HamletRandom House Publishing Group, 2008 M08 12 - 272 pages One of the greatest plays of all time, the compelling tragedy of the tormented young prince of Denmark continues to capture the imaginations of modern audiences worldwide. Confronted with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, and with his mother’s infidelity, Hamlet must find a means of reconciling his longing for oblivion with his duty as avenger. The ghost, Hamlet’s feigned madness, Ophelia’s death and burial, the play within a play, the “closet scene” in which Hamlet accuses his mother of complicity in murder, and breathtaking swordplay are just some of the elements that make Hamlet an enduring masterpiece of the theater. Each Edition Includes: • Comprehensive explanatory notes • Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship • Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English • Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories • An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography |
From inside the book
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Page vii
... player weeping , a skull tossed from an old grave - into the occasion for speculation : " What's Hecuba to him , or he to Hecuba , / That he should weep for her ?, " " Where be your gibes now , your gambols , your songs , your flashes ...
... player weeping , a skull tossed from an old grave - into the occasion for speculation : " What's Hecuba to him , or he to Hecuba , / That he should weep for her ?, " " Where be your gibes now , your gambols , your songs , your flashes ...
Page viii
... Player's speech about Pyrrhus , son of Achilles , furiously seeking atonement for his father's loss by slaughtering old King Priam . But this might be con- strued as a negative example : Priam himself is an “ unnervèd father " and his ...
... Player's speech about Pyrrhus , son of Achilles , furiously seeking atonement for his father's loss by slaughtering old King Priam . But this might be con- strued as a negative example : Priam himself is an “ unnervèd father " and his ...
Page x
... players because he recognizes the power of acting to expose the feigning of public life , the fact that courtiership and rhetorical decorum are themselves but performances . He comes to the truth through " a fiction " and " a dream of ...
... players because he recognizes the power of acting to expose the feigning of public life , the fact that courtiership and rhetorical decorum are themselves but performances . He comes to the truth through " a fiction " and " a dream of ...
Page xii
... player can work himself into a frenzy for the fictional sorrows of Hecuba , while he himself has not yet done anything about his father's murder . In the third , he medi- tates on the pros and cons of suicide and in the Quarto text of ...
... player can work himself into a frenzy for the fictional sorrows of Hecuba , while he himself has not yet done anything about his father's murder . In the third , he medi- tates on the pros and cons of suicide and in the Quarto text of ...
Page xvi
... players ( 3.1.62-154 in our text ) . This is only the most striking of the many textual variants between the early versions of Hamlet . Is the flesh that Hamlet wishes would melt too " sullied " or too " solid " ? Did Old Hamlet smite a ...
... players ( 3.1.62-154 in our text ) . This is only the most striking of the many textual variants between the early versions of Hamlet . Is the flesh that Hamlet wishes would melt too " sullied " or too " solid " ? Did Old Hamlet smite a ...
Contents
Textual Notes | 137 |
ScenebyScene Analysis | 149 |
The RSC and Beyond | 166 |
Shakespeares Career in the Theater | 217 |
A Chronology | 231 |
Acknowledgments and Picture Credits | 237 |
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Common terms and phrases
ACT 4 SCENE action actor audience BARNARDO blood Boyd Caird character David Warner dead dear death Denmark doth Elsinore Exit eyes father fear Folio Following Fortinbras friends GERTRUDE HAMLET Ghost give grave grief HAMLET Ay HAMLET OPHELIA Hamlet play hast hath hear heart heaven HORATIO HAMLET HORATIO is't Jonathan Bate kill KING HAMLET LAERTES HAMLET LAERTES KING leave Lines look Lord Hamlet madness MARCELLUS Mark Rylance Matthew Warchus Michael Boyd mother murder nature night Norway nunnery Ophelia OPHELIA HAMLET OSRIC passion performance play players Polonius POLONIUS HAMLET pray prince production queen question rapiers revenge REYNALDO role Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Royal Shakespeare Royal Shakespeare Company SECOND CLOWN sense sexual Sings soliloquy soul speak speech stage sword tell theater theatrical thee There's thing thou thought Toby Stephens Tragedy watch Wittenberg words young