So now we've finished the play and you are considering your coursework titles and some historical and cultural context to do with the genre of revenge tragedy and Shakespeare's sources for Hamlet. We have also spent some time talking about different interpretations, and ways in which we might discuss the tragic elements of the play.
Now it's over to you. Over Christmas, you will need to prepare your thoughts for the writing of the coursework essay you will start in January. It would be helpful if you were to read up on some ideas about the context and interpretation of the play. An obvious starting point is the introduction to the Cambridge edition you have been using. But the internet also has some very interesting and very accessible material which you would enjoy and find interesting. Here are some suggestions.
1. THE RSC (ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY) - HAMLET SITE
http://www.rsc.org.uk/hamlet/home/home.html.
This is an excellent and well-illustrated site, full of interesting and accessible material, good for browsing. The followings sections are useful:
• About tragedy – background on Shakespeare’s ideas of tragedy, mainly ideas we’ve already covered but good revision
• About the play – background on Shakespeare’s sources and the staging of the play – some of the things we’ve done, but also some interesting other material
• The current production – interesting sections on interpreting Hamlet for the theatre
• Learning – very good material on historical context, madness, how old is Hamlet? Also interesting things on language and staging issues
• Teachers – very good sections on purgatory, and the texts of Hamlet (‘which edition?’)
• More about Shakespeare – very good background material, especially section on players and playhouses
2. SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE – GLOBELINK
Globelink has a Hamlet site - http://www.globelink.org/resourcecentre/hamlet2000/ - with some interesting material based on the Globe Theatre’s 2000 production - pictures, interviews and character notes. There is also an excellent section with background material on Shakespeare’s theatre: http://www.globelink.org/abouttheglobe
3. UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA INTERNET SHAKESPEARE EDITIONS - HAMLET SITE
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/plays/Ham.html contains an excellent and very accessible section on different interpretations and contexts – under the heading Life and Times – good for browsing. It also has some excellent reproductions of the original printed versions of the play in the section Book Facsimiles. The Links sections contains a selection of contemporary scholarship on Hamlet – not for the fainthearted!
4. BRITISH LIBRARY SHAKESPEARE SITE
Pictures of manuscripts and explanation of the different versions of Hamlet also at the British Library site: http://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/homepage.html. Lots of other historical information and some historical recordings of actors performing speeches from the plays. But beware: this is quite a specialised site.
5: BRANAGH FILM SITE
Huge amount of information about the Branagh film at:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/6261/hamlet.html
And of course you can use Google to find a variety of other stuff.
Then there is reading. If you're intrigued by Shakespeare and would like to know more, why not try Bill Bryson's very popular book 'Shakespeare', or Ben Crystal's 'Shakespeare on Toast'. On a more serious note, these are quite accessible scholarly books about Shakespeare:
Peter Ackroyd: Shakespeare the Biography
Jonathan Bate: the Genius of Shakespeare
Stanley Wells: Shakespeare and Co
Frank Kermode: Shakespeare's Language
James Shapiro: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
Germaine Greer: Shakespeare's Wife
All are available in paperback, and we have one or two of them in the English dept.
Mr Snapper
Happy browsing!
Mr Snapper
