Hamlet in the Twenty-First Century

This collection contains new scholarly work on Hamlet, Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy. Chapters discuss many of the most debated issues relating to the play, including its textual cruxes, its language and publication history, and its place in literary history. It offers extended analyses of key notions such as poison, nature, gender, and politics, and includes a section devoted to early modern and contemporary performances and adaptations, on stage and on screen, providing a complete picture of what the play has to offer to contemporary critics and thinkers. Hamlet continues to function as a key Shakespearean text of study and analysis: it plays a key role in Western thought and aesthetics, and has influenced our understanding on mankind and modernity. Written by well-known Shakespeare critics, this collection will prove essential for students, scholars, and readers looking for a comprehensive overview and introduction to the key issues, questions and debates that Hamlet inspires.
 

Contents

Introduction, Victoria Bladen, Yan Brailowsky …. 13

PART ONE
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
1. HAMLET, EARLY MODERN TRAGEDY AND THE QUESTION OF GENRE, Andrew Hiscock …. 33
2. WHICH HAMLET TO PRINT?, Ann Thompson, Neil Taylor…… 56
3. “PLAIN TERMS” AND “HARD WORDS”, Dympna Callaghan …….73
4. “PESTILENT SPEECHES”: HAMLET’S TOXIC TONGUES, Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin ……. 89

PART TWO
OF GHOSTS AND TOXIC GARDENS
5. EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT HAMLET’S GHOST (BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK), Pierre Kapitaniak ……. 111
6. ELSINORE’S ECOSYSTEM: THE NATURAL AND THE SUPERNATURAL IN HAMLET, Victoria Bladen …….133
7. HAMLET’S POISON GARDEN, Lisa Hopkins … 148

PART THREE
YOUTH AND POLITICS
8. “FRAILTY, THY NAME IS WOMAN”: HAMLET’S REPUDIATION OF THE “FEMININE”, Evelyn Gajowski … 165
9. GERHART HAUPTMANN’S HAMLET IN WITTENBERG AS SHAKESPEAREAN TRANSFORMATION, Marc J. Schweissinger …. 176
10. “MY THOUGHTS BE BLOODY”: HAMLET AND THE DICTATORS, Richard Wilson … 193

PART FOUR
STAGE, SCREEN AND AFTERLIVES
11. “[T]HE TRAPPINGS AND THE SUITS OF WOE” (1.2.86): HAMLET’S TEXTILE IMAGINATION, Nathalie Rivère de Carles …… 219
12. “MY DEATH […] IS MADE THE PROLOGUE TO THEIR PLAY”: KILLING THE LITERARY FATHER IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY STAGE PRODUCTIONS OF HAMLET, Florence March …. 243
13. HAMLET: TO BE OR NOT TO BE AN ACTION FILM, Sarah Hatchuel …. 258
14. ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN AND THEIR AFTERLIVES, Kinga Földváry ….276

Select bibliography………….. 295

BELIN Éducation / CNED
ISBN : 979-10-358-2074-9
Dimensions : 145×200 cm
312 Pages
Publisher’s page: https://www.belin-education.com/hamlet-twenty-first-century