vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Medieval theatre
In 1977 the National Theatre commissioned Tony Harrison to create The Mysteries , a re-working of the Wakefield Cycle and others . It was revived in 1985 ( whereupon the production was filmed for Channel 4 Television ) , and again as a part of the theatre 's millennium celebration in 2000 . The productions won Bill Bryden the `` Best Director '' title in both the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and the Olivier Awards for 1985 , the year the three plays first appeared together in performance at the Lyceum Theatre . An adaptation of Harrison 's play was staged at Shakespeare 's Globe in 2011 as The Globe Mysteries .
Hamlet
The discovery in 1823 of Q1 -- whose existence had been quite unsuspected -- caused considerable interest and excitement , raising many questions of editorial practice and interpretation . Scholars immediately identified apparent deficiencies in Q1 , which was instrumental in the development of the concept of a Shakespearean `` bad quarto '' . Yet Q1 has value : it contains stage directions ( such as Ophelia entering with a lute and her hair down ) that reveal actual stage practices in a way that Q2 and F1 do not ; it contains an entire scene ( usually labelled 4.6 ) that does not appear in either Q2 or F1 ; and it is useful for comparison with the later editions . The major deficiency of Q1 is in the language : particularly noticeable in the opening lines of the famous `` To be , or not to be '' soliloquy : `` To be , or not to be , aye there 's the point . / To die , to sleep , is that all ? Aye all : / No , to sleep , to dream , aye marry there it goes . '' However , the scene order is more coherent , without the problems of Q2 and F1 of Hamlet seeming to resolve something in one scene and enter the next drowning in indecision . New Cambridge editor Kathleen Irace has noted that `` Q1 's more linear plot design is certainly easier ( ... ) to follow ( ... ) but the simplicity of the Q1 plot arrangement eliminates the alternating plot elements that correspond to Hamlet 's shifts in mood . ''
Musical theatre
Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times , modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century , with many structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America . These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the musical theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan . The Princess Theatre musicals and other smart shows like Of Thee I Sing ( 1931 ) were artistic steps forward beyond revues and other frothy entertainments of the early 20th century and led to such groundbreaking works as Show Boat ( 1927 ) and Oklahoma ! ( 1943 ) . Some of the most famous and iconic musicals through the decades that followed include West Side Story ( 1957 ) , The Fantasticks ( 1960 ) , Hair ( 1967 ) , A Chorus Line ( 1975 ) , Les Misérables ( 1985 ) , The Phantom of the Opera ( 1986 ) , Rent ( 1996 ) , The Producers ( 2001 ) , Wicked ( 2003 ) and Hamilton ( 2015 ) .
Hamlet
There have also been several films that transposed the general storyline of Hamlet or elements thereof to other settings . For example , the 2014 Bollywood film Haider is an adaptation set in Kashmir . There have also been many films which included performances of scenes from Hamlet as a play - within - a-film .
Hamlet
Three early editions of the text have survived , making attempts to establish a single `` authentic '' text problematic and inconclusive . Each surviving edition differs from the others :
Hamlet
The earliest screen success for Hamlet was Sarah Bernhardt 's five - minute film of the fencing scene , which was produced in 1900 . The film was an early attempt at combining sound and film , music and words were recorded on phonograph records , to be played along with the film . Silent versions were released in 1907 , 1908 , 1910 , 1913 , 1917 , and 1920 . In the 1921 film Hamlet , Danish actress Asta Nielsen played the role of Hamlet as a woman who spends her life disguised as a man .
Hamlet
-- Isaac Asimov , Asimov 's Guide to Shakespeare , pg vii , Avenal Books , 1970
Hamlet
Renowned Shakespearean actor - directors Sir John Gielgud , Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir Kenneth Branagh consider the definitive rendition of the play to be the 1964 Soviet film Gamlet ( Russian : Гамлет ) based on a translation by Boris Pasternak and directed by Grigori Kozintsev , with a score by Dmitri Shostakovich . Innokenty Smoktunovsky was cast in the role of Hamlet .
Hamlet
In 1942 Ernst Lubitsch directed a motion picture titled To Be or Not To Be . The story is a comedy about a troupe of Polish actors in the Nazi era . A key plot point revolves around the famous soliloquy . The story was remade in 1983 in a film starring ( and produced by ) Mel Brooks .
Hamlet
In contrast to Zeffirelli , whose Hamlet was heavily cut , Kenneth Branagh adapted , directed , and starred in a 1996 version containing every word of Shakespeare 's play , combining the material from the F1 and Q2 texts . Branagh 's Hamlet runs for just over four hours . Branagh set the film with late 19th - century costuming and furnishings , a production in many ways reminiscent of a Russian novel of the time ; and Blenheim Palace , built in the early 18th century , became Elsinore Castle in the external scenes . The film is structured as an epic and makes frequent use of flashbacks to highlight elements not made explicit in the play : Hamlet 's sexual relationship with Kate Winslet 's Ophelia , for example , or his childhood affection for Yorick ( played by Ken Dodd ) .
Hamlet
All references to Hamlet , unless otherwise specified , are taken from the Arden Shakespeare Q2 . Under their referencing system , 3.1. 55 means act 3 , scene 1 , line 55 . References to the First Quarto and First Folio are marked Hamlet Q1 and Hamlet F1 , respectively , and are taken from the Arden Shakespeare Hamlet : the texts of 1603 and 1623 . Their referencing system for Q1 has no act breaks , so 7.115 means scene 7 , line 115 .
Hamlet
Bate , Jonathan ; Rasmussen , Eric , eds. ( 2007 ) . Complete Works . The RSC Shakespeare . New York : Royal Shakespeare Company . ISBN 0 - 679 - 64295 - 1 . Bate , Jonathan ; Rasmussen , Eric , eds. ( 2008 ) . Hamlet . The RSC Shakespeare . The Royal Shakespeare Company . ISBN 978 - 0230217867 . Edwards , Phillip , ed. ( 1985 ) . Hamlet , Prince of Denmark . New Cambridge Shakespeare . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . ISBN 978 - 0521293662 . Evans , G. Blakemore , ed. ( 1974 ) . The Riverside Shakespeare . The Riverside Shakespeare . Houghton Mifflin for Riverside Shakespeare Company . ISBN 9780395044025 . Hibbard , G.R. , ed. ( 1987 ) . Hamlet . Oxford World 's Classics . Oxford : Oxford University Press . ISBN 0 - 19 - 283416 - 9 . Irace , Kathleen O. , ed. ( 1998 ) . The First Quarto of Hamlet . New Cambridge Shakespeare . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . ISBN 0 - 521 - 65390 - 8 . Jenkins , Harold , ed. ( 1982 ) . Hamlet . The Arden Shakespeare , second series . London : Methuen . ISBN 1 - 903436 - 67 - 2 . Lott , Bernard , ed. ( 1970 ) . Hamlet . New Swan Shakespeare , Advanced series ( New ed . ) . London : Longman . ISBN 0 - 582 - 52742 - 2 . Thompson , Ann ; Taylor , Neil , eds. ( 2006 ) . Hamlet . The Arden Shakespeare , third series . 1 . London : Cengage Learning . ISBN 1 - 904271 - 33 - 2 . Thompson , Ann ; Taylor , Neil , eds. ( 2006 ) . Hamlet : The Texts of 1603 and 1623 . The Arden Shakespeare , third series . 2 . London : Cengage Learning . ISBN 1 - 904271 - 80 - 4 . Wells , Stanley ; Taylor , Gary , eds. ( 1988 ) . The Complete Works . The Oxford Shakespeare ( Compact ed . ) . Oxford : Clarendon Press . ISBN 0 - 19 - 871190 - 5 .
Hamlet
465 . ^ Jump up to : Halliday 1964 , p. 204 . ^ Jump up to : Thompson & Taylor 2006a , p. 78 . Jump up ^ Hibbard 1987 , pp. 22 -- 3 . Jump up ^ Hattaway 1987 , p. 16 . ^ Jump up to : Thompson & Taylor 2006a . ^ Jump up to : Thompson & Taylor 2006b . Jump up ^ Bate & Rasmussen 2007 , p. 1923 . ^ Jump up to : Irace 1998 . Jump up ^ Burrow 2002 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 3.4 and 4.1 . Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 2006a , pp. 543 -- 52 . Jump up ^ Jenkins 1982 , p. 14 . Jump up ^ Hamlet Q1 14 . Jump up ^ Irace 1998 , pp. 1 -- 34 . Jump up ^ Jackson 1986 , p. 171 . Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 2006a , pp. 85 -- 6 . Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 2006b , pp. 36 -- 9 . Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 2006a , pp. 18 -- 19 . Jump up ^ Bate & Rasmussen 2008 , p. 11 . Jump up ^ Crowl 2014 , pp. 5 -- 6 . Jump up ^ Wofford 1994 . Jump up ^ Kirsch 1969 . Jump up ^ Vickers 1974a , p. 447 . Jump up ^ Vickers 1974b , p. 92 . Jump up ^ Wofford 1994 , p. 184 -- 5 . Jump up ^ Vickers 1974c , p. 5 . Jump up ^ Wofford 1994 , p. 185 . ^ Jump up to : Wofford 1994 , p. 186 . Jump up ^ Rosenberg 1992 , p. 179 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , pp. 67 -- 72 , 84 . Jump up ^ Kermode 2000 , p. 256 . Jump up ^ Evans 1974 .
Hamlet
Laurence Olivier 's 1948 moody black - and - white Hamlet won Best Picture and Best Actor Oscars , and is still , as of 2017 , the only Shakespeare film to have done so . His interpretation stressed the Oedipal overtones of the play , and cast 28 - year - old Eileen Herlie as Hamlet 's mother , opposite himself , at 41 , as Hamlet .
Hamlet
47 -- 8 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 3.1. 55 -- 87 . ^ Jump up to : MacCary 1998 , p. 49 . Jump up ^ Knowles 1999 , pp. 1049 , 1052 -- 3 . Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 2006a , pp. 73 -- 4 . ^ Jump up to : Freud 1900 , pp. 367 -- 8 . ^ Jump up to : Britton 1995 , pp. 207 -- 11 . Jump up ^ Morrison 1997 , pp. 4 , 129 -- 30 . Jump up ^ Cotsell 2005 , p. 191 . Jump up ^ Jones 1910 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 3.4 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , pp. 104 -- 7 , 113 -- 16 . Jump up ^ de Grazia 2007 , pp. 168 -- 70 . Jump up ^ Smallwood 2002 , p. 102 . ^ Jump up to : Bloom & Foster 2008 , p. xii . Jump up ^ Rothman 2013 . Jump up ^ Gontar 2013 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 4.5 . Jump up ^ Wofford 1994 , pp. 199 -- 202 . Jump up ^ Howard 2003 , pp. 411 -- 15 . Jump up ^ Heilbrun 1957 . Jump up ^ Bloom 2003 , pp. 58 -- 9 . Jump up ^ Thompson 2001 , p. 4 . Jump up ^ Bloom 2003 . Jump up ^ Showalter 1985 . Jump up ^ Bloom 2003 , p. 57 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , pp. 111 -- 13 . Jump up ^ Osborne 2007 , pp. 114 -- 33 . Jump up ^ Kerrigan 1996 , p. 122 . Jump up ^ Warren 2016 , p. 367 . Jump up ^ Warren 2016 , p. 379 . ^ Jump up to : Thompson & Taylor 2006a , pp. 123 -- 6 . Jump up ^ Welsh 2001 , p. 131 .
Hamlet
Q1 is considerably shorter than Q2 or F1 and may be a memorial reconstruction of the play as Shakespeare 's company performed it , by an actor who played a minor role ( most likely Marcellus ) . Scholars disagree whether the reconstruction was pirated or authorised . It is suggested by Irace that Q1 is an abridged version intended especially for travelling productions , thus the question of length may be considered as separate from issues of poor textual quality . Editing Q1 thus poses problems in whether or not to `` correct '' differences from Q2 and F. Irace , in her introduction to Q1 , wrote that `` I have avoided as many other alterations as possible , because the differences ... are especially intriguing ... I have recorded a selection of Q2 / F readings in the collation . '' The idea that Q1 is not riddled with error but is instead eminently fit for the stage has led to at least 28 different Q1 productions since 1881 . Other productions have used the probably superior Q2 and Folio texts , but used Q1 's running order , in particular moving the to be or not to be soliloquy earlier . Developing this , some editors such as Jonathan Bate have argued that Q2 may represent `` a ' reading ' text as opposed to a ' performance ' one '' of Hamlet , analogous to how modern films released on disc may include deleted scenes : an edition containing all of Shakespeare 's material for the play for the pleasure of readers , so not representing the play as it would have been staged .
Hamlet
Other folios and quartos were subsequently published -- including John Smethwick 's Q3 , Q4 , and Q5 ( 1611 -- 37 ) -- but these are regarded as derivatives of the first three editions . The
Hamlet
Jump up ^ Vickers 1974c , p. 5 . Jump up ^ Wofford 1994 , p. 185 . ^ Jump up to : Wofford 1994 , p. 186 . Jump up ^ Rosenberg 1992 , p. 179 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , pp. 67 -- 72 , 84 . Jump up ^ Kermode 2000 , p. 256 . Jump up ^ Evans 1974 . Jump up ^ Hirrel 2010 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , pp. 84 -- 5 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 3.1. 63 -- 64 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 1.2. 85 -- 86 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , pp. 89 -- 90 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 3.1. 87 -- 160 Jump up ^ OED 2005 . ^ Jump up to : Kiernan 2007 , p. 34 . ^ Jump up to : Jenkins 1982 , pp. 493 -- 5 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 2.1. 63 -- 65 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 3.1. 151 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 3.1. 154 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , pp. 87 -- 8 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , pp. 91 -- 3 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , pp. 37 -- 8 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , p. 38 . Jump up ^ Hamlet F1 2.2. 247 -- 248 . Jump up ^ MacCary 1998 , pp. 47 -- 8 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 3.1. 55 -- 87 . ^ Jump up to : MacCary 1998 , p. 49 . Jump up ^ Knowles 1999 , pp. 1049 , 1052 -- 3 . Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 2006a , pp. 73 -- 4 . ^ Jump up to : Freud 1900 , pp. 367 -- 8 .
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist has been the subject of numerous adaptations for various media , including a highly successful musical play , Oliver ! , and the multiple Academy Award - winning 1968 motion picture . Disney also put its spin on the novel with the animated film called Oliver & Company in 1988 .
New Testament
The bewildering diversity of the Old Latin versions prompted Jerome to prepare another translation into Latin -- the Vulgate . In many respects it was merely a revision of the Old Latin . There are currently around 8,000 manuscripts of the Vulgate .
Hamlet
The first Hamlet in color was a 1969 film directed by Tony Richardson with Nicol Williamson as Hamlet and Marianne Faithfull as Ophelia .
Hamlet
In 2000 , Michael Almereyda 's Hamlet set the story in contemporary Manhattan , with Ethan Hawke playing Hamlet as a film student . Claudius ( played by Kyle MacLachlan ) became the CEO of `` Denmark Corporation '' , having taken over the company by killing his brother .
Flowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon has been adapted many times for different media including stage , screen and radio . These adaptations include :
Hamlet
John Gielgud directed Richard Burton in a Broadway production at the Lunt - Fontanne Theatre in 1964 -- 5 , the longest - running Hamlet in the U.S. to date . A live film of the production was produced using `` Electronovision '' , a method of recording a live performance with multiple video cameras and converting the image to film . Eileen Herlie repeated her role from Olivier 's film version as the Queen , and the voice of Gielgud was heard as the ghost . The Gielgud / Burton production was also recorded complete and released on LP by Columbia Masterworks . Sarah
Richard III (play)
It is the second longest play in the canon after Hamlet and is the longest of the First Folio , whose version of Hamlet is shorter than its Quarto counterpart . The play is often abridged ; for example , certain peripheral characters are removed entirely . In such instances , extra lines are often invented or added from elsewhere in the sequence to establish the nature of characters ' relationships . A further reason for abridgment is that Shakespeare assumed that his audiences would be familiar with his Henry VI plays and frequently made indirect references to events in them , such as Richard 's murder of Henry VI or the defeat of Henry 's queen , Margaret .
Prince Hamlet
In the comic book series Kill Shakespeare , Hamlet is the central character . After he is exiled from Denmark , his ship is attacked and he washes up on England . He is encountered by Richard III of England , who tells him that he is the `` Shadow King '' , a figure of prophecy . He tells Hamlet that he must find and kill the wizard William Shakespeare and retrieve his quill . He goes off , but is relentlessly pursued by assassins from Richard and his lieutenant , Iago . He is eventually captured by the fool known as Falstaff , who helps him get out of the woods after an encounter with a being known as a Prodigal . He is shot in the leg by Iago , but is saved by Juliet Capulet and Othello . Hamlet stops Othello from killing Iago , but is taken captive by Juliet and her resistance army . After going with them into a town and seeing the cruelty of Richard , Hamlet flees into the woods , where he is forced to face the ghost of his father . He defeats the ghost and is eventually picked up by two travellers : Lysander and Demetrius .
Hamlet
111 -- 13 . Jump up ^ Osborne 2007 , pp. 114 -- 33 . Jump up ^ Kerrigan 1996 , p. 122 . Jump up ^ Warren 2016 , p. 367 . Jump up ^ Warren 2016 , p. 379 . ^ Jump up to : Thompson & Taylor 2006a , pp. 123 -- 6 . Jump up ^ Welsh 2001 , p. 131 . ^ Jump up to : Thompson & Taylor 2006a , pp. 126 -- 31 . Jump up ^ Novy 1994 , pp. 62 , 77 -- 8 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 3.1. 55 -- 87 . Jump up ^ Braun 1982 , p. 40 . Jump up ^ Taylor 2002 , p. 4 . Jump up ^ Banham 1998 , p. 141 . Jump up ^ Hattaway 1982 , p. 91 . Jump up ^ Thomson 1983 , p. 24 . Jump up ^ Thomson 1983 , p. 110 . Jump up ^ Taylor 2002 , p. 13 . Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 2006a , pp. 53 -- 5 . Jump up ^ Chambers 1930 , p. 334 . ^ Jump up to : Dawson 2002 , p. 176 . Jump up ^ Pitcher & Woudhuysen 1969 , p. 204 . Jump up ^ Hibbard 1987 , p. 17 . Jump up ^ Marsden 2002 , p. 21 . Jump up ^ Holland 2007 , p. 34 . Jump up ^ Marsden 2002 , pp. 21 -- 2 . Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 1996 , p. 57 . Jump up ^ Taylor 1989 , p. 16 . Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 2006a , pp. 98 -- 9 . Jump up ^ Uglow 1977 , p. 473 . Jump up ^ Morrison 2002 , p. 231 . Jump up ^ Moody 2002 , p. 41 . Jump up ^ Moody 2002 , p. 44 .
Prince Hamlet
Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeare 's tragedy Hamlet . He is the Prince of Denmark , nephew to the usurping Claudius , and son of King Hamlet , the previous King of Denmark . At the beginning of the play , he struggles with whether , and how , to avenge the murder of his father , and struggles with his own sanity along the way . By the end of the tragedy , Hamlet has caused the deaths of Polonius , Laertes , Claudius , and two acquaintances of his from the University of Wittenberg Rosencrantz and Guildenstern . He is also indirectly involved in the deaths of his love Ophelia ( drowning ) and of his mother Gertrude ( poisoned by Claudius by mistake ) .
Prince Hamlet
Prince Hamlet Hamlet character Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet , 1880 - 1885 Created by William Shakespeare Information Family King Hamlet ( father ) Gertrude ( mother ) Claudius ( Uncle ) Associate ( s ) Horatio Role Prince of Denmark Quote `` To be , or not to be . ''
Hamlet
Much of the play 's Protestant tones derive from its setting in Denmark -- both then and now a predominantly Protestant country , though it is unclear whether the fictional Denmark of the play is intended to portray this implicit fact . Dialog refers explicitly to Wittenberg , where Hamlet , Horatio , and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern attend university , implying where Martin Luther in 1517 first proposed his 95 theses and thereby initiated the Protestant Reformation .
Hamlet
Written at a time of religious upheaval , and in the wake of the English Reformation , the play is alternately Catholic ( or piously medieval ) and Protestant ( or consciously modern ) . The ghost describes himself as being in purgatory , and as dying without last rites . This and Ophelia 's burial ceremony , which is characteristically Catholic , make up most of the play 's Catholic connections . Some scholars have observed that revenge tragedies come from Catholic countries like Italy and Spain , where the revenge tragedies present contradictions of motives , since according to Catholic doctrine the duty to God and family precedes civil justice . Hamlet 's conundrum , then , is whether to avenge his father and kill Claudius , or to leave the vengeance to God , as his religion requires .
Hamlet
Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 2006a , p. 74 . ^ Jump up to : Taylor 2002 , p. 18 . Jump up ^ Crystal & Crystal 2005 , p. 66 . Jump up ^ Thompson & Taylor 2006a , p. 17 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 1.4 . Jump up ^ Trilling 2009 , p. 8 . Jump up ^ Hamlet 5.1. 1 -- 205 Jump up ^ Saxo & Hansen 1983 , pp. 36 -- 7 . Jump up ^ Saxo & Hansen 1983 , pp. 16 -- 25 . Jump up ^ Saxo & Hansen 1983 , pp. 5 -- 15 . Jump up ^ Saxo & Hansen 1983 , pp. 1 -- 5 . Jump up ^ Saxo & Hansen 1983 , pp. 25 -- 37 . Jump up ^ Edwards 1985 , pp. 1 -- 2 . Jump up ^ Saxo & Hansen 1983 , pp. 66 -- 7 . Jump up ^ Jenkins 1982 , pp. 82 -- 5 . Jump up ^ Saxo & Hansen 1983 , p. 67 . Jump up ^ Cairncross 1975 . Jump up ^ Alexander 1964 . Jump up ^ Jackson 1991 , p. 267 . Jump up ^ Bloom 2001 , pp. xiii , 383 . Jump up ^ Bloom 2003 , p. 154 . Jump up ^ Jenkins 1982 , p. 84 n4 . Jump up ^ Saxo & Hansen 1983 , pp. 66 -- 8 . Jump up ^ Saxo & Hansen 1983 , p. 6 . Jump up ^ Greenblatt 2004a , p. 311 . Jump up ^ Greenblatt 2004b . Jump up ^ Chambers 1930 , p. 418 . Jump up ^ Wilson 1932 , p. 104 . Jump up ^ Rowse 1963 , p. 323 . Jump up ^ Winstanley 1977 , p. 114 . Jump up ^ Cecil 2012 . Jump up ^ Jenkins 1982 , p. 35 .
Prince Hamlet
Hamlet is also , in some form , a reflection of most other characters in the play ( or perhaps vice versa ) :
Agatha Christie
The title of The Mousetrap is purportedly an allusion to Shakespeare 's play Hamlet , in which `` The Mousetrap '' is Hamlet 's answer to Claudius 's inquiry about the name of the play whose prologue and first scene he and his court have just watched ( III , ii ) .
Three Witches
Orson Welles created a film version of the play in 1948 , sometimes called the Übermensch Macbeth , which altered the witches ' roles by having them create a voodoo doll of Macbeth in the first scene . Critics take this as a sign that they control his actions completely throughout the film . Their voices are heard , but their faces are never seen , and they carry forked staves as dark parallels to the Celtic cross . Welles ' voiceover in the prologue calls them `` agents of chaos , priests of hell and magic '' . At the end of the film , when their work with Macbeth is finished , they cut off the head of his voodoo doll .
Hamlet
Hamlet - like legends are so widely found ( for example in Italy , Spain , Scandinavia , Byzantium , and Arabia ) that the core `` hero - as - fool '' theme is possibly Indo - European in origin . Several ancient written precursors to Hamlet can be identified . The first is the anonymous Scandinavian Saga of Hrolf Kraki . In this , the murdered king has two sons -- Hroar and Helgi -- who spend most of the story in disguise , under false names , rather than feigning madness , in a sequence of events that differs from Shakespeare 's . The second is the Roman legend of Brutus , recorded in two separate Latin works . Its hero , Lucius ( `` shining , light '' ) , changes his name and persona to Brutus ( `` dull , stupid '' ) , playing the role of a fool to avoid the fate of his father and brothers , and eventually slaying his family 's killer , King Tarquinius . A 17th - century Nordic scholar , Torfaeus , compared the Icelandic hero Amlodi and the Spanish hero Prince Ambales ( from the Ambales Saga ) to Shakespeare 's Hamlet . Similarities include the prince 's feigned madness , his accidental killing of the king 's counsellor in his mother 's bedroom , and the eventual slaying of his uncle .
Hamlet
W.S. Gilbert wrote a short comic play titled Rosencrantz and Guildenstern , in Hamlet 's play is presented as a tragedy written by Claudius in his youth of which he is greatly embarrassed . Through the chaos triggered by Hamlet 's staging of it , Guildenstern helps Rosencrantz vie with Hamlet to make Ophelia his bride .
Prince Hamlet
Perhaps the most straightforward view sees Hamlet as seeking truth in order to be certain that he is justified in carrying out the revenge called for by a ghost that claims to be the spirit of his father . The 1948 movie with Laurence Olivier in the title role is introduced by a voiceover : `` This is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind . ''