This page intentionally left blank LANDMARKS OF WORLD LITERATURE Shakespeare Hamlet LANDMARKS OF WORLD LITERATURE SECOND EDITIONS MurasakiShikibu:TheTaleofGenji–RichardBowring Aeschylus:TheOresteia–SimonGoldhill Virgil:TheAeneid–K.W.Gransden,neweditioneditedby S.J.Harrison Homer:TheOdyssey–JasperGriffin Dante:TheDivineComedy–RobinKirkpatrick Milton:ParadiseLost–DavidLoewenstein Camus:TheStranger–PatrickMcCarthy Joyce:Ulysses–VincentSherry Homer:TheIliad–MichaelSilk Chaucer:TheCanterburyTales–WinthropWetherbee Shakespeare:Hamlet–PaulA.Cantor Beckett:WaitingforGodot–LawrenceGraver SHAKESPEARE Hamlet PAUL A. CANTOR UniversityofVirginia    Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge  , UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521840033 © Cambridge University Press 1989, 2004 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2004 - ---- eBook (Adobe Reader) - --- eBook (Adobe Reader) - ---- hardback - --- hardback - ---- paperback - --- paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. WhataworkthisHamletis!Theinterestinit,lastingovercenturies, probablyarosefromthefactthatanewtype,fullydeveloped,stands outastotallyestrangedinamediaevalenvironmentthathasremained totallyunmodified.Thescreamforrevenge,ennobledbytheGreektrage- dians,thenruledoutbyChristianity,inthedramaofHamletisstillloud enough...tomakethenewdoubting,testing,planningappearina strangelight. BertoltBrecht Skepticism...alwaysdevelopswhenracesorclasses...arecrossed suddenly and decisively. In the new generation that, as it were, has inheritedinitsblooddiversestandardsandvalues,everythingisunrest, disturbance,doubt,attempt;thebestforceshaveaninhibitingeffect,the veryvirtuesdonotalloweachothertogrowandbecomestrong;balance, acenterofgravity,andperpendicularpoisearelackinginbodyandsoul. Butwhatbecomessickestanddegeneratesmostinsuchhybridsisthe will;theynolongerknowindependenceofdecisionsandtheintrepid senseofpleasureinwilling–theydoubtthe‘freedomofthewill’evenin theirdreams. FriedrichNietzsche,BeyondGoodandEvil Contents Preface pageix Chronology xii 1 HamletandtheRenaissance 1 1 TheRenaissancecontext 1 2 HeroismintheRenaissanceepictradition 5 3 TragedyandRenaissanceman 11 4 TheplaceofHamletinShakespeare’scareer 15 2 ThetragedyofHamlet 20 5 TheproblemofHamlet 20 6 Hamletandtherevengeplaytradition 25 7 Hamletandclassicalheroism 30 8 HamletandChristianity 37 9 Hamletastragichero 49 10 TheendofHamlet 53 3 Dramaticandpoetictechnique 60 11 ThedramaofHamlet 60 12 ThelanguageofHamlet 70 4 TheheritageofHamlet 77 13 Hamletintheseventeenthandeighteenth centuries 77 14 Hamletinthenineteenthcentury 79 vii viii Contents 15 ThecomicHamlet 82 16 Hamletinthetwentiethcentury 85 Workscited 93 Guidetofurtherreading 95