Shakespeare: Hamlet

by Paul A. Cantor

• ISBN13: 9780521549370
• ISBN10: 052154937X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-14
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In this useful guide, Paul Cantor provides a clearly structured introduction to Shakespeare's most famous tragedy. Cantor examines Hamlet's status as tragic hero and the central enigma of the delayed revenge in the light of the play's Renaissance context. He offers students a lucid discussion of the dramatic and poetic techniques used in the play. In the final chapter he deals with the uniquely varied reception of Hamlet on the stage and in literature generally from the seventeenth century to the present day.

Table of Contents

Chronology

Part I. Hamlet and the Renaissance: 1. The Renaissance context

2. Heroism in the Renaissance epic tradition

3. Tragedy and Renaissance man

4. The place of Hamlet in Shakespeare's career

Part II. The Tragedy of Hamlet: 5. The problem of Hamlet

6. Hamlet and the revenge play tradition

7. Hamlet and classical heroism

8. Hamlet and Christianity

9. Hamlet as tragic hero

10. The end of Hamlet

Part III. Dramatic and Poetic Technique: 11. The drama of Hamlet

12. The language of Hamlet

Part IV. The Heritage of Hamlet: 13. Hamlet in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

14. Hamlet in the nineteenth century

15. The comic Hamlet

16. Hamlet in the twentieth century

Works cited

Guide to further reading.