771 research outputs found
Adaptations of Hamlet in Different Cultural Contexts: Globalisation, Postmodernism, and Altermodernism
No full textAlthough there has traditionally been a resistance to the study of adaptations, adaptation studies as a subsection of 'intertextuality‘ currently has a significant place in academic debates. Hamlet is "the Mona Lisa of literature" (T.S. Eliot), and has been the subject of constant scrutiny, mythologizing and adaptation. Hamlet has been adapted and appropriated into and by various cultural contexts. Even confining our attention to the same medium as Shakespeare‘s text, there exists an array of theatrical adaptations in languages and cultures as diverse as Persian, Korean, Arabic, German, Russian, and Turkish. Borrowing Ludwig Wittgenstein‘s metaphor of 'family resemblance,‘ I argue the usefulness of his idea, enabling us to examine not simply a small number of common properties among adaptations of Hamlet, but rather to explore the 'complicated network of similarities overlapping and criss-crossing‘ (Philosophical Investigations, §66). I further propose subdividing the 'global family‘ of Hamlets from around the world that participate in this/these web-like resemblances into 'local families‘ of adapted Hamlets, to enable better intercultural and cross-cultural studies.
In this thesis I analyse seven theatrical adaptations of Hamlet in Turkish, Russian, Arabic and Persian cultural contexts, from the perspectives of postmodernism, globalisation and altermodernism. I also scrutinise the Persian family of Hamlet in the light of 'intertextuality‘. Given that each adaptation per se brings together 'self‘ and 'other‘ at the same time, I go on to coin two new terms: homointertextuality and heterointertextuality, in order to explore fully the various connections of the adaptations of Hamlet in Iran with the 'cultural self‘ (Persian culture) and the 'cultural other‘ (Anglophone culture)
Hamlet + Ophelia = ?
No full textThis short one act play tells the story of the last few minutes in the lives of a re-imagined Hamlet and Ophelia. Their post-apocalyptic world is crumbling around them and their disillusionment and disgust causes them to make the ultimate rebellion; suicide. Along with the surreal staging of the Prince's evil King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, apparently alive and looking down on them from their portrait frames, this play crosses other boundaries imposed by standard theatrical conventions by placing actors in the audience, who, in the climactic finish, take Hamlet's advice and join him and Ophelia in the noble act of self-slaughter. Described by Linda Hassell, script assessor for Playlab Queensland, as; "Existentialist in nature, the piece portrays the pointlessness of existence, metaphorically depicting those very fine lines between patricide and genocide, death and regeneration, sexuality and terrorism and hope and despair . . . a very (dare I say it?) profound piece of writing." Certainly, 'Hamlet + Ophelia = ?' is not for everyone. It is deliberately provocative and disturbing. The author has tried to push the concept of theatre as entertainment out the door and onto the garbage heap and he makes no apologies for this. Another less flattering comment than Ms. Hassell's came from the A.C.T. Writers Centre when Jose Marques asked; "What are you trying to do, drive people away from the theatre?" To this the author should have answered "Sure, why not?" This short play was published in the October 2002 issue of "Ygdrasil: A Journal of the Poetic Arts" (online)
"Hamlet" After Q1 : An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text /
No full textIn 1823, Sir Henry Bunbury discovered a badly bound volume of twelve Shakespeare plays in a closet of his manor house. Nearly all of the plays were first editions, but one stood out as extraordinary: a previously unknown text of Hamlet that predated all other versions. Suddenly, the world had to grapple with a radically new—or rather, old—Hamlet in which the characters, plot, and poetry of Shakespeare's most famous play were profoundly and strangely transformed. Q1, as the text is known, has been declared a rough draft, a shorthand piracy, a memorial reconstruction, and a pre-Shakespearean "ur-Hamlet," among other things. Flickering between two historical moments—its publication in Shakespeare's early seventeenth century and its rediscovery in Bunbury's early nineteenth—Q1 is both the first and last Hamlet. Because this text became widely known only after the familiar version of the play had reached the pinnacle of English literature, its reception has entirely depended on this uncanny temporal oscillation; so too has its ongoing influence on twentieth- and twenty-first-century ideas of the play. Zachary Lesser examines how the improbable discovery of Q1 has forced readers to reconsider accepted truths about Shakespeare as an author and about the nature of Shakespeare's texts. In telling the story of this mysterious quarto and tracing the debates in newspapers, London theaters, and scholarly journals that followed its discovery, Lesser offers brilliant new insights on what we think we mean by Hamlet.In 1823, Sir Henry Bunbury discovered a badly bound volume of twelve Shakespeare plays in a closet of his manor house. Nearly all of the plays were first editions, but one stood out as extraordinary: a previously unknown text of Hamlet that predated all other versions. Suddenly, the world had to grapple with a radically new—or rather, old—Hamlet in which the characters, plot, and poetry of Shakespeare's most famous play were profoundly and strangely transformed. Q1, as the text is known, has been declared a rough draft, a shorthand piracy, a memorial reconstruction, and a pre-Shakespearean "ur-Hamlet," among other things. Flickering between two historical moments—its publication in Shakespeare's early seventeenth century and its rediscovery in Bunbury's early nineteenth—Q1 is both the first and last Hamlet. Because this text became widely known only after the familiar version of the play had reached the pinnacle of English literature, its reception has entirely depended on this uncanny temporal oscillation; so too has its ongoing influence on twentieth- and twenty-first-century ideas of the play. Zachary Lesser examines how the improbable discovery of Q1 has forced readers to reconsider accepted truths about Shakespeare as an author and about the nature of Shakespeare's texts. In telling the story of this mysterious quarto and tracing the debates in newspapers, London theaters, and scholarly journals that followed its discovery, Lesser offers brilliant new insights on what we think we mean by Hamlet.Electronic reproduction.Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.Zachary Lesser, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher’s Web site, viewed October 05 2015
The Hamlet Mash-Up
No full textShakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most famous works of art in the world, and has inspired countless interpretations, allusions, references and discussions. The author describes his creation of a video collage of Hamlet material, that shows, rather than claims, the ubiquity of Hamlet, and points toward what Shakespeare could look like after the advent of the Internet. Hamlet’s value as Hollywood shorthand is discussed, and some of the throwaway Hamlet references are seen to be more complex than they may first appear. Projects of a similar nature are discussed and encouraged
Hamlet’s ‘Spendthrift Sigh’: Emotional Breathing On and Off the Stage
No full textThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Palgrave Macmillan via the DOI in this record.This chapter addresses how the body’s release of the breath troubles, in the context of theatrical representation, the boundaries between the internal and the external and between actors and audience. Drawing on Renaissance and modern theories of emotions to explore the affective resonance of sighing in Hamlet, the chapter examines what it means to waste one’s self in breath, or how breath consumes the body as much as it invigorates it. Hypocritical, instrumental, communicative, self-consuming and self-revealing, breathing in Hamlet has no fixed referent but shifts as often as the characters shift their position and perspective, constantly pointing to the impossibility of ordering Hamlet’s and the playgoers’ experience
Text, Style, and Author in Hamlet Q1
No full textThe first quarto of Hamlet has traditionally been an embarrassment to attribution studies. Textual and bibliographical studies from the 1980s and beyond have permitted suspect texts to be recovered and performed, but critical appreciation tends to focus on such matters as characterization and performance possibilities rather than the text’s rhetorical integrity and aesthetic qualities. More recently, we have seen greater critical attention to Shakespeare’s suspect texts, which has increased our appreciation for and expanded our notion of Q1 Hamlet as a ‘text’. Opinion remains divided, however, on the question of who ‘wrote’ this play. This essay addresses the authorship debate somewhat indirectly by providing a different view of Hamlet Q1 based on a stylistic analysis that is grounded in Renaissance rhetoric. It characterizes the play’s style as the rhetoric of speed, with brachylogia as its representative rhetorical figure. Through review of theories about the composition of Hamlet Q1 and a rhetorical analysis of its style, the essay seeks to examine how Hamlet’s first quarto might have a recognizable style and how that style might be related to current concepts of authorship
William Shakespeare Hamlet
No full textIntro -- Copyright and Licence -- Title Page -- A Note on the Author -- Contents -- Preface -- A note on the texts of Hamlet -- Acts and scenes in the Arden 3 Q2 Hamlet -- Part 1. Approaching Shakespeare -- 1.1 A Man of the Jacobethan Theatre -- 1.2 Companies- Actors-Stages- Audiences -- 1.3 Venus and Lucrece -- 1.4 Errors and Two Gentlemen -- Part 2. Approaching Hamlet -- 2.1 Revenge with Complications -- 2.2 A Play by Shakespeare -- Part 3. Actors and Players -- 3.1 Old Hamlet / the Ghost -- 3.2 Horatio -- 3.3 Claudius -- 3.4 Gertrude -- 3.5 Polonius -- 3.6 Laertes -- 3.7 Ophelia -- 3.8 Rosencrantz & -- Guildenstern -- 3.9 The gravediggers -- 3.10 Osric -- 3.11 Fortinbras -- 3.12 Hamlet -- 3.13 "The best players in the world" -- Part 4. Acts and Devices -- 4.1 Acts -- 4.2 Scenes -- 4.3 Soliloquy and Colloquy -- 4.4 Verse, Prose, and Song -- 4.5 Metatheatre -- 4.6 Doubling -- 4.7 Special Effects -- 4.8 Exits -- Part 5. Hamlet and Twelfth Night -- Part 6. Critics' Corner -- 6.1 Bibliography -- Books about Hamlet -- Major films of Hamlet -- General Criticism -- 6.2 Web-sites -- APPENDICES: HYPERLINK-TEXTS -- serious doubt -- theatre-space -- breath-length -- discovery-space -- comedic and tragedic modes -- Vice -- Inconclusive -- Speculation -- Blackfriars -- Ciceronian periods -- Humanities InsightsDescription based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
Re-Writing of Hamlet. Literature of the second degree versus myths of Hamlet
No full textThe article is based on the premise that Hamlet has been functioning
throughout ages as a base for contemporary myths. On the basis of
conception of myth, introduced by Roland Barthes in Mythologies and its application to considerations upon novel, conducted by Kazimierz
Bartoszyński, the author of this article proves mythical status of multitude
of Hamlet offshoots. The argument is set in the theoretical context
of semiotics, intertextuality, as Heiner Müller in his essay Shakespeare
eine Differenz proposes. Myths of Hamlet have been ascribed to ideas of
‘Shakespeare our contemporary’, especially ‘Hamlet our contemporary’
and ‘Polish Hamlet’. Based on this assumption the paper traces the practice
of rewriting of Hamlet on two levels. On one hand it traces continuations,
‘supplements’ of Hamlet with special emphasis on Tom Stoppard’s
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Po Hamlecie by Jerzy Żurek
and Fortynbras się upił by Janusz Głowacki. On the other hand it demonstrates
‘abbreviations’, ‘condensations’ of Hamlet with special emphasis
on Müller’s Die Hamletmaschine and Stoppard’s The Fifteen Minute
Hamlet. The article also demonstrates the specifically Polish rewritings
of Hamlet, starting from Bitwa pod Mozgawą (1827) by Józef Korzeniowski,
through Hamlet by Stanisław Wyspianski, Hamlet wtóry by Roman
Jaworski, Hamletyzm and other poems by Antoni Słonimski and Hanna
Krall’s Hamlet
Queering Hamlet: The Tragedy of Hamlet and Horatio
No full textabstract: Queering Shakespeare: The Tragedy of Hamlet and Horatio is a creative project that reimagines Shakespeare's Hamlet. Inspired by my own experiences as a queer teen, the play explores how gender and sexual identities affect the lives of queer youth. Hamlet is reimagined as a polyamorous, transgender man, who is dating a lesbian Ophelia and nonbinary Horatio. The play is told from the perspective of Horatio, who has lived through the tragedy to tell Hamlet's story. They present the events through a compilation of personal videos, filmed from a variety of perspectives. The interactions between the characters of the play showcase the importance of open communication with friends, partners, and family members, while touching on issues of abusive relationships and mental illness. The project aims to foster discussion on the use of Shakespearean adaptation for modern audiences and create more LGBTQ+ representation in media
The political "Hamlet" according to Jan Kott and Jerzy Grotowski
No full textThe article presents political interpretations of Hamlet in Poland in the turbulent period of politcal changes between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s. The author discusses the relationships between Shakespeare’s tragedy and Polish political context as well as the influence of audience expectations in the specific interpretations. The selected performances are: Hamlet by Roman Zawistowski (at the Old Theatre in Cracow 1956) and Hamlet Study by Jerzy Grotowski (at the Laboratory Theatre of 13 Rows in Opole 1964). They both were hugely influenced by major commentators of Hamlet, i.e. Stanisław Wyspiański and Jan Kott. The author argues that up-to-date readings of Hamlet, which started with Wyspiański’s study in 1905, flourished in the mid-1950s and mid-1960s when concerning specific political events: the Polish Thaw of 1956 and March 1968, when the Jews were expelled from Poland. Thus Hamlet of that time was updated and must be seen through the prism of political events
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