Determining a Text of "Hamlet"

Paper Summary:

The paper explores the history of textual differences in William Shakespeare's play, "Hamlet", and demonstrates how these differences bring to light various understandings of the play, both by reading and performance.

From the Paper:

"It's possible, of course, that the question marks are not marks of self-doubt, but rather Shakespeare's note to the actor to play Hamlet as a thinking hero. Looking at the speech in context, it seems that the F reading might be more dramatically viable. This would be a moving moment in which Hamlet's "What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty" is a description of what he could have been if "this goodly frame" had no murderous uncles, no frail women, no Ghosts commanding him to revenge. However, the choice again takes us back to context and concept: if a production's Hamlet is a self-doubting, brooding "thinker", the F reading would be a stronger choice."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Battenhouse, Roy W. "Hamlet's Apostrophe on Man: Clue to the Tragedy." PMLA 66.6 (December 1951): 1073-1113.
• Bowers, Fredson. On Editing Shakespeare. Charlottesville, VA: The University Press of Virginia, 1966.
• Brown, John Russell. "Multiplicity in Meaning in the Last Moments of Hamlet." Connotations 2.1 (1992): 16-33.
• ---. "Connotations of Hamlet's Final Silence." Connotations 2.3 (1992): 275-286.
• Dillon, Janette. "Is there a Performance in This Text?" Shakespeare Quarterly 45.1 (Spring 1994): 74-86.

More papers on Determining a Text of "Hamlet":

• Essay # 2192 : "A Study of Hamlet's Character"
• Analytical Essay # 66199 : "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead": A Transformation of "Hamlet"
• Analytical Essay # 56766 : "A Text of Many Layers"

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