Hamlet Reading Notes, Monson Timeline - some significant Shakespearean marks 1564 – William Shakespeare born 1582 – Shakespeare (18 years old) marries Anne Hathaway (26 years old) 1583 (5 months after wedding) – Susanna, the first born 1585 – the twins, Judith and Hamnet born 1592 – Shakespeare is making a name for himself and being criticized in London 1590-2 – Two Gentlemen of Verona 1592 – Taming of the Shrew 1591-4 – Romeo and Juliet 1596 – Hamnet and father die 1600-1 – Hamlet 1603 – Queen Elizabeth I dies. King James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England 1604 – Othello 1608 – King James I, The King’s Men 1611 – The Tempest 1616 – 1623 – First Folio When talking about Language: know the difference Old English – spoken from 500-1100 C.E. An example from The Prologue of Beowulf on You Tube, begin at :19 More Old English readings of Beowulf from The University of Virginia: Middle English – from about 1100-1500 An example from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, via You Tube: Early Modern English – Shakespeare, 1500’s 1. A few 2nd Person Pronouns to know: Person Person Nominative Objective Possessive - - - - 1st Person singular: I Me My (or Mine) - plural: We Us Our (or Ours) - - - - 2nd Person singular: Thou Thee Thy (or Thine) - plural: Ye You Your (or yours) - - - - 3rd Person singular: He/She/It Him/Her/It His/Hers/Its - plural: They Them Their (or Theirs) 2. 2nd Person Verb endings “-eth,” similar to our modern verb “is:” Person Singular Plural Singular Plural 1st I love We love I am We are 2nd Thou loveth Ye love Your are You are
3rd He loveth They love They are They are Scholarship about Shakespeare “Ancient Other” vs “Our Contemporary” – Shakespeare’s role in the literary canon Bloom: Shakespeare seems almost SUPER-human Garber: Shakespeare writes mirrors, malleable and timeless tales of humans and of histories Boose: an institutionalized site for politics, cultural wars, and argument Performance as Art, as Life, as Spectacle Perhaps the most studied of writers Politics and History Impacting Shakespeare’s Work Tudor Family – Protestant England – Shakespeare’s work tends to be light and humorous King VIII, his son King Edward IV (2nd born) and daughter Queen Elizabeth I (3rd born). Elizabethan Era = Golden Age of Theatre in England Exception: Queen Mary I, “Bloody Mary,” Henry’s 1st born, ruling 1553-1558 in a short-lived restoration to Roman Catholicism Stuart Family – Scottish/Catholicism, Jacobean = dark, violent, cruel tragedies James the IV of Scotland becomes James I of England, after Elizabeth’s death in 1603 The Entire Era is Theatrical. Theatre was important for the time, not original with Shakespeare. Hamlet as Pivotal Text a philosophical text turning point toward richer, darker tragedies Shakespeare’s language forms, perfecting inwardness (interiority becomes a force) 600 new words, 2/3 he would never use again in other plays “hear” a play, not only “see” a play, although what one sees vs hears is elemental to this more sophisticated representation of life/drama Fortinbras might be the only freshly original character Many mythological and contemporary Hamlets Theatrically more advanced Simultaneous entrances and exits Writing Style Blank Verse – unrhymed iambic pentameter (5 feet, alternating stress/unstressed syllables, per line) suggestive of a heartbeat, a naturalness Metrical Disorder – breaks in the line that signify meaning (so pay attention then) Rhymed Couplets – two end-stopped lines that rhyme an end, marking the end of a scene psychological, accentuating a lofty message a sing-song element, to indicate lightness and artificiality – method of something blocked/stopped intimacy, private class marker – shed nobility to speak to lower class madness