What Happens in HamletJohn Dover Wilson's What Happens in Hamlet is a classic of Shakespeare criticism. First published in 1935, it is still being read throughout the English-speaking world and has been widely translated. Hamlet has excited more curiosity and aroused more debate than any other play ever written. Is Hamlet really mad? Does he really see his father's ghost, or is it an illusion? Is the ghost good or bad? What does it all mean? Dover Wilson brings out the significance of each part of the complex action, against the background. His analysis of the play emphasises Shakespeare's dramatic art and shows how the play must be seen and heard to be understood. This is a readable, entertaining and scholarly book. |
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Page ix
... criticism , with which every wise reader of what follows will make himself acquainted if he has not already done so . Of his subtle sympathy and imaginative skill in interpretation it would be impertinence in me to speak . But , though ...
... criticism , with which every wise reader of what follows will make himself acquainted if he has not already done so . Of his subtle sympathy and imaginative skill in interpretation it would be impertinence in me to speak . But , though ...
Page xiii
... critic who is at once man of the theatre and man of the study , Mr Allardyce Nicoll , Professor of the History of Drama and Dramatic Criticism , and Chairman of the Department of Drama , at the University of Yale . The criticism in ...
... critic who is at once man of the theatre and man of the study , Mr Allardyce Nicoll , Professor of the History of Drama and Dramatic Criticism , and Chairman of the Department of Drama , at the University of Yale . The criticism in ...
Page xiv
... critics or to help received from Dr Greg and Dr Granville - Barker ; others to suggestive books , like Professor Trench's Hamlet , a new commentary and a French edition of the play by R. Travers , which appeared before mine but of which ...
... critics or to help received from Dr Greg and Dr Granville - Barker ; others to suggestive books , like Professor Trench's Hamlet , a new commentary and a French edition of the play by R. Travers , which appeared before mine but of which ...
Page xviii
... criticism of What Happens in " Hamlet " . " Of the Play Scene it is not possible to be so sure , because the issue is not so simple . At the Westminster Theatre Horatio was placed at the O.P. corner of the Players ' ( slightly raised ) ...
... criticism of What Happens in " Hamlet " . " Of the Play Scene it is not possible to be so sure , because the issue is not so simple . At the Westminster Theatre Horatio was placed at the O.P. corner of the Players ' ( slightly raised ) ...
Page 4
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Contents
THE ROAD TO ELSINORE BEING AN EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO DR W W GREG | 1 |
THE TRAGIC BURDEN | 25 |
The state of Denmark | 26 |
Gertrudes sin | 39 |
The task | 44 |
GHOST OR DEVIL? | 51 |
Modern difficulties | 52 |
Shakespeares realism | 55 |
HAMLETS MAKEUP | 199 |
The turningpoint | 200 |
Sore distraction | 205 |
The heart of the mystery | 217 |
Dramatic emphasis | 229 |
FAILURE AND TRIUMPH | 239 |
Fortunes pipe | 240 |
The bedroom scene | 246 |
Problems of Elizabethan spiritualism | 60 |
The four witnesses | 66 |
Other superstitions | 75 |
The cellarage scene | 78 |
ANTIC DISPOSITION | 87 |
Its origin purpose and character | 88 |
Hamlet and Ophelia | 101 |
Thwarted ambition | 114 |
The nunnery scene | 125 |
THE MULTIPLE MOUSETRAP | 137 |
The parallel subplots | 138 |
The problem of the dumbshow | 144 |
Miching mallecho | 153 |
Nephew to the King | 164 |
The play scene restored | 174 |
Eclipse | 258 |
Hamlet returns | 265 |
The hero at bay | 276 |
APPENDICES | 291 |
A The Adultery of Gertrude | 292 |
B The Funeral of Ophelia | 295 |
C The Identity of the Gonzago troupe | 301 |
D Mr T S Eliots Theory of Hamlet | 305 |
Shakespeares Knowledge of A Treatise of Melancholie by Timothy Bright | 309 |
Hamlet as Cesare Borgia | 321 |
NOTES to The Second Edition | 335 |
343 | |
347 | |
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Common terms and phrases
ยน Vide actor Admiral's men antic disposition apparition appears audience beginning cellarage scene Cesare Borgia Claudius Claudius's critics death Denmark dialogue distemper doubt Dowden Dr Bradley Dr Johnson dramatic dramatist dumb-show Elizabethan Elsinore excitement explain eyes fact father follows Gertrude Ghost give Gonzago Gonzago-play Granville-Barker groundlings Hamlet's character Hamlet's mind hand hero hint Horatio imagination incestuous intended interpretation King Hamlet King's Laertes Lavater lines lord Lucianus madness Marcellus means melancholy modern mother murder nature never notes nunnery scene once Ophelia Osric passage play scene players plot poison Polonius Prince problem prologue Queen question quoted reader reference revenge Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Second Quarto seems seen Shakespeare Shakespearean Tragedy Shakespearian soliloquy soul speak spectators speech spirit stage suggests tells theatre theory thing thou thought tion tragedy Treatise uncle uttered W. W. Greg whole words