SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Hamlet Study Guide

From Amanda Mabillard,
Your Guide to Shakespeare.
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Your Essential Guide to Shakespeare's Greatest Tragedy

• Overview

Hamlet, the first in Shakespeare's series of great tragedies, was initially classified as a problem play when the term became fashionable in the nineteenth century.

Like Shakespeare's other problem plays -- All's Well that End's Well, Troilus and Cressida and Measure for Measure -- Hamlet focuses on the complications arising from love, death, and betrayal, without offering the audience a decisive and positive resolution to these complications. This is due in part to the simple fact that for Hamlet, there can be no definitive answers to life's most daunting questions. Indeed, Hamlet's world is one of perpetual ambiguity.

Although those around him can and do act upon their thoughts, Hamlet is stifled by his consuming insecurities. From the moment Hamlet confronts the spirit of his father, and consistently throughout the play from that point on, what he is sure of in one scene he doubts in the next. Hamlet knows that it is the spirit of his father on the castle wall, and he understands fully its unmistakable cry for revenge. But, when he is alone, Hamlet rejects what he has witnessed in a maelstrom of doubt and fear:

The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil; and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness, and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me. (II.ii.600-05.)

The emphasis on ambiguity in the play, and the absence of overt instruction on how to overcome such ambiguity is Shakespeare's testament to real life. Each one of us has experienced Hamlet's struggle to find the truth in a mire of delusion and uncertainty, often to no avail. As Kenneth Muir points out in Shakespeare and the Tragic Pattern:

[Hamlet] has to work out his own salvation in fear and trembling; he has to make a moral decision, in a complex situation where he cannot rely on cut-and-dried moral principles, or on the conventional code of the society in which he lives; and on his choice depend the fate of the people he loves and the fate of the kingdom to which he is the rightful heir. (154)

Hamlet also can be sub-categorized as a revenge play, the genre popular in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Elements common to all revenge tragedy include: 1) a hero who must avenge an evil deed, often encouraged by the apparition of a close friend or relative; 2) scenes of death and mutilation; 3) insanity or feigned insanity; 4) sub-plays; and 5) the violent death of the hero. Seneca, the Roman poet and philosopher, is accepted to be the father of such revenge tragedy, and a tremendous influence on Shakespeare. Thomas Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, written in 1592, is credited with reviving the Senecan revenge drama as well as spawning many other plays, such as Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, the Ur-Hamlet (see the sources section), and Shakespeare's own Titus Andronicus, in addition to Hamlet.

• Character Analysis
• Full Play Summary
• Introduction to the Revenge Tragedy
• Subplot Summaries
• Glossary and Annotations
• Hamlet's Soliloquies Explained
• Student Quiz with Detailed Answers

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LITERARY CONTEXT

Of the dramatists active in London when Shakespeare began his career, the majority were university men - the university wits, as they are sometimes called: Robert Green, Christopher Marlow, Thomas Lodge, John Lyly, George Peele, Thomas Nashe and others.



Greene and Shakespeare

Groats-worth of WitHe is most familiar to Shakespeare scholars for his pamphlet Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit (full title: Greene's Groats-worth of Wit bought with a Million of Repentance), which most scholars agree contains the earliest known mention of Shakespeare as a member of the London dramatic community. In it, Greene disparages Shakespeare, for being an actor who has the temerity to write plays, and for committing plagiarism. The passage quotes a line which is purportedly from Shakespeare's play Henry VI, part 3, but scholars are not agreed on exactly what is meant by this cryptic allusion:

"...for there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey".
Though anti-Stratfordians argue that the early date of Greene's remark precludes a reference to Shakespeare (who in 1592 had no published works to his name), most scholars feel that Greene's comment refers to Shakespeare, who would in this period be an "upstart" new to the scene as an actor and contributor to plays such as Henry VI, Parts 1-3 and King John, which were most likely written and produced (though not published) before Greene's death.

In any case, it should be noted that all or part of the Groats-Worth may have in fact been written shortly after Greene's death by one of his fellow writers (the pamphlet's printer, Henry Chettle, is one candidate) hoping to capitalize on it with a lurid tale of death-bed repentance.

Greene's colorful and irresponsible character have led some, for example Stephen Greenblatt, to speculate that Greene may have served as the model for Shakespeare's Falstaff.
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http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/drama/contemporariessubj.html


http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/globe-theatre/features/shakespeare-s-contemporaries

THE "COMPLETE" SHAKESPEARE

A FEW CLUES TO UNDERSTAND SHAKESPEARE'S WORK

Although some of his contemporaries considered him an "upstart", Shakespeare's social standing was, in fact, no lower than that of some of his contemporary fellow-dramatists. His father was a successful glover in the market town of Stratford-upon-Avon and held some prominent posts in the town council.

Shakespeare Timeline: Part 1 (1558-1599)

From Amanda Mabillard,
Your Guide to Shakespeare.
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From the Accession of Elizabeth I to the Opening of the Globe Theatre

• Shakespeare Timeline (1558-1599)
• Shakespeare Timeline (1600-1604)
• Shakespeare Timeline (1605-1616)

November 17, 1558
Accession of Queen Elizabeth
The daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth succeeded her Catholic sister Mary I and re-established the Protestant Anglican Church.

April 26, 1564
William Shakespeare's Baptism
The baptism of 'Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakspere' is recorded in the register of the Holy Trinity Parish Church, in Stratford-upon-Avon. Although the exact date of Shakespeare's birth cannot be confirmed, the consensus is that Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564.

September 4, 1568
Election of John Shakespeare as Bailiff
Shakespeare's father, John, was elected to many civic positions including chamberlain of the borough in 1561, alderman in 1565, and high bailiff in 1568.

hn was also Stratford's official ale taster.

November 27, 1582
Shakespeare's Marriage Licence Issued
The marriage licence was issued to William Shakespeare and Anne Whateley (Hathaway) of Temple Grafton, Warwickshire.

May 26, 1583
The Baptism of Susanna Shakespeare
Susanna was the Shakespeares' first child, born a mere six months after the wedding of her parents. Shakespeare left Susanna most of his property upon his death in 1616.

February 2, 1585
The Baptism of Hamnet and Judith Shakespeare
The twins were named after two very close friends of William: a baker named Hamnet Sadler and his wife, Judith. Tragically, Hamnet Shakespeare died in 1596 at the age of eleven.

1590-1592
Shakespeare Writes Parts 1, 2, and 3 of Henry VI.
Although we do not know the precise dates of composition, it is generally assumed that the Henry VI trilogy was composed by Shakespeare between 1590 and the summer of 1592.

March 3, 1592
First Production of 1 Henry VI
Theatre owner Philip Henslowe listed 1 Henry VI as having been performed by Strange's Men at the Rose on March 3rd, 1592.

September 3, 1592
Death of Robert Greene
Greene is best remembered for his attack on Shakespeare in his autobiographical Groatsworth of Wit (1592): "for there is an up-start Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and beeing an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey." Click here for an explanation of this passage and how it might have affected Shakespeare's career.

April 18, 1593
Registration of Venus and Adonis
Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare's narrative poem in six-line stanzas, was published by Richard Field (1561 - 1624). The poem was dedicated to Shakespeare's patron, Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton.

May 30, 1593
Death of Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe, the great Elizabethan poet and dramatist, was murdered in a tavern brawl. It is argued that Shakespeare alludes to Marlowe's death in As You Like It (3.3.11-12): "it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room."

1594
First Quarto Edition of Titus Andronicus
Three quarto Editions of Titus Andronicus appeared before it was published in the First Folio (1623).

May 9, 1594
Registration of The Rape of Lucrece
Shakespeare wrote this long narrative poem in rhyme royal (seven-line stanzas in iambic pentameter). It appeared in several subsequent quarto editions.

December 28, 1594
Confirmed Performance of The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors was performed at the Gray's Inn, London, as part of the Christmas celebrations of 1594.

August 11, 1596
Burial of Hamnet Shakespeare
As mentioned above, Hamnet Shakespeare died at the tender age of eleven. No information on the cause of his death or on his burial is known.

October 20, 1596
John Shakespeare Granted Coat of Arms
By permission of the Garter King of Arms, John Shakespeare and his children were granted permission to display the gold coat-of-arms, with a black banner bearing a silver spear. The motto was "Non sanz droict" or "not without right."

1597
First Quarto Editions of Richard III, Richard II, and Romeo and Juliet
The first edition of Richard III was followed by seven more Quarto versions printed over the next forty years. Q1 of Richard II spawned two more editions in 1598. The 1597 quarto edition of Romeo and Juliet is considered corrupt and four more subsequent editions were produced.

May 4, 1597
Shakespeare Buys New Place in Stratford
Shakespeare bought the second-largest house in his home town for a sum of £60. The house was over 100 years old when Shakespeare moved in and it came with ten fireplaces and two barns. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust acquired what was left of the once-magnificent property in 1892.

1598
First Quarto Editions of Love's Labour's Lost and 1 Henry IV
Love's Labour's Lost was first published in the 1598 quarto edition. (There is evidence, however, to suggest that the play was printed at an unknown earlier date). Two quarto editions of 1 Henry IV were produced in 1598.

1599
Opening of the Globe Theatre
The Globe was built in 1599, but the thatch roof caught fire in 1613 owing to the discharge of a cannon during a production of Henry VIII and the theatre was consumed. It was rebuilt in 1614 and finally demolished in 1644. Shakespeare acted and staged many of his plays at the Globe, and he was also one of the shareholders.

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SHAKESPEARE AND HIS TIME: THE ELIZABETHAN AGE

A few decades before Shakespeare was born, there had been momentous changes in the country under the Tudor dinasty.

With Henry VIII (1509-1547), by the Act of Supremacy, Papal power had been abolished, but it was Elizabeth I who took the title of Supreme Head of the Church of England, though not without opposition from the Puritans, who launched their attacks from the Parliament.

However, Elizabeth and Protestantism were saved by the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) because the news was received with great enthusiasm by the country. Moreover, the sudden expansion of foreign trade strengthened the monarchy and helped knit together a new national conscience which provoked the developing of an incredible vitality and self-confidence in all fields of life. As a result, poets, musicians and painters shone in this atmosphere.

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/pirates/armada4.html

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INTRODUCTION

William Shakespeare was born in the period we know as Renaissance. This was the transitional period between the medieval and modern times which began in Italy in the 14th century and lasted into the 17th century. The Renaissance was marked by a humanistic revival of classical influence expressed in the flowering of the arts and literature and by the beginning of modern science.


http://www.tomecek.com/jay/index.html