英国文学史及选读
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature
College of Foreign Languages
China Three Gorges University
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Teaching Outline
 1 Review
 2 Hamlet
 3 Text Study of Soliloquy “ To be or
not to be”
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
1 Review
 What are the Great Comedies and the
Great Tragedies produced by
Shakespeare?
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Great Comedies & Great Tragedies
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Great Comedies:
A Mid-summer Night’s Dream
The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
Great Tragedies:
Hamlet
Othello
King Lear
Macbeth
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
 Why did Shakespeare turn to tragedy around
the turn of 17th century
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Social reason
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Personal reason
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Artistic reason
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Hamlet
 Origin: It is of Danish origin,
 Characters:
Hamlet: The Prince of Denmark
Claudius: The new King of Denmark
Gertrude: The Queen of Denmark
Ophelia: Hamlet’s sweetheart.
Polonius: the father of Laertes and Ophelia
Laertes: Ophelia’s brother.
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Origin: It is of Danish origin
 Story of Hamlet goes back to Scandinavian
legend, bearing comparison to the AngloSaxon account of Beowulf.
 Earliest surviving literary tale of Hamlet is
found in Saxo Grammaticus’ Historia Danica
(1200)
 Shakespeare’s version differs
from the original piece but contains
many common characters and themes.
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Hamlet
 Story: The whole play shows how Hamlet, hero of the
play, who represents good and justice, fights against
his uncle in whom all the evil things of the time can be
seen.
 Setting:Elsinore, Denmark
 Set in a politically and culturally interconnected Europe:
Denmark, Norway, Poland, England, France, and
Germany.
 Elsinore is not a remote backwater, but a vitally
strategic place in European political and social life.
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Major characters
Old Hamlet
– Late King of Denmark
Gertrude
– Queen of Denmark
Hamlet
– Prince of Denmark
Horatio
– Hamlet‘s friend
Ghost
– King Hamlet‘s ghost / spirit
Claudius
– Hamlet‘s Uncle, the new
king
 Old Fortinbras
– King of Norway
 Young Fortinbras – Prince of Norway
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College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
 Polonius
 Laertes
 Ophelia
 Rosencrantz
 Guildenstern
—Chief advisor of Claudius
—son of Polonius
—Daughter of Polonius,
Hamlet’s girl friend
—Hamlet’s schoolmates
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Plot summary
 King Hamlet is murdered by his brother Claudius
 Claudius marries the Queen Gertrude to become king
 Prince Hamlet is forced by his father’s ghost to take
revenge on Claudius
 In the meantime Fortinbras tries to conquer Denmark,
which his father had lost to King Hamlet
 Hamlet uses a theatre group to perform a play to show
the guilt of Claudius. (Shakespeare developed a play
within a play)
 Now Claudius realizes that Hamlet knows the truth and
tries to kill him
 Accidentally Gertrude drinks the poisoned drink
intended to kill Hamlet
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Tragedy
 a serious play or novel representing the
disastrous downfall of a central character, the
protagonist. According to Aristotle, the
purpose is to achieve a catharsis through
incidents arousing pity and terror. The tragic
effect usually depends on our awareness of
admirable qualities in the protagonist, which
are wasted terribly in the fated disaster.
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Theme
 the revenge subject
 the subject of struggle for the throne within
the court
 contradiction between humanist ideals and
the reality.
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Collection
Questions?
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
More Questions?
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU