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JSTOR Critical essay: The True Friends of Hamlet by Robert H. Morgan:

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JSTOR Critical essay: The True Friends of Hamlet by Robert H. Morgan:

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Journal Information

The English Journal is a journal of ideas for English language arts teachers in junior and senior high schools and middle schools. EJ presents information on the teaching of writing and reading, literature, and language. Each issue examines the relationship of theory and research to classroom practice, and reviews current materials of interest to English teachers, including books and electronic media. The journal is published bimonthly in September, November, January, March, May, and July.

Publisher Information

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), a not-for-profit professional association of educators, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. Since 1911, NCTE has provided a forum for the profession, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional growth throughout their careers, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the teaching of English. For more information, please visit www.ncte.org.

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Journal Information The English Journal is a journal of ideas for English language arts teachers in junior and senior high schools and middle schools. EJ presents information on the teaching of writing and reading, literature, and language. Each issue examines the relationship of theory and research to classroom practice, and reviews current materials of interest to English teachers, including books and electronic media.

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JSTOR Critical essay: Friendship in Hamlet by Robert C. Evans:

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JSTOR Critical essay: Friendship in Hamlet by Robert C. Evans:

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Journal Information

Comparative Drama is a scholarly journal devoted to studies international in spirit and interdisciplinary in scope. Founded over forty-five years ago by English professors at Western Michigan University, the journal has earned recognition from the academic community worldwide and continues to maintain the standard of excellence set by its founders. In keeping with our philosophy of interdisciplinarity, internationality, and inclusiveness, we publish a range of scholarly perspectives on drama from the ancient past to the postmodern present, from traditional to experimental, written by established as well as emerging scholars. Our aims are to generate provocative and innovative views of an existing corpus, to provide a forum for the discussion of dramatic works previously marginalized or omitted from the literary canon, and to encourage the use of archival materials.

Publisher Information

Comparative Drama is a scholarly journal devoted to studies international in spirit and interdisciplinary in scope. Founded over forty-five years ago by English professors at Western Michigan University, the journal has earned recognition from the academic community worldwide and continues to maintain the standard of excellence set by its founders. In keeping with our philosophy of interdisciplinarity, internationality, and inclusiveness, we publish a range of scholarly perspectives on drama from the ancient past to the postmodern present, from traditional to experimental, written by established as well as emerging scholars. Our aims are to generate provocative and innovative views of an existing corpus, to provide a forum for the discussion of dramatic works previously marginalized or omitted from the literary canon, and to encourage the use of archival materials.

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Journal Information Comparative Drama is a scholarly journal devoted to studies international in spirit and interdisciplinary in scope. Founded over forty-five years ago by English professors at Western Michigan University, the journal has earned recognition from the academic community worldwide and continues to maintain the standard of excellence set by its founders.

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JSTOR Critical essay: Shakespeare's Deceptive Cadence by Jackson G. Barry:

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JSTOR Critical essay: Shakespeare's Deceptive Cadence by Jackson G. Barry:

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Journal Information

Shakespeare Quarterly (SQ) is a leading journal in Shakespeare studies, publishing highly original, rigorously researched essays, notes, and book reviews. Published for the Folger Shakespeare Library by Oxford University Press, SQ is peer-reviewed and extremely selective. The essays in our published pages span the field, including scholarship about new media and early modern race, textual and theater history, ecocritical and posthuman approaches, psychoanalytic and other theories, and archival and historicist work. Our mission, simply put, is to present the best scholarship on Shakespeare from his own period to the present moment. The published journal is available in print and online.

Publisher Information

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. OUP is the world's largest university press with the widest global presence. It currently publishes more than 6,000 new publications a year, has offices in around fifty countries, and employs more than 5,500 people worldwide. It has become familiar to millions through a diverse publishing program that includes scholarly works in all academic disciplines, bibles, music, school and college textbooks, business books, dictionaries and reference books, and academic journals.

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Shakespeare's "Deceptive Cadence": A Study in the Structure of Hamlet on JSTOR

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Journal Information Shakespeare Quarterly (SQ) is a leading journal in Shakespeare studies, publishing highly original, rigorously researched essays, notes, and book reviews. Published for the Folger Shakespeare Library by Oxford University Press, SQ is peer-reviewed and extremely selective.

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JSTOR Critical essay: The Comedy of Hamlet by Manfred Draudt:

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JSTOR Critical essay: The Comedy of Hamlet by Manfred Draudt:

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Journal Information

Founded in 1979, Atlantis is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal published twice-yearly by the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies (AEDEAN). It accepts original, unpublished research articles in English by scholars from both Spain and abroad. The scope of the journal covers literatures in English, Critical Theory, thought and culture, including film, of English-speaking communities, together with studies in linguistics, discourse analysis and pragmatics. Pertinent cross-cultural and interdisciplinary analyses are welcome. Reviews of scholarly monographs and interviews are also published. No submission should be under consideration for publication elsewhere. The suitability of manuscripts for publication is determined on the basis of double-blind reports by specialists in the area. Selected papers are published both in print and online. Submissions may be made electronically at any time to the General Editor. Instructions for Submission and Guidelines are provided on the Atlantis website http://www.atlantisjournal.org and in the printed copies.

Publisher Information

AEDEAN stands for Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos. Founded in Seville in 1976, it has a current membership of around 1.200, which includes university professors, lecturers and graduate students from both Spanish universities and abroad. AEDEAN has held an annual conference since 1977, organised and hosted each year by a Spanish university. Since 1978 AEDEAN is a member of the European Association for American Studies (EAAS), and in 1989 the association became a founding member of the European Society for the Study of English (ESSE). The interests of AEDEAN members are wide. They range from theoretical, historical and applied linguistics to all literatures written in English, as well as cultural studies, literary theory, film studies, feminist and gender studies, and so on. These interests are reflected in the structure of AEDEAN conferences and through its publications, the journal Atlantis and the news bulletin (AEDEAN Nexus), each published twice a year.

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Journal Information Founded in 1979, Atlantis is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal published twice-yearly by the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies (AEDEAN). It accepts original, unpublished research articles in English by scholars from both Spain and abroad. The scope of the journal covers literatures in English, Critical Theory, thought and culture, including film, of English-speaking communities, together with studies in linguistics, discourse analysis and pragmatics.

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JSTOR Critical essay: True Friends of Hamlet by Alice Morgan:

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JSTOR Critical essay: True Friends of Hamlet by Alice Morgan:

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Journal Information

The English Journal is a journal of ideas for English language arts teachers in junior and senior high schools and middle schools. EJ presents information on the teaching of writing and reading, literature, and language. Each issue examines the relationship of theory and research to classroom practice, and reviews current materials of interest to English teachers, including books and electronic media. The journal is published bimonthly in September, November, January, March, May, and July.

Publisher Information

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), a not-for-profit professional association of educators, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. Since 1911, NCTE has provided a forum for the profession, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional growth throughout their careers, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the teaching of English. For more information, please visit www.ncte.org.

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Journal Information The English Journal is a journal of ideas for English language arts teachers in junior and senior high schools and middle schools. EJ presents information on the teaching of writing and reading, literature, and language. Each issue examines the relationship of theory and research to classroom practice, and reviews current materials of interest to English teachers, including books and electronic media.

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Massolit course: Hamlet (Prof. John Lennard)

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Massolit course: Hamlet (Prof. John Lennard)

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About this Course

About the Course

In this course, Dr John Lennard explores Shakespeare's Hamlet. In the first module, we explore the idea of Hamlet as a revenge tragedy, and think about how Shakespeare has complicated the basic structure. In the second module, we consider the character of the Ghost, who is one of the most unusual ghosts in Shakespearean drama. In the third module, we think about the comparisons that the play insists upon, as well as the impact that "dramatic doubling" may have had on the play. In the fourth module, we look at the role of Hamlet himself, an exceptionally dominant and demanding role. And in the fifth module, we turn to the concept of metatheatre and its pervasiveness in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama.

About the Lecturer

Born in Bristol, and educated at Oxford and St Louis, Dr John Lennard has taught English, American, and Commonwealth Literature in Cambridge, London, and Jamaica over more than twenty years. He has written two widely used textbooks (on poetry and drama) and monographs on Shakespeare, Paul Scott, Nabokov, and Faulkner, as well as two collections of essays on contemporary genre writers in crime, science fiction and fantasy, and romance. Enthusiastic, discursive, widely knowledgeable, and a demon for punctuation (on which he has also published extensively), he has been a popular Summer School Course Leader and lecturer for the Institute of Continuing Education since 1992.

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Prof. John Lennard at Independent Scholar discusses Shakespeare: Hamlet | High-quality, curriculum-linked video lectures for GCSE, A Level and IB, produced by MASSOLIT.

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Massolit course: Hamlet (Prof. John McRae)

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Massolit course: Hamlet (Prof. John McRae)

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MASSOLIT

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About this Course

In this fifteen-part course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Shakespeare's Hamlet, focusing in particular on Hamlet's development from "a rogue and peasant slave" to the perfect ("most royal") king. We begin in the first module with a brief introduction to Shakespeare's life and career, his sources for Hamlet and the intellectual climate in which the play was written, and the idea that Shakespeare structured the play around the numbers three and seven. After that, in the second module, we introduce the concept of soliloquies and meditations. In the third module, we consider Fortinbras' claim at the end of the play that Hamlet "was likely, had he been put on, / To have prov'd most royal", before turning in the fourth module to consider the three components of the perfect king according to Renaissance thought.

In the fifth module, we trace events from the beginning of the play to Hamlet's vow to avenge his father's death, before turning in the sixth module to consider Renaissance ideas of the perfectly balanced mind.

In the seventh module, we think about the arrival of the players and Hamlet's mediations of truth and representation, before turning in the eighth module to look in more detail at probably the most famous soliloquy in the history of theatre: "To be, or not to be?"

In the ninth module, we provide an in-depth reading of Ophelia's soliloquy, which incorporates many of the ideas that we have already encountered, before moving on in the tenth module to consider three meditations and Hamlet's growing status as an 'actor', i.e. someone who acts, rather than someone who is acted upon.

In the eleventh module, we think about revenge and the figure of the revenger, before turning in the twelfth module to two more soliloquies: that of Claudius (4.3.56-66) in which he outlines his plan to have Hamlet murdered in England, and Hamlet's long final soliloquy (4.4.31-65) in which he castigates himself for taking so long to enact his revenge.

In the thirteenth module, we focus on Hamlet's encounter with the pirates and his 'sea-change' before he return to Denmark, before turning in the fourteenth module to his three encounters with death - first Yorick's, then Ophelia's, and finally his own - and how this demonstrates his possession of the three fundamental attributes of the perfect king. Finally, in the fifteenth module, we trace events to the end of the play, focusing in particular on the brief moment in the play in which Hamlet confirms his status as the perfect king by demonstrating his balance of past, present and future.

Note: We use the Arden edition of the play. Students using a different version of the play may encounter slight differences in either the text and/or line numbers.

The Seven Soliloquies and Seven Meditations:
S1: "O that this too too solid flesh would melt" (1.2.129-58)
M1: "The King doth wake tonight and take his rouse" (1.4.8-38)
S2: "O all you host of heaven, O earth - what else?" (1.5.92-112)
M2: "I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth" (2.2.259-276)
S3: "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!" (2.2.485-540)
S4: "To be or not to be - that is the question" (3.1.55-89)
M3: "Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you..." (3.2.1-34)
M4: "Nay, do not think I flatter ... In censure of his seeming" (3.2.52-83)
M5: "Why, look you now how unworthy a thing you make of me ... you cannot play upon me" (3.2.355-63)
S5: "'Tis now the very witching time of night" (3.2.378-89)
S6: "Now might I do it pat" (3.3.73-96)
S7: "How all occasions do inform against me" (4.4.31-65)
M6: "Alas poor Yorick" (5.1.174-185)
M7: "Not a whit. We defy augury" (5.2.197-202)

About the Lecturer

John McRae is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies and Teaching Associate in the School of English at Nottingham University, and holds Visiting Professorships in China, Malaysia, Spain and the USA. He is co-author of The Routledge History of Literature in English with Ron Carter, and also wrote The Language of Poetry, Literature with a Small 'l' and the first critical edition of Teleny by Oscar Wilde and others.

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About this Course In this fifteen-part course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Shakespeare's Hamlet, focusing in particular on Hamlet's development from "a rogue and peasant slave" to the perfect ("most royal") king.

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Neoclassical Criticism
Refers to the period 1660 to 1798. Writers, critics and thinkers were heavily influenced by classical style of Romans and Greeks. Aristotle produced a very detailed analysis of the 'rules' of Greek tragedy in his work Poetics. Early commentators such as John Evelyn (1620-1706) applied Aristotle's principles to their critique. Evelyn thought Hamlet was too coarse and was offended by the gravediggers scene and the ungentlemanly struggle at Ophelia's graveside.
Jeremy Collier (1650-1726) who wrote A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698) disliked the play's sexual and religious themes, which he thought immoral.

Romantic Criticism
This was a movement in literature, painting, music and other areas from late C18th to mid C19th. It rejected the ordered, rational world of neoclassicism and focused on emotions and spontaneous individual responses. Romantic critics were interested in the play as a study of character and emotion, rather than a drama to be judged according to Aristotelian values. The complex, ambiguous personality of Hamlet appealed to Romantic critics. Coleridge (1772-1834) admired the way that Hamlet raised profound questions about life and death, referring to Shakespeare's 'deep and accurate science in mental philosophy.'
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) called Hamlet the 'prince of philosophical speculators.'

Early C20th Criticism
C20th critics continued to be focused on the motivation and character of Prince Hamlet. A specific psychological theory was applied by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud was an Austrian neurologist (i.e. specialising in treating diseases of the spine and nervous system). He developed the theory of psychoanalysis, examining the subconscious workings of the brain. Freud saw Hamlet's relationship with Gertrude as an example of his theory of the 'Oedipus Complex' - a boy is subconsciously attracted to his mother and wishes to kill his father.
A C Bradley (1851-1935)  was the author of Shakespearian Tragedy (1904) which includes sections on Hamlet. His approach was analysing characters as though they were real people. He sees Hamlet's hesitancy as a logical result of his circumstances rather than an emotional or psychological condition.

Late C20th criticism
From the late 1960s new approaches to literary criticism began to develop in Europe, Britain and the United States - e.g. Freudian approaches, Marxist approaches (see literary approaches box), feminist approaches (see literary approaches box) and Historicist criticism looks at texts in relation to their social and cultural context.

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Hamlet directed by Laurence Olivier, who also played Hamlet (1948) stressed the psychological aspect of Hamlet, particularly his relationship with his mother. The film is set in a huge, confusing castle with winding stairs and fog.

Hamlet directed by John Gielgud (with Richard Burton playing Hamlet) (1964). Burton played Hamlet as strong and confident but some critics were unhappy about the 'detached' manner in which he delivered some of his lines.

Hamlet directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also played Hamlet (1996). This production was unusual in that it included every scene in the play, meaning it is 242 minutes long. The film makes the most of lavish settings and Branagh emphasises Hamlet's recklessness as well as his indecision.

Hamlet directed by Robin Lough and Lyndsey Turner (with Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet (2015). Hamlet is portrayed as far more balanced and sane than is usual. It is clear that his madness is only a pretence, with Hamlet's humour featuring prominently. Some scenes are moved around in a different order and some lines are spoken by different characters.

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David Garrick helped to establish the popularity of the play in the C18th. He introduced lavish costumes and set designs. His version of Hamlet would seem strange to modern audiences - he cut out most of Act V and his acting style was full of dramatic gestures and exaggerated pauses which would seem artificial today.

The early C19th actor Edmund Kean replaced this melodramatic style of acting with more naturalistic emotional energy and passion. He became a huge celebrity in Georgian England.

When the American actor John Barrymore played Hamlet in the 1920s the production used a single, simple design for each scene: a raised platform, an arch and a set of steps. This production emphasises the emotional relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude, with Hamlet in tears in the closet scene.

In the 1950s, Richard Burton played Hamlet and stressed the psychological unravelling and emotional agitation of the Prince.

In the 1989 production. Mark Rylance portrayed Hamlet's madness with wild derangement and insane excitement.

In the 2008 RSC production, David Tennant portrayed Hamlet as a wild, witty character, with rapidly changing moods and unpredictable emotions.

In the 2016 RSC production, Paapa Essiedu is described as a 'graffiti prince' in Simon Billington's review in The Guardian. This production , directed by Simon Godwin, is set in an unnamed African country and features a predominantly black cast and 'vivid Technicolor brightness.' He is an  'intensely likeable Hamlet. He is young, quick-witted and, even in his rootless uncertainty, sportive: to convey his “antic disposition” he dons a paint-daubed suit and goes around doing subversive graffiti and big, splashy canvases like a mixture of Banksy and Jackson Pollock'.

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(Comedy)The dumbshow before the mousetrap in BBC Studios production 

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(Comedy)The dumbshow before the mousetrap in BBC Studios production 

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(Comedy) RSC 2018 version with Paapaa Essiedu - bright, colourful clothing. Sarcastic tone.

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(Comedy) RSC 2018 version with Paapaa Essiedu - bright, colourful clothing. Sarcastic tone.

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Critical Approaches - A Level English Literature (weebly.com)

Feminist - how does Hamlet reflect a patriarchal society? How are Gertrude and Ophelia portrayed? Consider Ophelia's unquestioning obedience to Polonius's order to end her relationship with Hamlet, and Hamlet's harsh treatment of her. A feminist perspective might also defend Gertrude's right to have sexual desire for Claudius, or indeed argue that Hamlet overemphasises (obsesses over) the sexual side of her relationship with Claudius.

Marxist - how are the political theories of Karl Marx (1818-1883) reflected and explored in texts. Marx believed that there was a class struggle between the upper and lower classes, and that these inequalities were wrong. Consider Claudius's misuse of his position, and the way R and G are portrayed as subservient characters who suffer (it could be argued) a fate which they do not deserve.

Psychological (Freudian) - approaches based on the psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud thought the plot was an example of the 'Oedipus Complex' - that a boy is subconsciously attracted to his mother and wants to kill his father. Freudian critics are interested in the relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude in the play.

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Michael Dobson commented that the influence of Freud moved the closet scene to Gertrude's bedroom

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Michael Dobson commented that the influence of Freud moved the closet scene to Gertrude's bedroom

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Prof. Stephen Greenblatt: 'Hamlet is a dead man from Act One.'

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Prof. Stephen Greenblatt: 'Hamlet is a dead man from Act One.'

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Professor Jonathan Bate: The play features 'layer upon layer of surveillance'.

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Professor Jonathan Bate: The play features 'layer upon layer of surveillance'.

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'There is serenity at the end'. Hamlet 'reaches inner peace.'

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Simon Russell Beale (actor who played Hamlet): the play is 'an expression of grief'

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Simon Russell Beale (actor who played Hamlet): the play is 'an expression of grief'

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David Tennant BBC Studios production- use of CCTV cameras to reflect the culture of spying and subterfuge.

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David Tennant: 'Hamlet is straightjacketed by his own morality.'

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David Tennant: 'Hamlet is straightjacketed by his own morality.'