Hamlet

• 1. Origins And Sources

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  The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark emerged from a deep well of ancient legends and medieval texts. Scholars point to the 13th-century Life of Amleth by Saxo Grammaticus as a primary source. This Latin work tells of a prince who feigns madness to survive after his father is murdered by his uncle. The story includes key parallels: a hasty marriage between the widow and usurper, a hidden spy killed in a mother's bedroom, and the substitution of two retainers for the hero's own execution. Earlier Scandinavian sagas like the Saga of Hrolf Kraki also contain similar themes, though they differ in details such as the sons disguising themselves rather than feigning insanity. A Roman legend involving Lucius Brutus further echoes the pattern of a hero playing the fool to avoid death before slaying his family's killer. In 1570, François de Belleforest translated Saxo's account into French, doubling its length and adding melancholy to the hero. Some theories suggest Shakespeare may have used an earlier lost play called Ur-Hamlet, possibly written by Thomas Kyd or even himself, which existed by 1589. However, no copy survives, making direct comparison impossible. Other scholars argue that Shakespeare drew directly from Belleforest without needing an intermediate play. Stephen Greenblatt has proposed a personal connection between the name Hamnet, Shakespeare's son who died at age eleven in 1596, and the character of Hamlet. While conventional wisdom holds the names were interchangeable due to loose orthography, this remains speculative. Polonius may have been inspired by William Cecil, Lord Burghley, chief counsellor to Queen Elizabeth I, with some critics suggesting his verbosity caricatured Cecil's style.

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• 2. Textual Variations

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  Three early editions of Hamlet survive, each offering different versions of the text. The First Quarto appeared in 1603 under the title The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke. Published by Nicholas Ling and printed by Valentine Simmes, it contains just over half the lines found in later editions. Critics once dismissed it as a corrupted memorial reconstruction, likely created by an actor playing a minor role such as Marcellus. Yet Q1 includes unique stage directions like Ophelia entering with a lute and her hair down, revealing actual performance practices absent from other texts. It also contains a full scene labeled 4.6 not present in Q2 or F1. The Second Quarto arrived in 1604, published again by Nicholas Ling but printed by James Roberts. Some copies bear the date 1605, indicating a second impression. This version is the longest early edition, though it omits about 77 lines found in the First Folio, possibly to avoid offending Queen Anne of Denmark. The First Folio emerged in 1623, edited by Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, containing The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke within Shakespeare's collected works. Only two copies of Q1 remain extant today, discovered in 1823. Editors have long struggled to reconcile these versions. Nicholas Rowe and Lewis Theobald combined material from Q2 and F1 to create what they believed was an ideal text. Their approach influenced editorial practice for centuries, yet modern scholarship increasingly questions whether any single authentic version exists. Colin Burrow argues that most readers should engage with conflated editions combining all three texts, while others prefer separate volumes reflecting each original state. Jonathan Bate suggests Q2 may represent a reading text rather than a performance one, designed for pleasure rather than staging. The First Quarto's linear plot design makes it easier to follow despite its brevity, eliminating alternating elements tied to Hamlet's shifting moods.

• 3. Critical Reception History

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  From the early 17th century onward, critics viewed Hamlet through evolving lenses shaped by cultural shifts. Early audiences admired its ghostly elements and vivid portrayal of melancholy and insanity, influencing Jacobean and Caroline drama. By the late 17th century, Restoration critics found the play primitive, criticizing its lack of unity and decorum. This perspective shifted dramatically in the 18th century when critics began seeing Hamlet as a pure, brilliant young man thrust into unfortunate circumstances. Mid-century Gothic literature reintroduced psychological and mystical readings, bringing madness and the ghost back to prominence. Critics no longer saw him simply as mad or sane but recognized confusion and inconsistency within his character. Voltaire wrote a scathing review in 1768 calling the work vulgar and barbarous yet acknowledging sublime strokes worthy of genius. Romantic critics later valued internal conflict over external action, focusing on Hamlet's delay as a defining trait rather than a flaw. In the 20th century, psychoanalytic interpretations gained ground. Sigmund Freud published thoughts on Hamlet in The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), suggesting an unconscious Oedipal complex caused hesitation. Ernest Jones expanded these ideas in Hamlet and Oedipus (1949), influencing productions that portrayed the closet scene sexually. Jacques Lacan offered structuralist analyses in seminars held in Paris during the 1950s, exploring how linguistic structures shape human desire. Feminist critics like Carolyn Heilbrun defended Gertrude against accusations of complicity, while Elaine Showalter examined Ophelia's descent into madness as guilt-driven rather than purely reactive. T.S. Eliot once declared the play an aesthetic failure, preferring Coriolanus instead, though James Joyce credited Shakespeare with universal fatherhood in Ulysses.

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• 4. Performance Traditions

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  Shakespeare likely wrote the role of Hamlet for Richard Burbage, chief tragedian of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. During his lifetime, Hamlet ranked fourth among his most popular plays after Henry IV Part 1, Richard III, and Pericles. Specific early performances remain debated; claims about a crew performing it aboard the Red Dragon off Sierra Leone in September 1607 are now widely regarded as hoaxes. More credible evidence shows tours in Germany within five years of Shakespeare's death and performances before James I in 1619 and Charles I in 1637. After theatres closed during the Interregnum, illegal drolls like The Grave-Makers kept fragments alive. Thomas Betterton played Hamlet until age seventy-four, setting standards for future generations. David Garrick adapted heavily, removing the grave-digger, Osric, and fencing match to rescue what he called noble play from rubbish. Lewis Hallam Jr became the first actor known to perform Hamlet in North America during a Philadelphia production in 1759. John Philip Kemble debuted at Drury Lane in 1783, delivering lines with pauses so long that Richard Brinsley Sheridan suggested music fill gaps between words. Sarah Siddons broke tradition by playing Hamlet as a breeches role, proving women could embody the prince successfully. Edwin Booth delivered a dark, dreamy interpretation at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in 1875, running one hundred nights across the 1864/5 season. Edmund Kean abandoned regal finery for plain costumes, surprising audiences with serious introspection. William Poel reconstructed Elizabethan austerity using only red curtains in 1881. Sarah Bernhardt portrayed the prince as manly yet thoughtful in her 1899 London staging. Konstantin Stanislavski and Edward Gordon Craig collaborated on Moscow Art Theatre's seminal 1911, 12 production, blending psychological realism with stylized abstraction through large screens altering spatial dynamics.

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• 5. Cultural Influence

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  Hamlet resonates deeply across centuries of literature, philosophy, and popular culture. Milton drew inspiration while composing Paradise Lost (1667), transforming Satan from avenger to usurper echoing Claudius. Henry Fielding included references to Hamlet in Tom Jones (about 1749), mirroring its play-within-a-play structure. Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1776, 1796) centers around a production of Hamlet itself, paralleling ghosts with dead fathers. Herman Melville explored similar themes in Pierre (early 1850s), focusing on long development of a writer-like character. Dickens embedded revenge motives and ghost figures in Great Expectations, anticipating psychoanalytic readings decades later. George Eliot compared Maggie Tulliver explicitly to Hamlet despite her reputation for sanity. James Joyce crafted an upbeat version stripped of obsession in Ulysses, drawing parallels primarily with Homer's Odyssey rather than Shakespeare directly. Angela Carter reworked To be or not to be into song routines within Wise Children (1990s). Iris Murdoch intertwined Oedipal murder with love affairs in The Black Prince featuring Bradley Pearson, a Hamlet-obsessed writer. David Foster Wallace titled Infinite Jest after the play, heavily borrowing its text. Political adaptations abound: Gu Wuwei transformed Hamlet into The Usurper of State Power attacking Yuan Shikai in China during 1916. Jiao Juyin staged it inside a Confucian temple in Sichuan Province in 1942 as government retreated from advancing Japanese forces. Lin Zhaohua followed protests at Tiananmen Square with politically charged interpretations emphasizing intellectual endurance under ruthless environments. Productions worldwide reflect local struggles, using suspected crimes and surveillance themes to comment on contemporary situations.

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