Amleth, the Viking Hamlet (English 2332, TAMU-CC)
Channel: Eric Luttrell
Date: 2017-10-24

This lecture covers the narrative of the life of Amleth from the 12th century chronicle Gesta Danorum (History of the Danes) by Saxo Grammaticus. This text is frequently read in conjunction with Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, due to the parallels of plot and character. Saxo's version of Amleth is likely a predecessor of Shakespeare's Hamlet, though probably not a direct influence. 

The full text of Saxo's History of the Danes, translated by Oliver Elton (1894) is available at Sacred Texts (http://sacred-texts.com/neu/saxo/index.htm), and several book scans are available at Archive.org (https://archive.org/details/cu31924089406593). The relevant narrative of Amleth occurs in the second half of Book 3 and the first half of Book 4. A brief excerpt is also available from Pitt University (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/amleth.html). 

The later Icelandic parallel text of Ambales Saga, translated by Israel Gollancz, is also available from Archive.org (https://archive.org/details/hamletinicelandb00golluoft).