Hamlet

Hamlet --Study Guide:

Hamlet or Hamlets?

Hamlet was entered in the Stationers’ Register on 26 July 1602:

Iames Entered for his Copie vnder the handes of m^r Pasfeild & Robertes M^r waterson warden A booke called the Revenge of Hamlett Prince of Denmarke as yt was latelie Acted by the Lo: Chamberleyn his servauntes vj^d

In 1603 appeared the first quarto:

THE / Tragicall Historie of / HAMLET/ Prince of Denmarke / By William Shake-speare. / As it hath beene diuerse times acted by his Highnesse ser- / uants in the Cittie of London : as also in the two V- / niuersities of Cambridge and Oxford, and else-where / [Device] / At London printed for N. L. and Iohn Trundell. / 1603.

Late in 1604, a second quarto appeared advertising a longer and superior text:

THE / Tragicall Historie of / HAMLET, / Prince of Denmarke. / By William Shakespeare. / Newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much / againe as it was, according to the true and perfect / Coppie. / [Device] / AT LONDON, / Printed by I.R. for N.L. and are to be sold at his/ shoppe vnder Saint Dunstons Church in / Fleetstreet. 1604.

In F1, where the play appears seventh among the Tragedies, the head-title is “THE TRAGEDIE OF / HAMLET, Prince of Denmarke.”

There are about 230 lines in Q2 that do not appear in the Folio (including the “vicious mole of nature” speech and “how all occasions do inform against me”) and about 70 lines in the folio that do not appear in Q2 (including the description of Denmark as a prison and the references to the War of the Theaters). Q1 is even more confusing. It is usually considered a “bad quarto,” possibly constructed for the printshop by several of the actors. It has about 2200 lines compared to Q2’s approximately 3800.

Q1: O that this too much grieu’d and sallied flesh Would melt to nothing, Q2: O that this too too sallied flesh would melt, Thaw and resolue it selfe into a dewe F: Oh that this too too solid Flesh, would melt, Thaw, and resolue it selfe into a Dew: (1.2.129-31)

Q1: Ham: Players, what players be they? Ross: My Lord, the tragedians of the Citty, Those that you tooke delight to see so often. Ham: How comes it that they trauell? Do they grow restie? Gil: No my Lord, their reputation holds as it was wont. Ham: How then? Gil: Yfaith my Lord, noueltie carries it away, For the principall publicke audience that came to them, are turned to priuate playes, And to the humour of children. Q2: Ham. . . .What players are they?

Ros. Euen those you were wont to take such delight in, the Tragedians of the citty.

Ham. How chances it they trauaile? their residence both in reputation, and profit was better both wayes.

Ros. I thinke their inhibition, comes by the meanes of the late innouasion.

Ham. Doe they hold the same estimation they did when I was in the Citty; are they so followed.

Ros. No indeede they are not. F: Ham. . . . what Players are they?

Rosin. Euen those you were wont to take delight in the tragedians of the City.

Ham. How chances it they trauaile? their residence both in reputation and profit was better both wayes.

Rosin. I thinke their Inhibition comes by the meanes of the late Innouation?

Ham. Doe they hold the same estimation they did when I was in the City? Are they so follow’d?

Rosin. No indeed, they are not.

Ham. How comes it? doe they grow rusty?

Rosin. Nay, their indeauour keepes in the wonted pace; but there is Sir an ayrie of Children, liitle Yases, that crye out on the top of question; and are most tyrannically clap’t for’t: these are now the fashion, and so be-ratled the common Stages (so they call them) that many wearing Rapiers, are affraide of Goose-quils, and dare scarse come thither.

Ham. What are they children? Who maintains ‘em? How are they escoted? Will they pursue the Quality no longer than they can sing? Will they not say afterwards if they should grow themselues to common Players (as it is like most if their meanes are not better) their writers do them wrong, to make them exclaim against their owne Succession. (2.2.326-51)

Q1: Ham. To be, or not not to be, I there’s the point, To Die, to sleepe, is that all? I all: No, to sleepe, to dreame, I mary there it goes, For in that dreame of death, when wee awake, And borne before an euerlasting Iudge, From whence no passenger euer retur’nd, The vndiscouered country, at whose sight The happy smile, and the accursed damn’d. But for this, the ioyfull hope of this, Whol’d beare the scornes and flattery of the world, Scorned by the right rich, the rich curssed of the poore? The widow being oppressed, the orphan wrong’d, The taste of hunger, or a tirants raigne, And a thousand more calamaties besides. Q2. Ham. To be, or not to be, that is the question, Whether tis nobler in the minde to suffer The slings and arrows of outragious fortune, Or to take Armes against a sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them, to die to sleepe No more, and by a sleepe, to say we end The hart-ake, and the thousand naturall shocks That flesh is heire to; tis a consumation Deuotely to be wisht to die to sleepe, To sleepe perchance to dreame, I there’s the rub, For in that sleepe of deathe what dreames may come When we haue shuffled off this mortall coyle Must giue vs pause, there’s the respect That makes calamitie of such long life: For who would beare the whips and scornes of time, Th’oppressors wrong, the proud mans contumely, The pangs of despiz’d loue, the lawes delay, [F: dispriz’d] The insolence of office, and the spurnes That patient merrit of th’vnworthy takes, When he himselfe might his quietas make With a bare bodkin; who would fardels beare, To grunt and swear vnder a wearie life, But that the dread of something after death, The vndiscouer’d country, from whose borne No trauiler returnes, puzzels the will, And makes vs rather beare those ills we haue, Then flie to others we know not of. Thus conscience dooes make cowards, [F: . . . of vs all] And thus the natiue hiew of resolution Is sickled ore with the pale cast of thought, [F: sicklied] And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard theyr currents turne awry, And loose the name of action. (3.1.55-87)

Q2: Hor. so shall you heare Of carnall, bloody and vnnaturall acts, Of accidentall iudgements, casuall slaughters, Of deaths put on by cunning, and for no cause F: Hor. So shall you heare Of carnall, bloudie, and vnnaturall acts, Of accidentall iudgements, casual slaughters of death’s put on by cunning, and forc’d cause, (5.2.380-3)

Study Questions:

1: First scene: what is everyone so nervous about?

2. Olivier’s film begins with a voice-over that says “This a play about a man who cannot make up his mind’. Is this a fair account of the action? Stephen Booth says that “Hamlet is a play about an audience that cannot make up its mind’ Is this better?

3. Ophelia: look carefully at the scene with her brother and father. How is she treated? What are their assumptions about her? Compare her language with the language of Laertes and Polonious.

4. Old Hamlet: what do we actually know about Hamlet’s father? What kind of model does he provide for Hamlet?

5. Gertrude: what is Gertrude guilty of? What is it that Hamlet wants from her?

6. What are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern actually guilty of? Do they deserve their fate and Hamlet’s callous dismissal of them?

7. Think about the various parallels to Hamlet in the play: Pyrrhus, Laertes, Fortinbras—sons avenging fathers. How do the parallels work to establisha moral center for the play?

8. Visual imagery: think about the various times a sword is evident; what does this reiterated visual image suggest about the action?

9. What does the play think about revenge? Is it an obligation or something condemned. How does St. Paul’s claim in Romans that “vengeance is mine, thus saith the Lord” affect your understanding?

10: Who would fardels bear? (an excellent question, no?)