Hamlet

by Shakespeare, William; Wofford, Susanne L.

• ISBN13: 9780312055448
• ISBN10: 0312055447
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-11-15
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

Adopted at more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Bedford/St. Martin's innovative Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series has introduced more than a quarter of a million students to literary theory and earned enthusiastic praise nationwide. Along with an authoritative text of a major literary work, each volume presents critical essays, selected or prepared especially for students, that approach the work from several contemporary critical perspectives, such as gender criticism and cultural studies. Each essay is accompanied by an introduction (with bibliography) to the history, principles, and practice of its critical perspective. Every volume also surveys the biographical, historical, and critical contexts of the literary work and concludes with a glossary of critical terms. New editions reprint cultural documents that contextualize the literary works and feature essays that show how critical perspectives can be combined.

Table of Contents

About the Series	v	(2)
About This Volume	vii
PART ONE Hamlet: The Complete Text	3	(178)
Introduction: Biographical and Historical Contexts	3	(24)
The Complete Text	27	(127)
Note on the Text	154	(2)
Textual Notes	156	(25)
PART TWO Hamlet: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism	181	(222)
A Critical History of Hamlet	181	(27)
Feminist Criticism and Hamlet	208	(33)
What Is Feminist Criticism?	208	(7)
Feminist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	215	(5)
A Feminist Perspective: Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism	220	(21)
ELAINE SHOWALTER
Psychoanalytic Criticism and Hamlet	241	(42)
What Is Psychoanalytic Criticism?	241	(10)
Psychoanalytic Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	251	(5)
A Psychoanalytic Perspective: "Man and Wife Is One Flesh": Hamlet and the Confrontation with the Maternal Body	256	(27)
JANET ADELMAN
Deconstruction and Hamlet	283	(49)
What Is Deconstruction?	283	(10)
Deconstruction: A Selected Bibliography	293	(4)
A Deconstructionist Perspective: Hamlet: Giving Up the Ghost	297	(35)
MARJORIE GARBER
Marxist Criticism and Hamlet	332	(36)
What Is Marxist Criticism?	332	(13)
Marxist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	345	(3)
A Marxist Perspective: "Funeral Bak'd-Meats": Carnival and the Carnivalesque in Hamlet	348	(20)
MICHAEL D. BRISTOL
The New Historicism and Hamlet	368	(35)
What Is the New Historicism	368	(9)
The New Historicism: A Selected Bibliography	377	(3)
A New Historicist Perspective: "Suche Strange Desygns": Madness, Subjectivity, and Treason in Hamlet and Elizabethan Culture	380	(23)
KARIN S. CODDON
Glossary of Critical and Theoretical Terms	403	(13)
About the Contributors	416