This document provides an overview and introduction to Shakespeare's play Hamlet. It discusses the purpose of the course, which is to gain a richer understanding and appreciation of Hamlet through exploring themes, characters, and interpretations. Key sources that influenced Shakespeare like Holinshed's Chronicles are presented. Concepts like the Shakespearean tragic hero and conventions are defined. Finally, the document provides context about the Elizabethan worldview including the Chain of Being and Divine Right of Kings.

1. Hamlet
It Begins with a Question
January 11, 2017
Sheila Jones, OLLI South

2. 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?

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. Getting on the same page
Common Sources for Shakespeare’s plays:
Holingshed’s Chronicles
of England, Scotlande,
and Irelande
Two editions: 1577 and 1587
From an exhibit at the University of Colorado,
Aug. 22, 2016. Manuscripts on loan from
Folger Shakespeare Library.

8. Getting on the same page
Common Sources for Shakespeare’s plays:
Left to right:
• King James Daemonologie, 1597
• Holingshed’s Chronicles
• The Works of Shakespeare –
aka The First Folio, 1623

9. Getting on the same page
• The REAL Hamlet…more the LEGEND
• Based on 11th Century
Scandinavian legend that
originated from a Norse poem
• Shakespeare used early 13th
century version from Danish
historian, Saxo Grammaticus
in Gesta Danorum.
• Both have very similar plots.

10. 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

11. Getting on the same page
Versions of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
No ONE definitive version of Hamlet
The 1st Quarto – “Bad” 1603
The 2nd Quarto, 1604/1605
First Folio 1623 (posthumously)

12. Taking a
BREAK!
See you in 10 min.

13. Hamlet, as Shakespearean Tragedy
Hamlet is a play about…
Public Concern Private Concern

14. Public
Concern
Rainbow = a
symbol of
Peace.
Latin
inscription
Non sine
Sole iris
Means “No
Rainbow
Without the
Sun.
•
C
o
n
s
p
i
r
a
c
i
e
s
•

15. Public
Concern
•
C
o
n
s
p
i
r
a
c
i
e
s
•
Youthful
face = vitality
and strength
of Queen.
Crown:
Pearls =
her virginity,
Crown = her
position and
power.

16. Public
Concern
•
C
o
n
s
p
i
r
a
c
i
e
s
•
Eyes and
ears on the
lining of her
orange cloak
= She sees
all, knows
all. Symbolic
of her
intricate
spy network

17. Private
Concern
Some claim
the death of
Hamnet,
Shakespeare’s
11-year-old
Son in 1596
may have
influenced
his writing
of Hamlet.
•
R
e
f
l
e
c
t
i
o
n
s
o
n

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. • 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.

21. Cherubs
Archangels, Angels
Star controllers of Destiny
Moon
King
Church
Princes
Nobles
Man
Lion
Other Animals
Oak and Rose
Other Plants
Gold
Other Minerals
GodOutsideofchain:Nothingness/chaos

22. • 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.

23. 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.

24. • 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.

25. *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.

26. 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.