L I L I T E R A T U R E Hamlet

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Hamletby William Shakespeare

L E A D - I N S T O L I T E R A T U R E

PRESTWICK HOUSE, INC.

P R E S T W I C K H O U S E , I N C .

Hamletby William Shakespeare

L E A D - I N S T O L I T E R A T U R E

Table of ContentsIntroduction 5BackgroundShakespeare’s Sources Elizabethan/Jacobean Period

Theater & Audience 22Shakespeare’s Theaters The Groundlings

Dramatic Conventions in Hamlet 34AsidesSoliloquiesPlay Within a Play

Narrative Conventions 46The GhostConfidantsSpies

Shakespeare’s Language 62PunctuationInverted and Elliptical SentencesPoetryProse

Literary Techniques 81Metaphor & SimileAllusionPunAphorismHendiadys

Themes 99The Deceptive Nature of Appearances: Sanity or MadnessThe Complexity of ChoiceThe Unknowable Nature of Death

Characters 106HamletClaudiusPoloniusHoratioRozencrantz & Guildenstern

Productions 131

Biography 136

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H amlet

by William Shakespeare

H am l e t

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To be, or not to be, that is the question:Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortuneOr to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep—No more—and by a sleep to say we endThe heartache, and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummationDevoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep—To sleep—perchance to dream.

(III, i, 63-72)

H amlet

by William Shakespeare

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HamletI N T R O D U C T I O N

Background

Source of H AMLET

El i zabethan/Jacobean Pe r iod

H amlet

by William Shakespeare

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The centuries-old conflict between Norway and Denmark, in which Hamlet is set, mirrors England’s political turmoil toward the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign.

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H amlet

by William Shakespeare

H amlet

by William Shakespeare

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Shakespeare, working during Britain’s Renaissance, created the emotionally complex and human characters in Hamlet.

H amlet

by William Shakespeare

H amlet

by William Shakespeare

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• the deceptive nature of appearances

H amlet

by William Shakespeare

H amlet

by William Shakespeare

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• the consequences of seeking vengeance.

H amlet

by William Shakespeare