1. English Hamlet

2. Hamlet
- Possibly based on chronicle history of Vita Amleth by Saxo Grammaticus in Gesta Danorum, early 1200s
No surviving authorial manuscripts
First Quarto (Q1, 1603), the Second Quarto (Q2, 1604), and the First Folio (F1, 1623)

3. Hamlet - Early versions may have been performed by 1589
- Dated to about
- Believed to be popular in Shakespeare’s lifetime
- Shakespeare’s longest play at four hours long – probably never staged in full

4. Portrayals and Opinions of Hamlet
- Highly popular for 400 years on stage and in film and television productions
- Restoration critics (late 1600s) saw Hamlet as primitive and vulgar
- Romantic era (early 1800s) began to explore Hamlet as a troubled heroic figure
- Late 19th and 20th century critics saw psychological and feminist issues in the play

5. Victorian Theater and Modern Film Versions

6. 1900,
1948,
1990,
1993

7. Central Themes Supernaturalism (the ghost) Revenge Love
Indecision and procrastination
Misogyny (is the play anti- women?)
Suicide