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
... stage - tradition preserved in Der bestrafte Brudermord , Osric was represented as an accomplice in the plot against Hamlet , as I contend he should be . The other two matters are more serious , since they turn upon what is effec- tive ...
... stage - tradition preserved in Der bestrafte Brudermord , Osric was represented as an accomplice in the plot against Hamlet , as I contend he should be . The other two matters are more serious , since they turn upon what is effec- tive ...
Page xii
... stage . For it is with the stage that the final decision rests . In his true nature , There the action lies provided it be directed by a practical and practising pro- ducer , possessing a competent knowledge of Elizabethan stage ...
... stage . For it is with the stage that the final decision rests . In his true nature , There the action lies provided it be directed by a practical and practising pro- ducer , possessing a competent knowledge of Elizabethan stage ...
Page xiii
... stage - technique , is the judg- ment of the man of the study who lacks direct theatrical experience , however learned a scholar he may be . To show my readers the kind of danger that threatens them from this quarter , in other words ...
... stage - technique , is the judg- ment of the man of the study who lacks direct theatrical experience , however learned a scholar he may be . To show my readers the kind of danger that threatens them from this quarter , in other words ...
Page xiv
... stage- experiment , that of the Marlowe Society's production at Cambridge in the summer of 1936 : Were proof needed of the impossibility of this interpreta- tion , the performance of the play by the Marlowe Society would provide it ...
... stage- experiment , that of the Marlowe Society's production at Cambridge in the summer of 1936 : Were proof needed of the impossibility of this interpreta- tion , the performance of the play by the Marlowe Society would provide it ...
Page xvi
... stage - history must include two or three productions which have given opportunities of seeing in action some or all of the suggestions which you make in What Happens in " Hamlet " . The performance at the Sloane School , Chelsea , in ...
... stage - history must include two or three productions which have given opportunities of seeing in action some or all of the suggestions which you make in What Happens in " Hamlet " . The performance at the Sloane School , Chelsea , in ...
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 | |
Other editions - View all
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