Introduction to Hamlet

Setting

Kronburg Castle, Denmark

409 ce

Romans abandon the British

600-800

Germanic Tribes and Viking groups invade

What did the germanic tribes bring

Anglo-Saxon language and Beowolf

1200

Saxo Grammaticus writes down the 16 volume history of the Danes

Saxo Grammaticus

Historian/Philosopher

Volumes 3 and 4 of “The History of the Danes”

The story of Amleth

1601

Hamlet was debuted by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men

Richard Burrbage

Famous actor who played Hamlet in the debut

1646-1660

Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan government’s reign

1660

Stuart Restoration of the monarchy

Conceit

Elaborate Metaphor

Soliloquy

Speech made by a character that is only heard by that character/the audience

Monologe

Long speech made by one singular character

Shakespeare is written in __ (language)

Early modern English

Shakespeare wrote in __ (meter and foot)

iambic pentameter

iambic pentameter

stressed unstressed x5

heroic couplet

two lines of rhyming iambic pentameter