Hamlet (1920) by T.S. Elliot

Another essay analysing and criticizing Hamlet

Mark Hamill, Behind of the Scenes from Star Wars, 1976-1983

"Eliot begins the essay by stating that the primary problem of Hamlet is actually the play itself, with its main character being only a secondary issue. Eliot goes on to note that play enjoys critical success because the character of Hamlet appeals to a particular kind of creatively minded critic."

Eliot argues that the criticism towards a creative work cannot be interpreted, only compared.

"Next, Eliot names three sources on which Shakespeare is believed to have based his play: Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, The Ur-Hamlet, and a version of the play performed in Germany during Shakespeare's lifetime. He notes the differences between Hamlet and its source material, pointing out that in the earlier works the only motive for murder is revenge, the delay of which is the result of circumventing the king's guards. The Hamlet of the earlier play also uses his perceived madness as a guise to escape suspicion. In Shakespeare's version, however, Eliot believes Hamlet is driven by a motive greater than revenge, his delay in exacting revenge is left unexplained, and that Hamlet's madness is meant to arouse the king's suspicion rather than avoid it."

Classical music gained popularity during the renaissance in the 1400-1600s, and was characteristic of entertainment of the time. While many of the most famous and recognizable names tied to the genre (Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Giuliani, Sor) were writing music during the mid to late 1700's, the foundation for their art was laid during Shakespeare's time, around the turn of the 1600s. Thus, this style of music is somewhat reminiscent of what was popular to Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

comic by Kate Beaton, author and illustrator of Hark! A Vagrant

Yorick, "The Gravedigger"

Abilities:

- Omen of War

- Omen of Pestilience

- Omen of Famine

- Omen of Death

There is a profound conspiracy regarding whether or not William Shakespeare is the true author of the plays and poems he wrote. Main contenders that proponents of these conspiracies support are Francis Bacon and Edward de Vere. The argument that drives the conspiracists’ position is that the plays contain too much knowledge of foreign and distant places and too much familiarity with court life and the affairs of court to have been written by someone so low down in the social order: the author writes with ease and familiarity about such aristocratic sports as hunting, falconry, tennis and bowling. Other arguments are that the plays have too wide a range of style to have been written by someone without the advanced education that most of the other contenders had, and that Stratford was too parochial and backward a place to have produced one of the greatest literary geniuses of all time. Also, the arguments maintain that the other members of the Shakespeare family, including William’s parents, wife and daughters, were illiterate and it’s impossible that someone with such a facility for language could have grown up and lived a family life in those circumstances.