Hamlet Cultural Context

How was the monarchy being tested when Hamlet was written?

Absolute power of the monarchy was being tested by the rise of capitalism and there was an unspoken debate about the possibilities of resisting a monarch

What could the thought that Hamlets introverted personality was shaped by?

The new self-awareness introduced by the Renaissance. There was a new focus on the importance of the individual, an idea which is presented in Hamlet

Hamlet is a student at the University of Wittenberg, what is Wittenberg the birthplace of?

Lutheranism (a type of Protestantism) and a centre of humanism. Through this, Shakespeare establishes Hamlet as a protestant, a deep thinker and a challenger to the old traditions

On the Elizabethan or Jacobean stage how would Hamlets soliloquys be performed?

On a bare platform stage with an audience crowded round and everything visible in a daylight performance

Because these speeches were delivered directly to the audience what is it thought that Hamlet is attempting?

to persuade the audience to see things from his point of view

The play reflects contextual concerns about succession how was this reflected in the monarchy?

Elizabeth I was approaching 70 and childless when Shakespeare was writing the play around 1600. Most people in England could not remember another monarch, but the question of who would succeed her preoccupied late Elizabethan society and the theatre

What were the monarchy concerned that playwrights like Shakespeare might do?

Spread radical ideas and they censored anything that was seen as dangerous

Where was it seen that Shakespeare implements the idea of how Plays were used to provoke unrest?

Shakespeare’s company performed Richard II (a play about removing a monarch) on the night before the 1602 rebellion against Elizabeth I

Shakespeare addressed widespread concerns about death in Hamlet so what is this play considered?

His most Christian play because Hamlet is so preoccupied with death, the afterlife and the soul

What other religious changes does the Protestant Reformation made?

Protestants made an individuals conscience the centre of religious life. Shakespeare’s heroes are often haunted by their consciences, like Hamlet

Which humanist inspired Hamlets soliloquies?

Michel de Montaigne’s motto was ‘What do I know?’. Humanists took nothing for granted and questioned everything in the same way that Hamlet does

As a result of Renaissance there was no theatre companies so plays were quite short and usually religious so what did the Renaissance encourage?

Encourage dramatists to take ideas from classical drama and introduce new elements to the narrative (part of the concept of improving mankinds abilities as far as possible)

Where is an example of Shakespeare taking ideas from classical drama and introduce new elements?

he took Ur-Hamlet (by Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus) which itself was based on an older, popular folk story called Amleth

Queen Elizabeth I had restored England to Protestantism only 40 years before Shakespeare wrote Hamlet and how was Protestant beliefs more confusing for many people?

Because it removed the idea of purgatory a lot of people were worried that they’d be forgotten after death which illuminates our understanding of (Protestant) Hamlet reaction to the Catholic Ghost

What does the burden of the Ghosts instruction- ‘Remember me’ reflect?

The burden that old notions of Catholicism had on a forward-thinking Protestant England

In 1601 who is the Earl of Essex?

Known as a charismatic, ambitious and reckless courtier, rebelled against Elizabeth I. It failed straight away, but the rebels had been close to the gates of the royal palace

How did Shakespeare start to challenge traditional values?

He showed how figures of authority could be outwitted by commoners (like the Gravedigger)- able to frequently outsmart their social superiors

By Act V Hamlet seems to believe in predestination what does this mean?

The idea that God has planned everything and whatever you do, you cant change your fate which confused a lot of people because they were also said to have free will and they were in control of their own salvation

It has been argued that Hamlet was censored- the line from 5.2 “There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow” what was it originally?

“There’s a predestinate providence”. Even though this was a Protestant belief, Puritans were worried that people would use predestination to justify immoral actions by saying that God had made them do it