Hamlet Adaptations and Christina Rossetti Poetry Review

This collection of vocabulary flashcards defines key theatrical adaptations, literary terminology, critical perspectives, and poetic themes found in the lecture notes on Shakespeares Hamlet and the works of Christina Rossetti.

Gregory Doran

Director of the $2008$ Royal Shakespeare Company modern adaptation of Hamlet, which uses CCTV cameras to establish a paranoid surveillance state in Elsinore.

Antic disposition

A phrase describing David Tennant’s portrayal of Hamlet’s mental breakdown, characterized by strong wit and clarity rather than mere madness.

Kenneth Branagh

Director of the $1996$ film adaptation that presented the full, uncut text from the First Folio and Second Quarto, lasting over $4$ hours and set in a $19 ext{th}$ century Victorian environment.

Robert Hastie

Director of the $2025$ National Theatre production, described as an "Indie Hamlet" starring Hiran Abeysekera, which utilizes humor as a primary defense mechanism.

Ghost

The entity that acts as the primary catalyst for Hamlet’s psychological radicalization, transforming his grief into a sacred duty of revenge.

Hamartia

A tragic flaw, which in Hamlet’s case is identified as overthinking.

"Serpent that now wears his crown"

A metaphor used to describe Claudius, capturing his cunning nature and the method of murder by poison.

"Too too solid flesh"

A quote from Hamlet’s first soliloquy representing suicidal despair and self-loathing, where "solid" may also suggest "sullied" or moral corruption.

"Get thee to a nunnery"

A command to Ophelia to go to a convent to preserve her virtue and avoid becoming a "breeder of sins" in a corrupt world.

Rosemary

A flower used as symbolism for remembrance in Act $4$ Scene $5$ during Ophelia’s descent into madness.

Violets

A floral symbol for faithfulness, representing a loss of innocence and evoking pathos in the audience.

Wittenberg University

The institution in Germany where Hamlet studies, associated with the Protestant Reformation and Martin Luther.

Memento mori

A reflection on mortality represented by Yorick’s skull during Hamlet’s anagnorisis.

A. C. Bradley

A critic who argued that Hamlet suffers from "melancholic paralysis," where depression causes his inability to act.

Elaine Showalter

A feminist critic who views Ophelia as a victim of male authority and female silence.

New Historicism

A theoretical perspective that examines the play as a product of the Elizabethan era, mirroring the political anxieties and power struggles of the court.

From the Antique

A poem by Christina Rossetti that explores the "weary life" and lack of autonomy for women who were viewed as outdated possessions.

Soeur Louise

A poem concerning a mistress of Louis XIV who becomes a nun, portraying desire as destructive and the convent as salvation.

Tractarian faith

Also known as the Oxford Movement, this spiritual discipline influenced Rossetti’s work regarding the conflict between desire and renunciation.

St Mary Magdalene Penitentiary

An institution where Christina Rossetti worked, reflecting her complex views as a conservative and proto-feminist who supported female education but rejected women’s suffrage in $1889$.