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107-521: What relation the Ur-Hamlet bears to Shakespeare's more commonly known play Hamlet is unclear: it may contain events supposed to have occurred before Shakespeare's tragedy or it may be an early version of that play; the First Quarto in particular is thought perhaps to have been influenced by the Ur-Hamlet . Thomas Nashe , in his introduction to Robert Greene's Menaphon (1589), writes in

214-657: A 'performance' one" of Hamlet : an edition containing all of Shakespeare's material for the play for the pleasure of readers, so not representing the play as it would have been staged. From the early 17th century, the play was famous for its ghost and vivid dramatisation of melancholy and insanity , leading to a procession of mad courtiers and ladies in Jacobean and Caroline drama. Though it remained popular with mass audiences, late 17th-century Restoration critics saw Hamlet as primitive and disapproved of its lack of unity and decorum . This view changed drastically in

321-659: A 1600–01 attribution for the date Hamlet was written, but notes that the Lord Chamberlain's Men , playing Hamlet in the 3000-capacity Globe , were unlikely to be put to any disadvantage by an audience of "barely one hundred" for the Children of the chapel's equivalent play, Antonio's Revenge ; she believes that Shakespeare, confident in the superiority of his own work, was making a playful and charitable allusion to his friend John Marston's very similar piece. A contemporary of Shakespeare's, Gabriel Harvey , wrote

428-465: A character trait, rather than a plot device. This focus on character and internal struggle continued into the 20th century, when criticism branched in several directions, discussed in context and interpretation below. Modern editors have divided the play into five acts, and each act into scenes. The First Folio marks the first two acts only. The quartos do not have such divisions. The division into five acts follows Seneca , who in his plays, regularized

535-463: A demonstration of his power; Faust falls asleep listening to the song of the spirits, allowing Mephistopheles to escape by calling upon rats to chew away the pentagram. The next morning Mephistopheles returns. He tells Faust that he wishes to serve him in life, and in return Faust must serve him in the afterlife. Faust is willing to accept but is concerned that accepting the services of Mephistopheles will bring him to ruin. To avoid this fate, Faust makes

642-522: A desire not to offend scholars at Oxford University . ( Robert Pullen , was the founder of Oxford University, and John Rainolds , was the President of Corpus Christi College .) "Any dating of Hamlet must be tentative", states the New Cambridge editor, Phillip Edwards . MacCary suggests 1599 or 1600; James Shapiro offers late 1600 or early 1601; Wells and Taylor suggest that the play

749-403: A frosty morning, he will afford you whole Hamlets, I should say handfuls, of tragical speeches," Sams argues that this "manifestly defines the first scene of Hamlet ('tis bitter cold I.i.8)," and evokes the touchy yet voluble Ghost of Hamlet Senior (a role that Shakespeare himself is said to have played). Similarly, Lodge's 1596 reference to the Ur-Hamlet ' s ghost "who cried so miserably at

856-461: A hall of the castle to try to learn more. Hamlet feigns madness and subtly insults Polonius all the while. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his "friends" warmly but quickly discerns that they are there to spy on him for Claudius. Hamlet admits that he is upset at his situation but refuses to give the true reason, instead remarking " What a piece of work is a man ". Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Hamlet that they have brought along

963-456: A known and named colleague [i.e. Kyd], least of all without a word of comment, let alone censure, from any of his critics." Sams analyzes the most detailed account of the Ur-Hamlet , by Nashe in Menaphon in 1589, and sees Nashe's remarks as part of a pattern of jealous attacks upon Shakespeare (and Kyd) by their university-educated rivals. Citing Nashe's reference to "if you entreat him fair in

1070-515: A long-standing feud with neighbouring Norway , in which King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle some years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbras's infirm brother, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian king's son, Prince Fortinbras , is imminent. On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore , the Danish royal castle,

1177-563: A marginal note in his copy of the 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, which some scholars use as dating evidence. Harvey's note says that "the wiser sort" enjoy Hamlet , and implies that the Earl of Essex —executed in February 1601 for rebellion—was still alive. Other scholars consider this inconclusive. Edwards, for example, concludes that the "sense of time is so confused in Harvey's note that it

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1284-508: A minor role (most likely Marcellus). Scholars disagree whether the reconstruction was pirated or authorised. It is suggested by Irace that Q1 is an abridged version intended especially for travelling productions, thus the question of length may be considered as separate from issues of poor textual quality. Editing Q1 thus poses problems in whether or not to "correct" differences from Q2 and F. Irace, in her introduction to Q1, wrote that "I have avoided as many other alterations as possible, because

1391-468: A negative review of Hamlet , stating that "it is vulgar and barbarous drama, which would not be tolerated by the vilest populace of France or Italy... one would imagine this piece to be a work of a drunken savage". By the 19th century, Romantic critics valued Hamlet for its internal, individual conflict reflecting the strong contemporary emphasis on internal struggles and inner character in general. Then too, critics started to focus on Hamlet's delay as

1498-586: A nunnery", though it is unclear whether this, too, is a show of madness or genuine distress. His reaction convinces Claudius that Hamlet is not mad for love. Shortly thereafter, the court assembles to watch the play Hamlet has commissioned. After seeing the Player King murdered by his rival pouring poison in his ear, Claudius abruptly rises and runs from the room; for Hamlet, this is proof of his uncle's guilt. Gertrude summons Hamlet to her chamber to demand an explanation. Meanwhile, Claudius talks to himself about

1605-667: A predominantly Protestant country, though it is unclear whether the fictional Denmark of the play is intended to portray this implicit fact. Dialogue refers explicitly to the German city of Wittenberg where Hamlet, Horatio, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern attend university, implying where the Protestant reformer Martin Luther nailed the Ninety-five Theses to the church door in 1517. Goethe%27s Faust Faust

1712-618: A pun; when Claudius addresses him as "my cousin Hamlet, and my son", Hamlet says as an aside: "A little more than kin, and less than kind." An unusual rhetorical device, hendiadys , appears in several places in the play. Examples are found in Ophelia's speech at the end of the nunnery scene: "Th' expectancy and rose of the fair state" and "And I, of ladies most deject and wretched ". Many scholars have found it odd that Shakespeare would, seemingly arbitrarily, use this rhetorical form throughout

1819-510: A riddling way that seems to leave clues regarding the identity of playwrights who have left the trade of noverint (lawyer's clerk) to turn to writing, and who are being influenced by the Roman playwright Seneca , who "if you entreat him fair in a frosty morning, he will afford you whole Hamlets..." Nashe then writes that his followers are like the "kid" in Aesop. The reference to "Hamlets" vouches for

1926-510: A stage adaptation. On the title page of Q2, its text is described as "newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much again as it was." That is probably a comparison to Q1. Much of Hamlet ' s language is courtly: elaborate, witty discourse, as recommended by Baldassare Castiglione 's 1528 etiquette guide, The Courtier . This work specifically advises royal retainers to amuse their masters with inventive language. Osric and Polonius, especially, seem to respect this injunction. Claudius's speech

2033-466: A transcendental moment and have it prolonged forever. However, God had won his wager from the Prologue (and thus Faust's soul) as the transcendental moment was derived from his righteous pursuits. Angels, who arrive as messengers of divine mercy, declare at the end of Act V: "He who strives on and lives to strive / Can earn redemption still" (V, 11936–7). Throughout Part One , Faust remains unsatisfied;

2140-486: A troupe of actors that they met while travelling to Elsinore. Hamlet, after welcoming the actors and dismissing his friends-turned-spies, asks them to deliver a soliloquy about the death of King Priam and Queen Hecuba at the climax of the Trojan War . Hamlet then asks the actors to stage The Murder of Gonzago , a play featuring a death in the style of his father's murder. Hamlet intends to study Claudius's reaction to

2247-401: A typical Elizabethan play would need two to three hours. It is speculated that because of the considerable length of Q2 and F1, there was an expectation that those texts would be abridged for performance, or that Q2 and F1 may have been aimed at a reading audience. That Q1 is so much shorter than Q2 has spurred speculation that Q1 is an early draft, or perhaps an adaptation, a bootleg copy, or

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2354-504: A wager: if Mephistopheles can grant Faust an experience of transcendence on Earth—a moment so blissful that he wishes to remain in it forever, ceasing to strive further—then he will instantly die and serve the Devil in Hell . Mephistopheles accepts the wager. When Mephistopheles tells Faust to sign the pact with blood, Faust complains that Mephistopheles does not trust Faust's word of honour. In

2461-534: Is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark , the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius , who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother . Hamlet is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others". It

2568-401: Is a tragic play in two parts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , usually known in English as Faust, Part One and Faust, Part Two . Nearly all of Part One and the majority of Part Two are written in rhymed verse. Although rarely staged in its entirety, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages. Faust is considered by many to be Goethe's magnum opus and

2675-424: Is a "divinity that shapes our ends". Hamlet's enquiring mind has been open to all kinds of ideas, but in act five he has decided on a plan, and in a dialogue with Horatio he seems to answer his two earlier soliloquies on suicide: "We defy augury. There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness

2782-559: Is all. Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows aught, what is't to leave betimes." The First Quarto (1603) text of Hamlet contains 15,983 words, the Second Quarto (1604) contains 28,628 words, and the First Folio (1623) contains 27,602 words. Counting the number of lines varies between editions, partly because prose sections in the play may be formatted with varied lengths. Editions of Hamlet that are created by conflating

2889-509: Is an act-break after which the action appears to continue uninterrupted. Q1 was discovered in 1823. Only two copies are extant. According to Jenkins, "The unauthorized nature of this quarto is matched by the corruption of its text." Yet Q1 has value: it contains stage directions (such as Ophelia entering with a lute and her hair down) that reveal actual stage practices in a way that Q2 and F1 do not; it contains an entire scene (usually labelled 4.6) that does not appear in either Q2 or F1; and it

2996-513: Is an early version of Shakespeare's own play, pointing to the survival of Shakespeare's version in three quite different early texts, Q1 (1603), Q2 (1604) and F (1623), and offer the possibility that the play was revised by the author over a period of many years. While the exact relationship of the short and apparently primitive text of Q1 to the later published texts is not resolved, Hardin Craig has suggested that it may represent an earlier draft of

3103-612: Is based on an entry, of 26 July 1602, in the Register of the Stationers' Company , indicating that Hamlet was "latelie Acted by the Lo: Chamberleyne his servantes ". In 1598, Francis Meres published his Palladis Tamia , a survey of English literature from Chaucer to its present day, within which twelve of Shakespeare's plays are named. Hamlet is not among them, suggesting that it had not yet been written. As Hamlet

3210-485: Is characteristically Catholic, make up most of the play's Catholic connections. Some scholars have observed that revenge tragedies come from Catholic countries such as Italy and Spain, where the revenge tragedies present contradictions of motives, since according to Catholic doctrine the duty to God and family precedes civil justice. Much of the play's Protestant tones derive from its setting in Denmark—both then and now

3317-559: Is controversial: Roger Paulin , William St. Clair, and Elinor Shaffer provide a lengthy rebuttal to Burwick and McKusick, offering evidence including Coleridge's repeated denials that he had ever translated Faustus and arguing that Goethe's letter to his son was based on misinformation from a third party. Coleridge's fellow Romantic Percy Bysshe Shelley produced admired fragments of a translation first publishing Part One Scene II in The Liberal magazine in 1822, with "Scene I" (in

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3424-445: Is no longer on the soul of Faust, which has been sold to the devil , but rather on social phenomena such as psychology , history and politics , in addition to mystical and philosophical topics. The second part formed the principal occupation of Goethe's last years. The original 1808 German title page of Goethe's play read simply: "Faust. / Eine Tragödie" ("Faust. / A Tragedy"). The addition of "erster Teil" (in English, "Part One")

3531-402: Is no subplot, but the play presents the affairs of the courtier Polonius, his daughter, Ophelia, and his son, Laertes—who variously deal with madness, love and the death of a father in ways that contrast with Hamlet's. The graveyard scene eases tension prior to the catastrophe, and, as Hamlet holds the skull, it is shown that Hamlet no longer fears damnation in the afterlife, and accepts that there

3638-404: Is not. The contrast (appearance and reality) is also expressed in several "spying scenes": Act two begins with Polonius sending Reynaldo to spy on his son, Laertes. Claudius and Polonius spy on Ophelia as she meets with Hamlet. In act two, Claudius asks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet. Similarly, the play-within-a-play is used by Hamlet to reveal his step-father's hidden nature. There

3745-615: Is precise and straightforward, as when he explains his inward emotion to his mother: "But I have that within which passes show, / These but the trappings and the suits of woe". At times, he relies heavily on puns to express his true thoughts while simultaneously concealing them. Pauline Kiernan argues that Shakespeare changed English drama forever in Hamlet because he "showed how a character's language can often be saying several things at once, and contradictory meanings at that, to reflect fragmented thoughts and disturbed feelings". She gives

3852-469: Is pregnant. Gretchen's brother condemns Faust, challenges him and falls dead at the hands of Faust and Mephistopheles. Gretchen drowns her illegitimate child and is convicted of the murder . Faust tries to save Gretchen from death by attempting to free her from prison. Finding that she refuses to escape, Faust and Mephistopheles flee the dungeon, while voices from Heaven announce that Gretchen shall be saved – " Sie ist gerettet " – this differs from

3959-683: Is really of little use in trying to date Hamlet ". This is because the same note also refers to Spenser and Watson as if they were still alive ("our flourishing metricians "), but also mentions " Owen's new epigrams", published in 1607. Three early editions of the text, each different, have survived, making attempts to establish a single "authentic" text problematic. This list does not include three additional early texts, John Smethwick 's Q3, Q4, and Q5 (1611–37), which are regarded as reprints of Q2 with some alterations. Early editors of Shakespeare's works , beginning with Nicholas Rowe (1709) and Lewis Theobald (1733), combined material from

4066-605: Is rich with rhetorical figures—as is Hamlet's and, at times, Ophelia's—while the language of Horatio, the guards, and the gravediggers is simpler. Claudius's high status is reinforced by using the royal first person plural ("we" or "us"), and anaphora mixed with metaphor to resonate with Greek political speeches. Of all the characters, Hamlet has the greatest rhetorical skill. He uses highly developed metaphors, stichomythia , and in nine memorable words deploys both anaphora and asyndeton : "to die: to sleep— / To sleep, perchance to dream". In contrast, when occasion demands, he

4173-558: Is silence". Fortinbras, who was ostensibly marching towards Poland with his army, arrives at the palace, along with an English ambassador bringing news of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's deaths. Horatio promises to recount the full story of what happened, and Fortinbras, seeing the entire Danish royal family dead, takes the crown for himself and orders a military funeral to honour Hamlet. Hamlet -like legends are so widely found (for example in Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Byzantium, and Arabia) that

4280-422: Is solely responsible, but a letter soon arrives indicating that Hamlet has returned to Denmark, foiling Claudius's plan. Claudius switches tactics, proposing a fencing match between Laertes and Hamlet to settle their differences. Laertes will be given a poison-tipped foil, and, if that fails, Claudius will offer Hamlet poisoned wine as a congratulation. Gertrude interrupts to report that Ophelia has drowned, though it

4387-480: Is the Roman legend of Brutus , recorded in two separate Latin works. Its hero, Lucius ("shining, light"), changes his name and persona to Brutus ("dull, stupid"), playing the role of a fool to avoid the fate of his father and brothers, and eventually slaying his family's killer, King Tarquinius . A 17th-century Nordic scholar, Torfaeus , compared the Icelandic hero Amlóði (Amlodi) and the hero Prince Ambales (from

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4494-423: Is unclear whether it was suicide or an accident caused by her madness. Horatio has received a letter from Hamlet, explaining that the prince escaped by negotiating with pirates who attempted to attack his England-bound ship, and the friends reunite offstage. Two gravediggers discuss Ophelia's apparent suicide while digging her grave. Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with one of the gravediggers, who unearths

4601-468: Is useful for comparison with the later editions. The major deficiency of Q1 is in the language: particularly noticeable in the opening lines of the famous " To be, or not to be " soliloquy: "To be, or not to be, aye there's the point. / To die, to sleep, is that all? Aye all: / No, to sleep, to dream, aye marry there it goes." However, the scene order is more coherent, without the problems of Q2 and F1 of Hamlet seeming to resolve something in one scene and enter

4708-550: Is widely considered one of the greatest plays of all time. Three different early versions of the play are extant: the First Quarto (Q1, 1603); the Second Quarto (Q2, 1604); and the First Folio (F1, 1623). Each version includes lines and passages missing from the others. Many works have been pointed to as possible sources for Shakespeare's play, from ancient Greek tragedies to Elizabethan dramas . The editors of

4815-575: The Ambales Saga ) to Shakespeare's Hamlet . Similarities include the prince's feigned madness, his accidental killing of the king's counsellor in his mother's bedroom, and the eventual slaying of his uncle. Many of the earlier legendary elements are interwoven in the 13th-century "Life of Amleth" (Latin: Vita Amlethi ) by Saxo Grammaticus , part of Gesta Danorum . Written in Latin, it reflects classical Roman concepts of virtue and heroism, and

4922-405: The Ur-Hamlet has survived, and it is impossible to compare its language and style with the known works of any of its putative authors. In 1936 Andrew Cairncross suggested that, until more becomes known, it may be assumed that Shakespeare wrote the Ur-Hamlet . Eric Sams lists reasons for supporting Shakespeare's authorship. Harold Jenkins considers that there are no grounds for thinking that

5029-547: The Ur-Hamlet is an early work by Shakespeare, which he then rewrote. Professor Terri Bourus in 2016, one of three general editors of the New Oxford Shakespeare, in her paper "Enter Shakespeare's Young Hamlet, 1589" suggests that Shakespeare was "interested in sixteenth-century French literature, from the very beginning of his career" and therefore "did not need Thomas Kyd to pre-digest Belleforest's histoire of Amleth and spoon-feed it to him". She considers that

5136-571: The sentries Bernardo and Marcellus discuss a ghost resembling the late King Hamlet which they have recently seen, and bring Prince Hamlet's friend Horatio as a witness. After the ghost appears again, the three vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed. The court gathers the next day, and King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser Polonius . Claudius grants permission for Polonius's son Laertes to return to school in France, and he sends envoys to inform

5243-421: The 18th century, when critics regarded Hamlet as a hero—a pure, brilliant young man thrust into unfortunate circumstances. By the mid-18th century, however, the advent of Gothic literature brought psychological and mystical readings, returning madness and the ghost to the forefront. Not until the late 18th century did critics and performers begin to view Hamlet as confusing and inconsistent. Before then, he

5350-512: The Arden Shakespeare question the idea of "source hunting", pointing out that it presupposes that authors always require ideas from other works for their own, and suggests that no author can have an original idea or be an originator. When Shakespeare wrote, there were many stories about sons avenging the murder of their fathers, and many about clever avenging sons pretending to be foolish in order to outsmart their foes. This would include

5457-417: The German engraver Moritz Retzsch . This translation was attributed to the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Frederick Burwick and James C. McKusick in their 2007 Oxford University Press edition, Faustus: From the German of Goethe, Translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge . In a letter dated 4 September 1820, Goethe wrote to his son August that Coleridge was translating Faust . However, this attribution

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5564-560: The King of Norway about Fortinbras. Claudius also questions Hamlet regarding his continuing to grieve for his father, and forbids him to return to his university in Wittenberg . After the court exits, Hamlet despairs of his father's death and his mother's hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself. As Polonius's son Laertes prepares to depart for France, Polonius offers him advice that culminates in

5671-542: The Latin version of Saxo Grammaticus – the idea of Shakespeare as translator is often neglected. Margrethe Jolly's 2014 book The First Two Quartos of Hamlet , speaking of the first three printed texts of Hamlet , argued that "the sequence and evidence that the three texts provide suggests that Shakespeare had access to the French source and Q1 when he redrafted". In 2016, Professor Terri Bourus, one of three general editors of

5778-581: The New Oxford Shakespeare, in her paper "Enter Shakespeare's Young Hamlet, 1589" suggests that Shakespeare was "interested in sixteenth-century French literature, from the very beginning of his career" and therefore "did not need Thomas Kyd to pre-digest Belleforest's histoire of Amleth and spoon-feed it to him". She considers that the hypothesized Ur-Hamlet is Shakespeare's Q1 text, and that this derived directly from Belleforest's French version. Elsewhere Bourus, after referring to Goethe's UrFaust or original version of Faust , argues that, "Like Faust … Hamlet

5885-473: The Theatre, like an oyster-wife, Hamlet, revenge!" was "surely intended as an affront to the author and actor of that role". Summing up, Sams offers a list of 18 reasons for his belief that the Ur-Hamlet was Shakespeare's earliest version of Hamlet . In questions regarding Shakespeare as a possible revisor of an earlier version (or versions) of the Hamlet myth – such as the French version of Belleforest , or

5992-436: The brawl is broken up. Back at Elsinore, Hamlet explains to Horatio that he had discovered Claudius's letter among Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's belongings and replaced it with a forged copy indicating that his former friends should be killed instead. A foppish courtier, Osric , interrupts the conversation to deliver the fencing challenge to Hamlet. Hamlet, despite Horatio's pleas, accepts it. Hamlet does well at first, leading

6099-451: The conversation from behind a tapestry , calls for help as Gertrude, believing Hamlet wants to kill her, calls out for help herself. Hamlet, believing it is Claudius, stabs wildly, killing Polonius, but he pulls aside the curtain and sees his mistake. In a rage, Hamlet brutally insults his mother for her apparent ignorance of Claudius's villainy, but the ghost enters and reprimands Hamlet for his inaction and harsh words. Unable to see or hear

6206-419: The core "hero-as-fool" theme is possibly Indo-European in origin. Several ancient written precursors to Hamlet can be identified. The first is the anonymous Scandinavian Saga of Hrolf Kraki . In this, the murdered king has two sons— Hroar and Helgi —who spend most of the story in disguise, under false names, rather than feigning madness, in a sequence of events that differs from Shakespeare's. The second

6313-571: The differences...are especially intriguing...I have recorded a selection of Q2/F readings in the collation." The idea that Q1 is not riddled with error but is instead eminently fit for the stage has led to at least 28 different Q1 productions since 1881. Other productions have used the Q2 and Folio texts, but used Q1's running order, in particular moving the to be or not to be soliloquy earlier. Developing this, some editors such as Jonathan Bate have argued that Q2 may represent "a 'reading' text as opposed to

6420-504: The end, Mephistopheles wins the argument and Faust signs the contract with a drop of his own blood. Faust has a few excursions and then meets Margaret (also known as Gretchen). He is attracted to her and with jewellery and with help from a neighbour, Marthe, Mephistopheles draws Gretchen into Faust's arms. With Mephistopheles' aid, Faust seduces Gretchen. Gretchen's mother dies from a sleeping potion , administered by Gretchen to obtain privacy so that Faust could visit her. Gretchen discovers she

6527-411: The example of Hamlet's advice to Ophelia, "get thee to a nunnery", which, she claims, is simultaneously a reference to a place of chastity and a slang term for a brothel, reflecting Hamlet's confused feelings about female sexuality. However Harold Jenkins does not agree, having studied the few examples that are used to support that idea, and finds that there is no support for the assumption that "nunnery"

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6634-444: The famous "arras" in the stage directions of Act 3 Scene 4, from them. She too contends that, "There is no need for a 'middle man' author for Ur-Hamlet , and no need for an Ur-Hamlet separate from Shakespeare's own play text." Hamlet The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark , often shortened to Hamlet ( / ˈ h æ m l ɪ t / ), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It

6741-479: The figure of Polonius caricatured Burghley. A. L. Rowse speculated that Polonius's tedious verbosity might have resembled Burghley's. Lilian Winstanley thought the name Corambis (in the First Quarto) did suggest Cecil and Burghley. Harold Jenkins considers the idea of Polonius as a caricature of Burghley to be conjecture, perhaps based on the similar role they each played at court, and perhaps also based on

6848-471: The first of which is Heaven . Mephistopheles (Satan) makes a bet with God: he says that he can lure God's favourite human (Faust), who is striving to learn everything that can be known, away from righteous pursuits. The next scene takes place in Faust's study where the aging scholar, struggling with what he considers the vanity and uselessness of scientific, humanistic, and religious learning, turns to magic for

6955-658: The ghost herself, Gertrude takes Hamlet's conversation with it as further evidence of madness. After begging the queen to stop sleeping with Claudius, Hamlet leaves, dragging Polonius's corpse away. Hamlet jokes with Claudius about where he has hidden Polonius's body, and the king, fearing for his life, sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to accompany Hamlet to England with a sealed letter to the English king requesting that Hamlet be executed immediately. Unhinged by grief at Polonius's death, Ophelia wanders Elsinore. Laertes arrives back from France, enraged by his father's death and his sister's madness. Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet

7062-529: The ghost vanishes. The prince confides to Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to "put an antic disposition on", or act as though he has gone mad. Hamlet forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge secret; however, he remains uncertain of the ghost's reliability. Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving erratically. Polonius blames love for Hamlet's madness and resolves to inform Claudius and Gertrude. As he enters to do so,

7169-455: The greatest work of German literature . The earliest forms of the work, known as the Urfaust , were developed between 1772 and 1775; however, the details of that development are not entirely clear. Urfaust has twenty-two scenes, one in prose, two largely prose and the remaining 1,441 lines in rhymed verse. The manuscript is lost, but a copy was discovered in 1886. The first appearance of

7276-546: The harsher ending of Urfaust  – " Sie ist gerichtet! " – "she is condemned." Rich in classical allusion, in Part Two the romantic story of the first Faust is put aside, and Faust wakes in a field of fairies to initiate a new cycle of adventures and purpose. The piece consists of five acts (relatively isolated episodes) each representing a different theme. Ultimately, Faust goes to Heaven. He had lost his wager with Mephistopheles, that he would never seek to remain in

7383-558: The hero's melancholy . According to one theory, Shakespeare's main source may be an earlier play—now lost—known today as the Ur-Hamlet . Possibly written by Thomas Kyd or by Shakespeare, the Ur-Hamlet would have existed by 1589, and would have incorporated a ghost. Shakespeare's company, the Chamberlain's Men , may have purchased that play and performed a version for some time, which Shakespeare reworked. However, no copy of

7490-519: The hypothesized Ur-Hamlet is Shakespeare's Q1 text, and that this derived directly from Belleforest's French version. The precise combination of Shakespeare's use of the Ur-Hamlet , Belleforest, Saxo, or Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy as sources for Hamlet is not known. However, elements of Belleforest's version which are not in Saxo's story do appear in Shakespeare's play. Most scholars reject

7597-408: The idea that Hamlet is in any way connected with Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet Shakespeare , who died in 1596 at age eleven. Conventional wisdom holds that Hamlet is too obviously connected to legend, and the name Hamnet was quite popular at the time. However, Stephen Greenblatt has argued that the coincidence of the names and Shakespeare's grief for the loss of his son may lie at the heart of

7704-413: The idea that a Hamlet-play existed as early as 1589. These references and similarities between Thomas Kyd 's The Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare's Hamlet are interpreted by many scholars as an indication that Kyd, who was a noverint, a Seneca-influenced playwright, and whose name is a homophone of Aesop's "kid", might be the author of the Hamlet that Nashe mentions. Some suggest that the Ur-Hamlet

7811-439: The impossibility of repenting, since he still has possession of his ill-gotten goods: his brother's crown and wife. He sinks to his knees. Hamlet, on his way to visit his mother, sneaks up behind him but does not kill him, reasoning that killing Claudius while he is praying will send him straight to heaven while his father's ghost is stuck in purgatory. In the queen's bedchamber, Hamlet and Gertrude fight bitterly. Polonius, spying on

7918-697: The king and queen are welcoming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern , two student acquaintances of Hamlet, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the two students investigate the cause of Hamlet's mood and behaviour. Additional news requires that Polonius wait to be heard: messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the king of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to re-fight his father's battles. The forces that Fortinbras had conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland , though they will pass through Danish territory to get there. Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlet's behaviour, and then speaks to Hamlet in

8025-573: The match by two hits to none, and Gertrude raises a toast to him using the poisoned glass of wine Claudius had set aside for Hamlet. Claudius tries to stop her but is too late: she drinks, and Laertes realizes the plot will be revealed. Laertes slashes Hamlet with his poisoned blade. In the ensuing scuffle, they switch weapons, and Hamlet wounds Laertes with his own poisoned sword. Gertrude collapses and, claiming she has been poisoned, dies. In his dying moments, Laertes reconciles with Hamlet and reveals Claudius's plan. Hamlet rushes at Claudius and kills him. As

8132-427: The maxim "to thine own self be true." Polonius's daughter, Ophelia , admits her interest in Hamlet, but Laertes warns her against seeking the prince's attention, and Polonius orders her to reject his advances. That night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Hamlet, tells the prince that he was murdered by Claudius (by pouring poison into his ear as he slept), and demands that Hamlet avenge the murder. Hamlet agrees, and

8239-458: The misshapen pentagram carved into Faust's doorway has allowed him to enter, he cannot leave. Faust is surprised that Mephistopheles is bound by mystical laws, and from this reasons that he could make a pact. Mephistopheles says that he is willing to make a deal but wishes to leave for the night. Faust refuses to release him because he believes it would be impossible for him to catch Mephistopheles again. Mephistopheles then tricks him into permitting

8346-427: The needs of a wider public. Traditionally, editors of Shakespeare's plays have divided them into five acts. None of the early texts of Hamlet , however, were arranged this way, and the play's division into acts and scenes derives from a 1676 quarto. Modern editors generally follow this traditional division but consider it unsatisfactory; for example, after Hamlet drags Polonius's body out of Gertrude's bedchamber, there

8453-492: The next drowning in indecision. New Cambridge editor Kathleen Irace has noted that "Q1's more linear plot design is certainly easier [...] to follow [...] but the simplicity of the Q1 plot arrangement eliminates the alternating plot elements that correspond to Hamlet's shifts in mood." Q1 is considerably shorter than Q2 or F1 and may be a memorial reconstruction of the play as Shakespeare's company performed it, by an actor who played

8560-580: The original, the "Prologue in Heaven") being published in the first edition of his Posthumous Poems by Mary Shelley in 1824. In August 1950, Boris Pasternak 's Russian translation of the first part led him to be attacked in the Soviet literary journal Novy Mir . The attack read in part, ... the translator clearly distorts Goethe's ideas... in order to defend the reactionary theory of 'pure art' ... he introduces an aesthetic and individualist flavor into

8667-692: The play and hence would confirm that the Ur-Hamlet is in fact merely an earlier draft of Shakespeare's play. This view is held in some form or another by Harold Bloom , Peter Alexander , and Andrew Cairncross , who stated, "It may be assumed, until a new case can be shown to the contrary, that Shakespeare's Hamlet and no other is the play mentioned by Nashe in 1589 and Henslowe in 1594". Harold Jenkins , in his 1982 Arden edition, disagrees with this position. Eric Sams 's The Real Shakespeare argues that Shakespeare might steal phrases and rarely whole lines from other playwrights, but not entire theatrical treatments; and would not, at such length, have "plagiarized

8774-488: The play is driven forward in dialogue; but in the soliloquies time and action stop, the meaning of action is questioned, fog of illusion is broached, and truths are exposed. The contrast between appearance and reality is a significant theme. Hamlet is presented with an image, and then interprets its deeper or darker meaning. Examples begin with Hamlet questioning the reality of the ghost. It continues with Hamlet's taking on an "antic disposition" in order to appear mad, though he

8881-480: The play, and thereby determine the truth of the ghost's story of Claudius's guilt. Polonius forces Ophelia to return Hamlet's love letters to the prince while he and Claudius secretly watch in order to evaluate Hamlet's reaction. Hamlet is walking alone in the hall as the King and Polonius await Ophelia's entrance. Hamlet muses on thoughts of life versus death . When Ophelia enters and tries to return Hamlet's things, Hamlet accuses her of immodesty and cries "get thee to

8988-511: The play. Colin Burrow has argued that most of us should read a text that is made up by conflating all three versions ... it's about as likely that Shakespeare wrote: "To be or not to be, ay, there's the point" [in Q1], as that he wrote the works of Francis Bacon . I suspect most people just won't want to read a three-text play ... [multi-text editions are] a version of the play that is out of touch with

9095-541: The play. One explanation may be that Hamlet was written later in Shakespeare's life, when he was adept at matching rhetorical devices to characters and the plot. Linguist George T. Wright suggests that hendiadys had been used deliberately to heighten the play's sense of duality and dislocation. Hamlet's soliloquies have captured the attention of scholars. Hamlet interrupts himself, vocalising either disgust or agreement with himself and embellishing his own words. He has difficulty expressing himself directly and instead blunts

9202-466: The poison takes effect, Hamlet, hearing that Fortinbras is marching through the area, names the Norwegian prince as his successor. Horatio, distraught at the thought of being the last survivor and living whilst Hamlet does not, says he will commit suicide by drinking the dregs of Gertrude's poisoned wine, but Hamlet begs him to live on and tell his story. Hamlet dies in Horatio's arms, proclaiming "the rest

9309-457: The present day. Some contemporary scholarship, however, discounts this approach, instead considering "an authentic Hamlet an unrealisable ideal. ... there are texts of this play but no text ". The 2006 publication by Arden Shakespeare of different Hamlet texts in different volumes is perhaps evidence of this shifting focus and emphasis. Other editors have continued to argue the need for well-edited editions taking material from all versions of

9416-444: The showering of infinite knowledge. He suspects, however, that his attempts are failing. Frustrated, he ponders suicide , but rejects it as he hears the echo of nearby Easter celebrations begin. He goes for a walk with his assistant Wagner and is followed home by a stray poodle . In Faust's study, the poodle transforms into Mephistopheles, dressed as a travelling student who refuses to give his name. He reveals to Faust that although

9523-471: The similarity between Burghley addressing his Ten Precepts to his son, and Polonius offering "precepts" to his son, Laertes. Jenkins suggests that any personal satire may be found in the name "Polonius", which might point to a Polish or Polonian connection. G. R. Hibbard hypothesised that differences in names (Corambis/Polonius:Montano/Raynoldo) between the First Quarto and other editions might reflect

9630-402: The skull of a jester from Hamlet's childhood, Yorick . Hamlet picks up the skull, saying "Alas, poor Yorick" as he contemplates mortality. Ophelia's funeral procession approaches, led by Laertes. Hamlet and Horatio initially hide, but when Hamlet realizes that Ophelia is the one being buried, he reveals himself, proclaiming his love for her. Laertes and Hamlet fight by Ophelia's graveside, but

9737-602: The story of the ancient Roman, Lucius Junius Brutus , which Shakespeare apparently knew, as well as the story of Amleth , which was preserved in Latin by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum , and printed in Paris in 1514. The Amleth story was subsequently adapted and then published in French in 1570 by the 16th-century scholar François de Belleforest . It has a number of plot elements and major characters in common with Shakespeare's Hamlet , and lacks others that are found in Shakespeare. Belleforest's story

9844-526: The text... attributes a reactionary idea to Goethe... distorts the social and philosophical meaning... In response, Pasternak wrote to Ariadna Èfron , the exiled daughter of Marina Tsvetaeva : There was some alarm when my Faust was torn to pieces in Novy mir on the basis that supposedly the gods, angels, witches, spirits, the madness of poor Gretchen and everything 'irrational' was rendered too well, whereas Goethe's progressive ideas (which ones?) were left in

9951-517: The texts of the Second Quarto and the Folio are said to have approximately 3,900 lines; the number of lines varies between those editions based on formatting the prose sections, counting methods, and how the editors have joined the texts together. Hamlet is by far the longest play that Shakespeare wrote, and one of the longest plays in the Western canon . It might require more than four hours to stage;

10058-555: The thrust of his thought with wordplay. It is not until late in the play, after his experience with the pirates, that Hamlet is able to articulate his feelings freely. Written at a time of religious upheaval and in the wake of the English Reformation , the play is alternately Catholic (or piously medieval) and Protestant (or consciously modern). The ghost describes himself as being in purgatory and as dying without last rites . This and Ophelia's burial ceremony, which

10165-648: The tragedy. He notes that the name of Hamnet Sadler, the Stratford neighbour after whom Hamnet was named, was often written as Hamlet Sadler and that, in the loose orthography of the time, the names were virtually interchangeable. Scholars have often speculated that Hamlet ' s Polonius might have been inspired by William Cecil (Lord Burghley)—Lord High Treasurer and chief counsellor to Queen Elizabeth I . E. K. Chambers suggested Polonius's advice to Laertes may have echoed Burghley's to his son Robert Cecil . John Dover Wilson thought it almost certain that

10272-464: The two earliest sources of Hamlet available at the time, Q2 and F1. Each text contains material that the other lacks, with many minor differences in wording: scarcely 200 lines are identical in the two. Editors have combined them in an effort to create one "inclusive" text that reflects an imagined "ideal" of Shakespeare's original. Theobald's version became standard for a long time, and his "full text" approach continues to influence editorial practice to

10379-550: The ultimate conclusion of the tragedy and the outcome of the wagers are only revealed in Faust, Part Two . The first part represents the "small world" and takes place in Faust's own local, temporal milieu. In contrast, Part Two takes place in the "wide world" or macrocosmos . In 1821, a partial English verse translation of Faust (Part One) was published anonymously by the London publisher Thomas Boosey and Sons, with illustrations by

10486-414: The way ancient Greek tragedies contain five episodes, which are separated by four choral odes. In Hamlet the development of the plot or the action are determined by the unfolding of Hamlet's character. The soliloquies do not interrupt the plot, instead they are highlights of each block of action. The plot is the developing revelation of Hamlet's view of what is "rotten in the state of Denmark." The action of

10593-408: The work in print was Faust, a Fragment , published in 1790. Goethe completed a preliminary version of what is now known as Part One in 1806. Its publication in 1808 was followed by the revised 1828–29 edition, the last to be edited by Goethe himself. Goethe finished writing Faust, Part Two in 1831; it was published posthumously the following year. In contrast to Faust, Part One , the focus here

10700-401: Was either mad, or not; either a hero, or not; with no in-betweens. These developments represented a fundamental change in literary criticism, which came to focus more on character and less on plot. In the 18th century, one negative French review of Hamlet would be widely discussed for centuries, in particular in publications throughout the 19th and 20th century. In 1768, Voltaire wrote

10807-493: Was first published in English in 1608, after Hamlet had been written, though it is possible that Shakespeare had encountered it in the French-language version. Prince Hamlet of Denmark is the son of the recently deceased King Hamlet , and nephew of King Claudius , his father's brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King Hamlet's widow, Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, and took the throne for himself. Denmark has

10914-557: Was repeatedly revised by its author. As Faust matured with Goethe, Hamlet matured with Shakespeare. It matters so much to us, in part, because it mattered so much to him." In 2019, Jennifer E. Nicholson, in her University of Sydney PhD thesis, reinforced this view, offering independent evidence from each of the three printed Hamlet s, that Shakespeare was responding creatively to subtle hints in Belleforest's French text, and deriving some of his more famous lines, including perhaps

11021-426: Was retroactively applied by publishers when the sequel was published in 1832 with a title page which read: "Faust. / Der Tragödie zweiter Teil" ("Faust. / The Tragedy's Second Part"). The two plays have been published in English under a number of titles, and are usually referred to as Faust , Parts One and Two. The principal characters of Faust Part One include: Faust, Part One takes place in multiple settings,

11128-411: Was used that way in slang, or that Hamlet intended such a meaning. The context of the scene suggests that a nunnery would not be a brothel, but instead a place of renunciation and a "sanctuary from marriage and from the world's contamination". Thompson and Taylor consider the brothel idea incorrect considering that "Hamlet is trying to deter Ophelia from breeding ". Hamlet's first words in the play are

11235-706: Was very popular, Bernard Lott, the series editor of New Swan , believes it "unlikely that he [Meres] would have overlooked ... so significant a piece". The phrase "little eyases" in the First Folio (F1) may allude to the Children of the Chapel , whose popularity in London forced the Globe company into provincial touring. This became known as the War of the Theatres , and supports a 1601 dating. Katherine Duncan-Jones accepts

11342-487: Was widely available in Shakespeare's day. Significant parallels include the prince feigning madness, his mother's hasty marriage to the usurper, the prince killing a hidden spy, and the prince substituting the execution of two retainers for his own. A reasonably faithful version of Saxo's story was translated into French in 1570 by François de Belleforest , in his Histoires tragiques . Belleforest embellished Saxo's text substantially, almost doubling its length, and introduced

11449-662: Was written in 1600 and revised later; the New Cambridge editor settles on mid-1601; the New Swan Shakespeare Advanced Series editor agrees with 1601; Thompson and Taylor, tentatively ("according to whether one is the more persuaded by Jenkins or by Honigmann") suggest a terminus ad quem of either Spring 1601 or sometime in 1600. The earliest date estimate relies on Hamlet ' s frequent allusions to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar , itself dated to mid-1599. The latest date estimate

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