Hamlet (place)

About: Hamlet (place) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2771 publications have been published within this topic receiving 16301 citations.

Pickelhering and Hamlet in Dutch art: The English comedians of Robert Browne, John Green, and Robert Reynolds

Abstract: This single web page introduces the Shakespeare Yearbook (SY), an annual serial publication of Shakespeare scholarship. The Yearbook publishes articles relating to Shakespeare, his times, and his influence on later periods. Each edition is based on a particular theme, such as 'The Opera and Shakespeare', 'Hamlet on Screen', and 'Shakespeare and Italy'. The site lists the topics covered in previous editions and those to be covered in forthcoming volumes. Individual articles from the Yearbook are not available online; back issues must be ordered from the publisher. The site does however provide brief submission guidelines and details of the editorial board.

"In the Rank Sweat of an Enseamed Bed": Sexual Aberration and the Paradigmatic Screen Hamlets

Abstract: Since the first film adaptation of Hamlet in 1900, sexuality has played a significant role in determining how Hamlet is presented on the screen. In that Maurice Clement-directed version of Shakespeare's play, the famous Sarah Bernhardt played Hamlet (Rothwell and Melzer 54), and as such she became the first of many actors and actresses who, either because of their gender, or because of how they played the title character in deference to their director, would contribute to the now almost conventional viewpoint that Hamlet is a play underscored by Prince Hamlet's sexual aberrations. Many of the early film versions of the play used sexuality as an undercurrent because the directors were influenced by one of several landmark examinations of Hamlet in print. After the middle of the century, new films were being influenced by earlier film versions, and in this self-perpetuating cycle, cinematic adaptations were emerging that in fact began to focus on Hamlet's sexuality not as minor element, but as the indisputable central issue of the play. A number of films have contributed to and have grown out of this tradition, and although there are many versions of Hamlet which are sexo-centric, I will focus on four adaptations that cover a variety of film genres. Chronologically, they are Svend Gade's 1920 silent adaptation starring Asta Neilsen as Hamlet, the 1948 black-and-white version directed by and starring Laurence Olivier, the 1980 BBC teleplay directed by Rodney Bennet and starring Derek Jacobi as Hamlet, and the 1990 cinematic film directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Mel Gibson as Hamlet. Each of these adaptations, while influenced directly or indirectly by one or more seminal critical evaluations of the play, has in itself become a cinematic icon by influencing the way in which the movie-going public has come to regard Shakespeare's play. The end result is that, because of these various film adaptations, more so than the literary antecedents that influenced them, most of us now see Hamlet as a drama in which sexual issues are predominant. "In order to enjoy [this] screen version of Hamlet," reported the New York Times in 1921, "the spectator should first of all get Shakespeare out of his mind as much as possible" ("Hamlef 20). A strange comment under normal circumstances, but Svend Gade's 1920 version of Hamlet was anything but normal. Although it was slightly unusual that Gade had Asta Nielsen-a female-in the lead role, at the time it certainly was not unheard of to use a woman to play a male's part; and, as mentioned earlier, Bernhardt had played Hamlet in the first cinematic version released. What made the film unusual was that Gade's production was based less on Shakespeare's play than on Edward P. Vining's interpretation of the play put forth in his book The Mystery of Hamlet (1881), as well as the fact that Gade returned to Saxo Grammaticus and Belleforest for many of the details of the plot (Duffy 142-43).What emerges is a film that, by dint of changing Hamlet from a man to a woman disguised as a man, makes sex and gender the most important issues in the play, and completely subverts Shakespeare's play as well. In Gade's film, Gertrude gives birth to a daughter, but at that moment a messenger arrives and mistakenly reports that King Hamlet has been killed in battle. Gertrude decides to claim that her daughter is actually her son in order to assure her place, and her daughter's place, as the rulers of the kingdom. When King Hamlet returns, he does not reveal to his subjects his child's sex for fear that they will rebel. Hamlet thus grows up as a boy, and his "boyhood" friendship with Horatio is, to Hamlet, a deep and abiding love. After Claudius kills the King, Hamlet becomes melancholy and brooding, especially after he learns the true cause of his father's death. To further add to his grief, Ophelia captures Horatio's heart, and thus Hamlet's misery becomes twofold. After joining forces with Fortinbras, Hamlet burns down the royal palace in the midst of a drunken orgy being held by Claudius. …