Hamlet: Encyclopedia - Hamlet

Hamlet

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and one of his best-known and most oft-quoted plays. It was written at an uncertain date between 1600 and the summer of 1602.

Hamlet may be the most frequently produced work in almost every western country, and it is considered a crucial test for mature actors. Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy (Act Three, Scene One), the most popular passage in the play, is so well known that it has become a stumbling-block for many modern actors.

Hamlet is one of the world's most famous literary works, and has been translated into every major living language. There is even a version in Klingon.

Hamlet - Texts

There are three extant texts of Hamlet from the early 1600's in both Quarto and Folio format.

The play first appeared in print in 1603 in a version now known as the 'Bad Quarto'. This edition follows essentially the same plot as the play we know as Hamlet but it is much shorter and its language is often very different; for example, where the accepted version reads "To be or not to be, that is the question", the Bad Quarto reads "To be or not to be, aye there's the point". These differences, which usually seem aesthetically weaker than the other versions, have led to the suggestion that the text may have been published without the permission of the playing company, and put together by stenography or by minor actors recalling the lines of others by memory. In particular, the finger has been pointed at the character Marcellus as the likely culprit for the source of the "Bad Quarto" because his scenes and lines are rendered most "accurately" compared to other Quartos and when he is absent from stage the text diverges more. Most modern textual scholars find this theory fanciful, since a minor actor would be unlikely to have memorised the lines of other actors, even inaccurately -- but actors and other theatrical professionals (who often have large portions of plays they work on memorized without even attempting to) would likely dispute this point.

The authorised 'Second Quarto' (Q2) was published in 1604, and was described on its title page as "enlarged to almost as much again as it was". This is the longest text of Hamlet to be published in the period.

The third edition was the version published in the First Folio of Shakespeare's complete works. This text is shorter but also contains scenes not in Q2.

Modern editions are a compromise between the Second Quarto text and the Folio text. Some conflate the two to produce one very long text. Others assume that the Folio text represents Shakespeare's final intentions and that the cuts were made by him; they therefore present the cut Q2 passages in an appendix.

In the theatre, performing the full, conflated Q2/Folio text takes around 4 hours. Because of this, most productions use a cut text. For example, the Royal Shakespeare Company's Artistic Director Michael Boyd staged Hamlet in the summer of 2004 using lines from various Quartos; his text was dubbed the "Boyd Quarto" by newspaper reviewers.

Some theatre companies have experimented with performing the Bad Quarto, which takes only 2 hours. They claim that while it reads badly on the page, in performance it is faster-paced and more direct than the 'official' versions.

Hamlet - Main characters

Prince Hamlet, the title character, is the son of the late King of Denmark, who was also named Hamlet. He is a student at a school in Wittenburg. He is charged by the ghost of his father to avenge his murder, which he finally succeeds in doing, but only after the rest of the royal house has been wiped out and he himself has been mortally wounded with a poisoned rapier by Laertes.

Claudius is the current King of Denmark, Hamlet's uncle, who succeeded to the throne upon the death of his brother. The ghost of King Hamlet tells Prince Hamlet that he was murdered by brother Claudius, who poured hebenon in his ear while he was asleep. Claudius is killed with a poisoned rapier by Hamlet who, for good measure, also forces him to drink the wine with which he had intended to poison Hamlet.

King Hamlet (referred to in the stage directions as Ghost) was Hamlet's father. At the start of the play, he is not long dead. He appears to Hamlet as a ghost and urges him to avenge his murder. King Hamlet was killed by poison emptied into one of his ears. Hamlet questions whether the spirit really is the ghost of King Hamlet or whether it is a malicious demon in disguise, and his question is never definitively answered.

Gertrude is Hamlet's mother, the widow of King Hamlet who became the wife of Claudius, a relationship considered incestuous in Shakespeare's time. She dies by accidentally drinking poisoned wine intended for Hamlet.

Polonius is Claudius's chief councillor, who is distrustful of Hamlet's relationship with Ophelia. He is a fatuous bore, and Hamlet frequently teases him while pretending to be mentally unbalanced. He is fatally stabbed by Hamlet while hidden behind an arras while trying to eavesdrop upon a conversation between Hamlet and his mother.

Laertes is Polonius's son, who deeply cares for Ophelia, his sister, and spends much of the play in France. In the end, appalled by Hamlet's role in his sister's death, he works with Claudius to rig a dueling contest. In this contest, he kills Hamlet with a poisoned rapier to avenge the deaths of Polonius and Ophelia. Hamlet kills him with the same rapier, although at the time Hamlet did not realise it was poisoned.

Ophelia is Polonius' daughter. She and Hamlet have had romantic feelings for each other, although they (at least implicitly) have been warned that it would be politically inexpedient for them to marry. Jilted by Hamlet as part of his insanity ruse, her father's death causes her to go insane, and she drowns in a brook.

Horatio is a friend of Hamlet's from university. He is not directly involved in the intrigue among the royals, which enables the author to use him as a foil or sounding board for Hamlet. Hamlet commissions him to name Fortinbras King of Denmark and tell Hamlet's story. He is the most important character alive at the end of the play, as his threats to commit suicide are dismissed by Hamlet before he dies.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are old school-fellows of Hamlet, who were summoned to the castle by Claudius to keep a watch on Hamlet. Hamlet soon suspects that they are spies. They die off-stage in England, executed by the King's warrant for Hamlet's death, altered by Hamlet to name them.

Fortinbras is the Norwegian crown prince who has only a couple of brief scenes in the play, but who delivers its final lines and appears to represent the hope for a better future for the Danish monarchy and its subjects.

Hamlet - Plot summary

The play concerns the dilemma of Prince Hamlet, whose father, the late King of Denmark, victor over the sled-riding Polish army, died suddenly while Hamlet was away at university. Prior to the opening of the play, the King's brother Claudius had himself proclaimed king, and cemented his claim to the throne by marrying Hamlet's mother Gertrude, the widowed Queen.

The play opens on the battlements of Elsinore Castle, seat of the Danish monarchy, where a group of sentries is terrified by the apparition of the recently deceased King Hamlet. Hamlet's friend Horatio joins the soldiers and when the ghost appears, bids it speak. They are aware it has some message to carry, but it vanishes with the arrival of dawn.

The next day, the Danish court meets to celebrate the wedding of Claudius and Gertrude. The new King urges Hamlet not to persist in his grief. Left by himself, Hamlet expresses his anger at the accession of his uncle Claudius and his mother's hasty remarriage. Horatio and the guards come on the scene and tell him of the appearance of the ghost. Hamlet is determined to investigate.

Joining Horatio on watch on the battlements that night, just as Hamlet is delivering a speech censuring the Danes for their drunkenness, the ghost appears. It beckons him to a corner by himself and reveal to him a fearful secret: his father was indeed murdered. He was poisoned through the ear by Claudius, and the Ghost commands Hamlet to avenge him. Shocked by the discovery, Hamlet returns to Horatio and the sentries, and made them swear an oath not to reveal details of the night's happenings to any one.

Hamlet is unsure whether the ghost he has seen is truly his father, and suspects that it might be the devil taking his father's appearance in order to cause havoc. He therefore sets out to test the king's conscience through putting on an "antic disposition" (acting insane), in the hope that his outrageous behavior might reveal the truth, or otherwise acquire the opportunity to put an end to Claudius.

Hamlet uses his feigned insanity to taunt Claudius and Gertrude, and takes an especial delight in making a fool of Polonius, the king's Polish-born councillor. Polonius is certain that Hamlet is mad with love for his daughter Ophelia. Claudius, perhaps suspecting Hamlet's ruse, also asks his sometime schoolmates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to monitor him, but Hamlet does not let his guard down. He enlists a company of travelling performers to stage an existing play which he has modified to re-enact the circumstances of his father's murder.

Midway at the play, Claudius cannot bear to watch, and asks for lights. The king's anguished reaction to the performance (which Horatio also notices) convinces Hamlet of his guilt. Shortly afterwards, Claudius make plans for Hamlet to be deported to England with Rosencratz and Guildenstern, on the excuse of his insanity. Left alone, he privately expresses his disgust at what he has done, and offers up a prayer of repentance. Hamlet discovers Claudius at prayer, and prepares to kill him, but then stops, reasoning that he does not want his revenge to have the result of sending the repentant Claudius to heaven. In a double irony, after Hamlet slips away, Claudius concludes that he is unable to repent in his current state of mind; thus, if Hamlet had not attempted to arrogate to himself the destiny of Claudius's soul, rather than just his life, he would have gotten the ultimate justice he sought. By trying to go beyond the ghost's orders, he has doomed his efforts to failure.

Hamlet confronts his mother about the murder of his father and her sexual relations with her new husband, and during their conversation, he stabs Polonius, who has been hiding behind a tapestry eavesdropping on their conversation, thinking it may have been Claudius. Unrepentant of his crime, he continues to admonish his mother. King Hamlet's ghost makes a reappearance to rebuke Hamlet. Hamlet's mother cannot see the ghost, and sees him conversing with it, is convinced that her son has really gone mad.

Claudius, who has figured out Hamlet's real motivation, sends Hamlet to England, supposedly for his safety, but accompanied by a sealed letter to the English ordering his death. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent along to ensure the orders are carried out. On the way to England, Hamlet's ship is attacked by pirates, who take Hamlet prisoner but then return him to Denmark.

Meanwhile, Ophelia goes mad, having been deeply disturbed by Hamlet's feigned rejection of her, and driven to madness by the death of Polonius. She sings a number of rustic melodies that Shakespeare may have pilfered from the English folk tradition. In what may have been a suicide attempt, she falls into a brook and drowns. Laertes, her brother, returns from overseas, and is hungry to avenge for his father's and sister's deaths.

Hamlet, returning from his voyage, meets Horatio in a graveyard outside Elsinore just as Ophelia's funeral cortege arrives there, where a clown is digging. Hamlet finds the skull of Yorick (see skull as a symbol), an old jester who has carried him on his back in his childhood, and proclaims of it, "Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft." As Hamlet broods on mortality, the cortege arrives with the King, Queen and Laertes. Hamlet becomes so distraught on learning Ophelia's death that he leaps onto the open grave and grapples with Laertes.

On learning Hamlet is not dead and has returned, Laertes and Claudius engineer a scheme to kill Hamlet while making the death look like an accident. To this end, Claudius instructs Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a fencing match. Unknown to Hamlet, Laertes will be fighting with a sharpened and poisoned foil, instead of the customary blunted and unpoisoned blade. In addition, Claudius prepares some poisoned wine for Hamlet to drink as a toast, in the event that Laertes is unable to hit him.

While waiting for the match, Hamlet and Horatio jest with the diffident fop Osric. At the match Hamlet wins the first two rounds, and Gertrude drinks some of the wine to toast him, unaware that it is poisoned. Hamlet is pricked with the sword and fatally poisoned, but in the ensuing brawl, he swaps blades with Laertes, and deals a deep wound to Laertes with the poisoned sword as well. The Queen dies from the drink, and warns Hamlet that the drink is poisoned. With his dying breath, Leartes also confesses the whole plot to Hamlet. Enraged, Hamlet kills Claudius with the poisoned weapon, forcing him also to drink the poisoned wine, at last avenging his father's death.

Horatio, horrified at the turn of events, seizes the poisoned wine and proposes to join his friend in death, but Hamlet wrests the cup away from him. He orders him to tell his story to the world at large to restore Hamlet's good name. Hamlet also recommends that the Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, be chosen as rightful successor to the Danish throne. Hamlet dies, and Horatio mourns his passing:

Fortinbras appears with English ambassadors. Shocked by the carnage on display, he orders a military funeral for Hamlet, whilst Horatio offers to relate the whole tale to the public.

Hamlet - Sources

Hamlet, or Amleth, was a legendary Danish prince (see: Hamlet (legend)) whose exploits were recorded by Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum around 1200 AD; François de Belleforest adapted Saxo's story in his Histoires tragiques (1570). Shakespeare's main source, however, is believed to be an earlier play about Hamlet (the Ur-Hamlet), which is attributed to Thomas Kyd and is known to have introduced a ghost to the story. Shakespeare may also have taken some elements from Kyd's other play, The Spanish Tragedy, especially the hero's procrastination.

Hamlet - Hamlet as a Problem Play

Hamlet as a play is without doubt the most discussed play in the whole of Shakespeare's oeuevre, or, to quote from Harry Levin, "the most problematic play ever written by Shakespeare or any other playwright". Few will dispute that the body of criticism of the play is the most extensive in the history of world literature, and that almost every critic of note has had their say on the work.

Hamlet - Hamlet as a character

Like the play itself, Hamlet the character is possibly the most discussed and contentious character in the whole of world drama and indeed in the whole of Western literature. While conceding he is one of Shakespeare's greatest creations, critics are at loggerheads over the inner motivations and psyche of this character. His relationships with the various characters of the story, including his father, his uncle Claudius, his mother Gertrude and his beloved Ophelia, have all been subjected to multiple speculations, including modern psychological theories. Critics as varied as Goethe, Coleridge, Hegel, Schegel, Nietzsche, Turgenev, Freud, T. S. Eliot, and Asimov have written essays on him, all with their own special insights. J. Dover Wilson produced one of the most influential readings of the first half of the 20th century; Harold Bloom was dominant in the second half. Besides being Shakespeare's most demanding role (with over 1,400 lines), Hamlet is also the most introspective. Actors have traditionally struggled with this role, and it can be safely said that any one performance can capture only some of the many facets of the creation.

The plot summary above presents perhaps the simplest view of Hamlet, as a person seeking truth in order to be certain that he is justified in carrying out the revenge called for by a ghost that claims to be the spirit of his father. The most standard view is that Hamlet is highly indecisive, which is the view as proposed by Coleridge and a number of other critics. "Shakespeare wished to impress upon us the truth, that action is the chief end to existence". The 1948 movie with Laurence Olivier in the title role is introduced by a voiceover: "This is a story of a man who could not make up his mind."

Others see Hamlet as a person charged to carry out a duty that he both knows and feels is right, yet is unwilling to. In this view, all of his efforts to satisfy himself of King Claudius' guilt or his failure to act when he can are evidence of this unwillingness, and Hamlet berates himself for his inability to carry out his task. After observing a play-actor performing a scene, he notes that the actor was moved to tears in the passion of the story and compares this passion for a fictional character, Hecuba, in light of his own situation:

And he acknowledges to himself the terrible deed he must avenge, yet responds only with words:

Hamlet's verbose and painful analyses of his situation and actions encourage many others to see his struggle as something far more existential in nature, having less to do with the revenge drama than with the human condition.

Another view of Hamlet, advanced by Isaac Asimov in his Guide to Shakespeare, holds that his actions are attributable not to indecision, but to multiple motivations: his desire to avenge the wrong done to his father, coupled with his own ambition to succeed to the throne. The tragic error committed by Hamlet, in Asimov's view, is his overreaching wish to see Claudius damned, and not merely dead, which prevents him from killing Claudius at the opportune moment.

Hamlet's hesitations may also be rooted in the religious beliefs of Shakespeare's time. The Reformation had generated debate about the existence of purgatory (where King Hamlet claims he currently resides). The concept of purgatory is a Catholic one, and was frowned on in Protestant England. A devout Protestant might therefore presume the Ghost to be a spirit from Hell that must be ignored.

Hamlet - Hamlet in cinema and TV

According to the Internet Movie Database there have been 22 theatrically released movies entitled Hamlet, plus another 16 made for TV. Another 50 productions have included this name as part of the title or have used a foreign language variation of the name.

Hamlet - Straight adaptations

• The first Hamlet film was Le Duel d'Hamlet, produced and directed by Clément Maurice in France in 1900, and starring Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet (reprising her stage role). Pierre Magnier played Laertes.
• The DVD collection Silent Shakespeare is an anthology of early silent Shakespeare shorts, and includes a scene from Hamlet.
• Hamlet (1948), directed by and starring Laurence Olivier. The cast includes Patrick Troughton as the Player King, Eileen Herlie as Gertrude, Stanley Holloway as the gravedigger, Peter Cushing as Osric, Felix Aylmer as Polonius, Terence Morgan as Laertes, John Gielgud as the uncredited voice of the ghost, and Christopher Lee as an uncredited spear carrier.
  • Received four Academy Awards:
    • Best Picture - Laurence Olivier, producer
    • Best Actor - Laurence Olivier as Hamlet
    • Best Costume Design (Black and White) - Roger K. Furse
    • Best Art Direction and Set Decoration (Black and White) - Carmen Dillon and Roger K. Furse
  • It was nominated for a further three awards
    • Best Director - Laurence Olivier
    • Best Supporting Actress - Jean Simmons as Ophelia
    • Best Music Score - William Walton
• The Bad Sleep Well (1960). This Japanese movie, directed by Akira Kurosawa is inspired by Hamlet, set in post-war Japan.
• Hamlet (1960), directed by Franz Peter Wirth. This is a German television production. Hamlet is played by Maximilian Schell. The English dubbing of King Claudius is by Ricardo Montalban and Polonius by John Banner The extremely low quality of the production, along with the English over-dubbing, has earned this version a reputation as one of the poorest adaptations of the play. This is illustrated by its use in a 10th-season episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
• Hamlet (1969), directed by Tony Richardson. Hamlet is played by Nicol Williamson, Claudius by Anthony Hopkins, and Ophelia by Marianne Faithfull
• Angel of Revenge/Female Hamlet (1976), a Turkish movie directed by Metin Erksan. Hamlet, as a female character, is played by the actress Fatma Girik. The setting is updated to a Turkish village.
• Hamlet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli (1990). Hamlet is played by Mel Gibson, Gertrude by Glenn Close, Polonius by Ian Holm, and Ophelia by Helena Bonham Carter
• Hamlet (1996), directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh. This is a "full text" version, which is over 4 hours in length. The setting is updated to the 19th century. Claudius is played by Derek Jacobi, Gertrude by Julie Christie, and Ophelia by Kate Winslet.
• Hamlet, directed by Michael Almereyda (2000). The setting is updated to modern Manhattan. Hamlet is played by Ethan Hawke, Polonius by Bill Murray, and Ophelia by Julia Stiles.

Hamlet - Films that reference Hamlet

Note: a number of films have also used lines from Hamlet's soliloquy as film titles. See To be, or not to be for a list of these films.

• A King in New York (1957), directed by Charlie Chaplin includes a scene in which Chaplin recites the "to be or not to be" speech, and is arguably on a par with other famous renditions.
• Tom Stoppard's popular play and movie Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead depicts the two title characters contemplating their roles as minor players in a bigger drama. Occasional scenes are taken directly from Hamlet.
• Hamlet Goes Business (Hamlet liikemaailmassa) (1987) by Aki Kaurismäki is a comic reworking of the story as a power struggle in a rubber duck factory.
• Episode 43 of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1974) is entitled Hamlet.
• The comedy Strange Brew (1983) is loosely based on Hamlet. Among other jokes, scenes takes place at Elsinore Brewery.
• The Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) character General Chang, a Klingon officer, was a Shakespeare aficionado, and opined that Shakespearian works were best experienced in the "original" Klingon. Indeed, science fiction linguist Mark Okrand published a Klingon translation of Hamlet. The Klingon version of the famous quote, which Chang recites, is taH pagh taHbe.
• Hamlet features strongly in the film Renaissance Man, in which Danny DeVito's character uses its plot and characters to introduce a group of under-achieving soldiers to critical thinking.
• The Simpsons offered a shortened version of Hamlet in the episode "Tales from the Public Domain". The cast was as follows:
  • Homer Simpson as King Hamlet
  • Bart Simpson as Hamlet
  • Moe Szyslak as King Claudius
  • Marge Simpson as Queen Gertrude
  • Chief Wiggum as Polonius
  • Lisa Simpson as Ophelia
  • Ralph Wiggum as Laertes
  • Carl Carlson as Rosencrantz ("Rosencarl")
  • Lenny Leonard as Guildenstern ("Guildenlenny")
• The Brak Show referenced the basic plot of Hamlet in the episode "Braklet, Prince of Spaceland". In the episode, Brak's father is killed by Zorak, who also hypnotizes Brak's mother into believing that the two are married. Brak's father appears as a ghost, and informs Brak what has happened. Brak goes insane and makes a movie of the murder, which he shows to Zorak.
• There was an episode of South Park in which Terrance and Philip's professional relationship failed, resulting in one of them moving to Canada to become a Shakespearean actor, subsequently performing Hamlet with other Canadian actors, with the ending of the play being shown in the episode.

Hamlet - Hamlet in music

At least 26 operas have been written based on Hamlet, including:

• Ambleto, by Francesco Gasparini (1706)
• Ambleto, by Domenico Scarlatti (1715)
• Amleto, by Gaetano Andreozzi (1792)
• Amleto, by Franco Faccio (libretto by Arrigo Boito) (1865)
• Hamlet, by Ambroise Thomas (1868)
• Hamlet, by Humphrey Searle (1968)

Instrumental works based on Hamlet include:

• Nocturne in G Minor, Opus 15 No. 3 by Frédéric Chopin, inspired by Hamlet
• Hamlet (1858), symphonic poem by Franz Liszt
• Hamlet and Ophelia, symphonic poems by Edward MacDowell
• Hamlet (1888), fanatsy overture Op. 67 in f Minor by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Hamlet, the score for the 1963 film, by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Contemporary popular music includes:

• What a Piece of Work is Man from the 1967 musical Hair is Hamlet's speech from act 2 scene 2 set to music.
• The Dream Theater song Pull Me Under is influenced by, and makes reference to, Hamlet.
• Lou Reed's song "Goodnight Ladies", from his 1972 album Transformer, uses a line from Ophelia's mad speech (Act 4, Scene 5) as its chorus.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Hamlet", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki