The Tragedy of
Hamlet,
Prince of Denmark
By William Shakespeare
The Plays


Early plays, 1590’s, were mainly comedy
 Comedy (and this could be extended to most
of Shakespeare's history plays as well) is
social--leading to a happy resolution (usually
a marriage or marriages) and social
unification.
Shakespeare began to focus on
tragedy/dramatic themes in the early 1600’s.
 Tragedy is individual, concentrating on the
suffering of a single, remarkable hero-leading to individual torment, waste and
death
 1608 marks a change in tone from tragedy to
romance, light, magic, and reconciliation
Publishing Shakespeare



Despite all the paper and ink, no printed text of
any of his plays can claim to be an exact, wordby-word copy of what he wrote.
DO YOU KNOW THE HORROR OF
LOSING THE ONLY COPY OF WHAT
YOU’VE WRITTEN? In Shakespeare’s time, a
playwright delivered his only handwritten copy
to the acting company. Then it becomes
property of the company, not the writer.
No copies of Shakespeare’s plays in his own
handwriting have survived!
Actors





Only men and boys allowed onstage.
Young boys whose voices had not
changed play women’s roles.
It would have been considered indecent
for a woman to appear on stage.
The actors in Shakespeare’s plays
worked very hard and were paid
according to the house’s take.
More popular actors, in lead roles, had to
deliver as many as 4000 lines in six
different plays during a London work
week.
When in a play...




Only men were permitted to
perform who were part of a
licensed theater company.
Boys or effeminate men were
used to play the women.
Costumes were often the
company’s most valuable
asset.
Costumes were made by the
company, bought in London,
or donated by courtiers.
Elaborate Costumes
The Globe Theatre
Size and Shape
 Opened in 1599;
Shakespeare's
company regularly
performed there.
 Polygonal shape
with as many as 20
sides.
THE GLOBE THEATER
Built in 1599
 The most magnificent theater in London
 Shakespeare was 1/5 owner
 He earned 10% of the total profit,
approximately £200-250 a year
 The Bard retired to Stratford and lived on the
profits he earned from the Globe
 June 19, 1613 the Globe burned to the ground
during a performance of Henry VIII

The Globe Theater –








Many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed
here
The stage was a large, rectangle that jutted out
into the yard
Held 2,000-3,000 people tightly packed
An open playhouse with a wooden structure
three stories high
It was shaped like a 16 sided polygon
General admission = (a pence) 1 Penny entitled
a spectator to be a “groundling”-someone who
could stand in the yard.
More expensive seats were in the roofed
galleries and most expensive seats were chairs
set right on the stage along its two sides
Rebuilt in 1900’s
English Theater
Plays were most often performed in outdoor
theaters
 Performances took place during the day so
that the stage would be illuminated by
natural light

Spectators




Wealthy got benches
“Groundlings” or poorer people
stood and watched from the courtyard
(“pit”)
All but wealthy were
uneducated/illiterate
Much more interaction than today
The groundling




Poor audience member
Stood around stage in
“the pit”
Women not allowed
(had to dress up as men
to attend)
Threw rotten
vegetables at bad
performances
Queen Elizabeth I –
( 1558-1603 )






Ruled England for 45 years.
Nicknamed “the Virgin Queen”
and produced no heir to the throne
Restored Protestantism and formalized the
Church of England
During her reign, the economy was weakened by
inflation, food shortages, and high rent.
Outbreak of the black plague, food riots,
Catholic conspiracies, threats of invasion, etc.
During the Elizabethan Period, hundreds of
people were convicted as witches and executed
King James I – ( 1603-1628 )





Renamed Shakespeare’s acting troupe “The
King’s Men”
Believed in the supernatural and interested in
witchcraft
Religious and believed in the existence of
supernatural evil
Commissioned a translation of the Bible from
Latin to English
Published a book about witchcraft called
“Demonologie“ in 1597
The Cost of a Show




1 shilling to stand
2 shillings to sit in the
balcony
1 shilling was 10% of
their weekly income
Broadway Today:
 $85 Orchestra
 $60 Balcony
 10% of a teacher’s
weekly salary
Clothes



One set used all year
long, rarely washed
Underclothing slept in,
infrequently changed
Clothes handed down
from rich to poor
Conditions in London-BAD!



Thames River
polluted with raw
sewage
Trees used up for
fuel
Poverty
Living Conditions
 No
running
water
 Chamber Pots
 Open Sewers
 Crowded
Personal hygiene/health






Bathing considered dangerous
Body odor strong
Childhood diseases
Children often died before 5 years
Small Pox
Bubonic Plague
The Man That Would Be Shakespeare
1564-1616
 Stratford-on-Avon,
England
 He wrote 37 plays &
154 sonnets
 He started out as an actor
 No records document his
life from 1585-1592,
when he was between the
ages of 21 and 28.

The Man That Would Be Shakespeare



There is little known
about his domestic life
after moving permanently
to Stratford around 16111612
There is no “tell-all”
biography to reveal his
intimate life.
Some believe the sonnets
published in 1609 tell of
his real-life relationships
with a young man, a
“Dark Lady”.
Well-known Facts about Will





Great writer of England
Plays translated into all
languages, musicals, ballets
Born Stratford-upon-Avon
Well-to-do, affluent while
alive
Most quoted, other than
the Bible
Lesser-known Facts





Teen father: married
pregnant 26 year old Anne
Hathaway when he was 18
Deadbeat dad: Left wife
and children for London
stage career
Father of twins
Elizabethan rapper: uses
rhythm and rhyme
“Plagiarism” ?
Book Sizes




1. Folio: Sheet folded in half to make 4 sides
2. Quarto: Sheet folded twice so as to make
4 leaves or 8 pages, (9 1/2" x 12")
3. Octavo: Sheet folded so as to make 8
leaves or 16 pages (6 x 9" )
4. Duodecimo: Sheet folded so as to make
12 leaves or 24 pages (about 5 x 7")
Early Editions of Hamlet
First Quarto (1603)



For Hamlet, the First Quarto presents a "bad" or
memorially reconstructed text.
Some scholars believe that these came from minor
players remembering and dictating the play,
although others have discredited this theory. In
Hamlet, they believe that the actor playing
Marcellus does this.
It is considered “bad” folio because it was
recreated from the actors’ memories.
Early Editions of Hamlet


The First Quarto text of Hamlet presents a
much more sympathetic version of Gertrude;
she swears to assist Hamlet in his revenge,
for example.
A scene between Gertrude and Horatio
exists in this version and disappears in later
ones. Gertrude is told the news that Hamlet
tells in his letter to Horatio, thus establishing
her as Hamlet’s ally.
Early Editions of Hamlet
Second Quarto (1604).
 J. D. Wilson showed in 1934 that this
quarto was prepared from
Shakespeare’s original manuscript or
possibly from a corrected edition of the
First Quarto.
 The Second Quarto has about 200 lines
not in the Folio.
Early Editions of Hamlet
First Folio (1623)
 Contains 16 plays
previously printed
in quarto editions
and 18 others
that would not
otherwise have
survived.
Early Editions of Hamlet
The Folio edition
has stage
directions.
 The Folio edition
includes about 90
lines not in the
Second quarto.

Introduction to the Play



Hamlet is
Shakespeare’s most
famous tragedy.
However, why might
it have been
considered a mystery?
When audiences try
to “solve” the play’s
mysteries, they often
look inside their own
hearts and minds.


It’s easy to
understand why so
many actors (and
some actresses) have
longed to play Prince
Hamlet.
He is fatally attractive
and romantically
doomed. He’s
brilliant, thinks
complexly, and
ironically up-to-date.
Introduction Continued


Hamlet is fond of
asking difficult
questions, like his
famous “To be or not
to be” soliloquy.
Hamlet contains
philosophical depth
and is everything
opposite of a dull
lecture on the
meaning of life.


Hamlet is a tragedy, a
mystery, a revenge
story, a ghost story,
and a political thriller
– with some good
jokes thrown in.
Shakespeare’s
powerful images of
disease, poison and
nature gone wrong
create a perilous and
paranoid environment
“To be or not to be” in the Folio (III.i.6397)
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep—
No more, and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural
shocks
That flesh is heir to . . .
“To be or not to be” in the Quarto
To be or not to be, ay there’s the point;
To die, to sleep, is that all? Ay, all.
No, to sleep, to dream; ay marry, there it goes.
For in that dream of death, when we awake
And borne before an everlasting judge,
From whence no passenger ever returned,
The undiscovered country, at whose sight
The happy smile, and the accursed damned . .
Sources
Thomas Kyd's
Hamlet in the
1580s (now lost);
this is referred to
as the “UrHamlet.”
 Thomas Kyd's
Spanish Tragedy
(1587) (Revenge
tragedy)

Sources

Hamlet’s origin is
said to come from
Danish legends
from 16th century
tales of a young
noble named
Amleth (meaning
fool or one who
feigns madness in
Danish). Collected
by Saxo Grammaticus
(historian).
Sources

In the original,
Amleth feigns
madness to keep
away from his
murderous uncle.
Sources

The ghost in the
original play by
Belleforest said
"Hamlet! Revenge!"
frequently, which
must have been a
joke by the time of
the Hamlet.
Sources

The Ghost (which
Shakespeare
probably played) is
less prominent in
the version of
Hamlet that we
know.
Sources


From Harold Bloom,
Shakespeare: The
Invention of the
Human
Bloom believes that
Shakespeare himself
wrote the ur-Hamlet
play from 1589 and
that he made several
changes in this
version.
Hamlet’s Sources

Readers who are
troubled by
Shakespeare’s
borrowing habits
might think about
their favorite movies
or songs. How many
movies have wholly
“original” plots?

Shakespeare’s
originality doe not lie
in what plot elements
he used, but in how
he used these
materials.
Hamlet Sites




The Enfolded Hamlet
Hamlet on the Ramparts
Shakespeare Quartos Online
The Authorship Debate