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)
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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
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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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Shakespeare, working during Britain’s Renaissance, created the emotionally complex and human characters in Hamlet.
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• the deceptive nature of appearances
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• the consequences of seeking vengeance.
H amlet
by William Shakespeare