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von 12DayFIsh

Who is the ancestor of Shakespeares “Hamlet”'?

  • Hamlet: Saxo Grammaticus “Gesta Danorum” -> medieval history of Denmark (12th/13th century) 

  • Narrative is adapted by French author François de Belleforest for his Histoires tragiques 

  • Multi-volume work modelled on the novelle of italian writer Matteo bandello -> inspired several of Shakespeares play (including Romeo and Juliet) 

  • What the stories have in common 

    • Uncle kills father of the protagonist and marries his mother 

    • Son decides to avenge his fathers death, feigns madness and speaks in riddles 

  • Differences: in Hamlet... 

    • New king is suspicious of the prince and fears for his life 

    • Send for hamlet to be killed, instead the messengers are killed  

    • Beautiful woman used to test the princes sanity 

    • Prince chides his mother for her relationship with his uncle 

    • Everyone is killed (inc. Hamlet), Hamlet never ascends to the throne 

    • The truth is revealed by a ghost (in Amleth, the murder is public knowledge, and the mother helps the son kill the king) 

    • There is a ghost and a play withing a play in hamlet 

    • Women are (treated) worse in Wills rendition 

    • The role of the play as demonstrating an essential truth 

  • Play within a play also in Senecas “The Spanish Tragedy” 

  • Central theme: Authenticity vs. Acting 

    • In terms of grief and being, Elsinore as a place where everyone perorms a role 

    • A revenge tragedy, like the Spanish tragedy by seneca (huge succes in Elizabethean times) 

      • One of the most popular Elizabethean plays

      • Gives rise to new egnlish drama: revenge tragedies

      • Victim (ghost), avenger (descendant), villain like in senecas play

      • Bloodthirsy scene

      • theme of madness


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