Hamlet

Hamlet's Criticism Page

To the Reader.
This Figure, that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut,
Wherein the Graver had a strife
with Nature, to out-doo the life :
O, could he but have drawne his wit
As well in brasse, as he hath hit

O, could he but have drawne his wit
As well in brasse, as he hath hit
His face ; the Print would then surpasse
All, that was ever writ in brasse.
But, since he cannot, Reader, looke
Not on his Picture, but his Booke.

Ben Jonson's
Commendation of the
Droeshout engraving
First published 1623.

I. Shakespeare and His Globe Theater1. Information about Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Era

2.Prefatory Material To The First Folio, 1623

3. The Elizabethan Theater(including the pictures of some the original theaters)

4. The Globe Theater

5.THE SHAKSPERIAN STAGE

II. Critical Analysis of Hamlet

1. Certain Speculations on Hamlet, the Calendar, and Martin Luther
http://purl.oclc.org/emls/02-1/sohmshak.html
"This essay takes the view that Shakespeare linked the principal events in Hamletto particular holy days, and that the play's first audiences could identify these holy days from cues in the text." Special attention is paid to the possible relationship between Hamlet and the life and theology of Martin Luther.
Contains: Content Analysis, Historical Context, Character Analysis
Author: Steve Sohmer
From: Early Modern Literary Studies 2.1 (1996): 5.1-51

2. Hamlet and "a matter tender and dangerous"
http://library.northernlight.com/cgi-bin/pdserv?cbrecid=ZZ19980113050164250&cb=0
"Although religious discourse is integral in Shakespeare's 'Hamlet,' the representation of religion is oblique and inconsistent, and critics have come to many different conclusions about the religious content. Considering Stoicism within a religious context illuminates Hamlet's involvement with comprehensive ideological systems and helps provide an analysis of his subjective transformation at the end of the play."
Contains: Content Analysis
Author: Mark Matheson
From: Shakespeare Quarterly Winter 1995; Vol. 46 No. 4; p. 383
Access Restrictions: NL

3. Puttenham, Shakespeare, and the abuse of rhetoric
http://library.northernlight.com/cgi-bin/pdserv?cbrecid=LW19971007040004467&cb=0
"The social aspects and ideologically inflected uses of the word 'discretion' in early modern England are examined through George Puttenham's 'The Arte of English Poesie' (1589) and William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Hamlet'."
Contains: Historical Context
Author: Hillman, David
From: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 Winter 1996 (v36 n1) Start Page: p73(18)
Access Restrictions: NL

4. 'Too Much in the (Black) Sun': Hamlet's First Soliloquy, A Kristevan View
http://www.hull.ac.uk/renforum/v2no2/crunelle.htm
"It may appear to be sheer provocation to attempt a psychoanalytic reading of Shakespeare, be it Kristevan or other, in a decade placed under the rule of the New Historicism."
Contains: Content Analysis
Author: Anny Crunelle-Vanrigh
From: Renaissance Forum: An Electronic Journal of Early-Modern Literary and Historical Studies Autumn 1997; vol. 2 no. 2
Keywords: psychoanalysis

5. Other (non-critical) sites about Hamlet
"The Sublime or the Ridiculous?: Hamlet's enigmatic positioning within the American cultural hierarchy"
http://orathost.cfa.ilstu.edu/shakespeare/research/hamlet.html
This titillating article examines the history of the performance of Hamlet, and the 19th century proclivity for "lightening up" performances of the play by casting improbable performers as Hamlet and by rewriting the script. Includes a bibliography.
Author: Elizabeth Reitz Mullenix
Keywords: commentary

6.Heavy Seneca: his Influence on Shakespeare's Tragedies

7. Characters: Hamlet
His Introspection ; His "Madness" ; His Puns and Paradoxes; His Thoughts of Death; His Delay; His Thoughts about Women; His Oedipus Complex

8.Hamlet and His Problems

9.Hamlet Navigator: Ophelia
Hamlet Navigator's annotated index of all appearances and mentions of Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

10. Themes: Weeds and Flowers
Annotated index of mentions of weeds and flowers in Shakespeare's Hamlet, with links to appropriate passages and scene summaries

11. Characters: Polonius
Hamlet Navigator's annotated index of all appearances and mentions of Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet

12.Characters: King Claudius
Hamlet Navigator's annotated index of all appearances and all mentions of King Claudius in Shakespeare's Hamlet, with links to appropriate passages and scene summaries.

13. Characters: Queen Gertrude
Hamlet Navigator's annotated index of all appearances and all mentions of Queen Gertrude in Shakespeare's Hamlet, with links to appropriate passages and scene summaries

14. Themes: Indirections (Appearance and Reality)
Annotated index of passages in Shakespeare's Hamlet relevant to the themes of discoveries, revelations, and spying, with links to appropriate texts and scene summaries

15. Themes: Frailty
Annotated index of passages in Shakespeare's Hamlet relevant to the theme of human frailty, with links to appropriate texts and scene summaries

16. Fortune, Fate, and Providence.
What is the name and nature of those powers beyond our power? Is everything just a matter of luck, or is there some great plan?

17.Theme:Revenge

18.Hamlet Navigator Home Page
Complete hypertext study guide to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Use it to understand the plot, characters, and themes. Copy quotes for your essay

19.: Themes: Disease and Poison
Annotated index of passages in Shakespeare's Hamlet relevant to the theme of disease and poison, with links to appropriate texts and scene summaries.5. Which of the following lines from Hamlet sound familiar to you? What is your interpretation of the lines?

20.Click here to read the famous quotes from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

21. Medicine and Hamlet

22.Betrayed Love and Character Analysis of Hamlet

23. . An Analysis of "To be or not to be, What is the question?

24. Revenge in Hamlet