.1/2 (1995): 54-62. Rpt in
Shakespearean Criticism. Ed Michelle Lee. Vol. 82. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Evans, Robert C. “Friendship in Hamlet.” Comparative Drama 33.1 (Spring 1999): 88-124) Rpt. in
Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 83. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 2 May 2011.
Wimsatt, James I. “The Player King on Friendship.” Modern Language Review 65.1 (Jan. 1970):
1-6. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 83. Detroit: Gale, 2004.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Topic E: Gertrude’s Guilt
Jardine, Lisa. “No Offence i’ th’ World:’ Hamlet and Unlawful Marriage.” Uses of History:
Marxist, Postmodernism and the Renaissance. Manchester University Press, 1991. 123-139. Rpt.
in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michale L. LaBlanc. Vol. 80. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 2 May 2011.
Levin, Richard. “Gertrude’s elusive libido and Shakespeare’s unreliable narrators.” Studies in
English Literature, 1500-1900 48.2 (2008): 305+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 May
2011.
Topic F: Laertes’s Conscience
Burton, Anthony. “Laertes’s rebellion: further aspects of inheritance law in ‘Hamlet.’(Critical
Essay).” Shakespeare Newsletter Fall 2002: 61+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr.
2011.
Doubt, Keith. “Hamlet and Friendship.” Hamlet Studies 17.1/2 (1995): 54-62. Rpt in
Shakespearean Criticism. Ed Michelle Lee. Vol. 82. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Tiffany, Grace. “Hamlet, reconciliation, and the just state.” Renascence: Essays on Values in
Literature. 52.8 (Winter 2005): 111. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 May 2011.