HamletIt Begins with a Question

January 11, 2017

Sheila Jones, OLLI South

Introductions

1. What is your name and one sentence of personal experience with Shakespeare or Hamlet in particular?

2. What you are most looking forward to in taking this course?

Purpose – General

• Wrestling with many possibilities is stimulating.• Arriving at consensus is probably out of the

question.• Understanding our own human connections to

the themes heightens our enjoyment as the play unfolds.

• Recognizing the ambiguities guides our understanding of the director’s/actor’s creative scope of interpretation.

Purpose – more specifically

• Using your knowledge of Shakespeare’s dramatic style and conventions to unlock the play’s meaning in new productions

• Understanding how both the director’s and actors’ interpretations of and decisions about the characters, themes, and design influence how the play is produced

• Discovering some of the deeper connections and meanings to gain a richer appreciation of the play and of Shakespeare’s genius.

• Seeing Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a product of its own age, but also recognizing that the character and the play remain relevant to humans across time and cultures.

Slide deleted because of copyright

• This slide contained a 3:18 minute cartoon of Hamlet as portrayed by the Simpsons. If you wish to view it, please do a Google search using the keywords: Hamlet, Simpsons

Getting on the same page

• Shakespearean Conventions – see handout*• Characteristics of a Shakespearean Tragic Hero

– see handout* • Tracing images and motifs to unlock meaning

– see handout• Your mission, if you choose to accept it!?!

• previously emailed

Getting on the same pageCommon Sources for Shakespeare’s plays:

Holingshed’s Chroniclesof England, Scotlande,

and Irelande

Two editions: 1577 and 1587From an exhibit at the University of Colorado, Aug. 22, 2016. Manuscripts on loan from Folger Shakespeare Library.

Getting on the same pageCommon Sources for Shakespeare’s plays:

Left to right: • King James Daemonologie, 1597• Holingshed’s Chronicles• The Works of Shakespeare –

aka The First Folio, 1623

Getting on the same page

• The REAL Hamlet…more the LEGEND• Based on 11th Century

Scandinavian legend thatoriginated from a Norse poem

• Shakespeare used early 13th

century version from Danish historian, Saxo Grammaticus in Gesta Danorum.

• Both have very similar plots.

Getting on the same page

• Ur-Hamlet, (alleged). Possible author was Thomas Kyd • Kyd is best know for

The Spanish Tragedy• B. 1158 – D. 1594• Central figure in Elizabethan

drama• The ghost allegedly added

to Ur-Hamlet

Getting on the same pageVersions of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

No ONE definitive version of HamletThe 1st Quarto – “Bad” 1603 The 2nd Quarto, 1604/1605First Folio 1623 (posthumously)

Taking a

BREAK!See you in 10 min.

Hamlet, as Shakespearean TragedyHamlet is a play about…

Public Concern Private Concern

PublicConcern

Rainbow = a symbol of Peace. Latin inscription Non sine Sole iris Means “NoRainbowWithout theSun.

• Conspiracies• Irish rebellion• Earl of Essex

betrayal• Aging Queen• No designated

heir

The RainbowPortraitCirca 1600

PublicConcern •

Conspiracies• Irish rebellion• Earl of Essex

betrayal• Aging Queen• No designated

heir

The RainbowPortraitCirca 1600

Youthful face = vitalityand strengthof Queen. Crown: Pearls = her virginity,Crown = herposition andpower.

PublicConcern •

Conspiracies• Irish rebellion• Earl of Essex

betrayal• Aging Queen• No designated

heir

The RainbowPortraitCirca 1600

Eyes andears on the lining of herorange cloak= She seesall, knowsall. Symbolicof her intricatespy network

PrivateConcern

Some claimthe death of Hamnet,Shakespeare’s11-year-oldSon in 1596 may have influenced his writing of Hamlet.

• Reflections on

death and

mourning• Depression• Suicidal

thoughts

For next week

• Read or watch Act 1 – Last lines…“The time is out of joint. O cursed spite/That I was ever born to set it right.”• Begin tracing your chosen imagery/motif. • If reading, how do you imagine the characters to be? If watching the Tennant version online, how are the characters portrayed?• Read or watch for the gist of the play – the plot. Make note of any questions you have to discuss in class next Wednesday.

Elizabethan World View – the basics• During Elizabethan times, people believed that

everyone and everything was arranged in a certain order – a hierarchy.

• It was this order, known as the Great Chain of Being, that was threatened by new and exciting discoveries in science and astronomy.

• According to this idea, everything in the world had its position fixed by God:– The Earth was the centre of the universe and the stars moved

around it in fixed routes. – In Heaven God ruled over the archangels and angels. – On earth there was order everywhere. Society reflected this

order with its fixed classes from the highest to the lowest – kings, churchmen, nobles, merchants, and peasants.

– The animals had their own order too, the lion being the “king”.

– Plant life and minerals also reflected this order. Among the trees, the most superior was the oak; among flowers, it was the rose.

– Among the minerals, gold was the most superior.

CherubsArchangels, Angels

Star controllers of DestinyMoon

KingChurchPrincesNobles

Man

LionOther Animals

Oak and RoseOther Plants

GoldOther Minerals

GodO

utsid

e of

cha

in: N

othi

ngne

ss/c

haos

• The Chain of Being served to create social stability – everyone knew their places on the chain and interacted with the other levels:– The people higher up on the chain were

responsible to provide for or care/protect those below them.

– The people lower down had a responsibility to obey and serve those above them.

The Chain of Being world view created the beliefs and values for individuals and the society of Shakespeare’s time.

• The chain was a transactional sort of system – “I do this for you if you do this for me”

• If someone in the chain doesn’t fulfill their responsibility, they are considered to be “breaking the chain.”

• Any attempt to break the Chain of Being would upset the established order and bring about universal disorder.

• The Chain of Being represents the social order of the time.

• Anything that is outside the chain is considered to be chaos/nothingness/madness/evil.

• Therefore, by implication, if the chain is broken the order in the world is broken, and it can descend into chaos.

• Nothingness, chaos, madness, evil – all of these things are outside the chain and are not considered to be made by God.

*Everything within the chain is created by God. *Therefore everything within the chain is good.*Therefore there is no evil in the chain. *As evil doesn’t exist within the chain, it can only enter if the chain is broken.

The Divine Right of Kings

• It was believed that the King was divinely chosen by God.• As God’s chosen representative on earth, the King was the

supreme upholder of order on earth. • If his position was violated it would destroy the perfect order

in the universe and bring strife and chaos to the world. • Any act of treason or treachery against the King was

considered indirectly to be a mortal sin against God. The penalty was death.