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"To be, or not to be" is a speech given by Prince Hamlet in the so-called "nunnery scene" of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1). The speech is named for the opening phrase, itself among the most widely known and quoted lines in modern English literature, and has been referenced in many works of theatre, literature and music.
In 1936 Andrew Cairncross suggested that, until more becomes known, it may be assumed that Shakespeare wrote the Ur-Hamlet. [17] Eric Sams lists reasons for supporting Shakespeare's authorship. [18] Harold Jenkins considers that there are no grounds for thinking that the Ur-Hamlet is an early work by Shakespeare, which he then rewrote. [19]
Scene Location Appr. # lines Synopsis I 1 Roussillon. A room in the Count's palace. 214 I 2 Paris. The King's palace. 86 I 3 Roussillon. A room in the Count's palace. 249 II 1 Paris. The King's palace. 223 II 2 Roussillon. The Count's palace. 60 II 3 Paris. The King's palace. 293 II 4 Another room in the King's palace. 55 II 5 Another room in ...
The Gravediggers (or Clowns) are examples of Shakespearean fools (also known as clowns or jesters), a recurring type of character in Shakespeare's plays. Like most Shakespearean fools, the Gravediggers are peasants or commoners that use their great wit and intellect to get the better of their superiors, other people of higher social status, and each other.
For Shakespeare, as he began to write, both traditions were alive; they were, moreover, filtered through the recent success of the University Wits on the London stage. By the late 16th century, the popularity of morality and academic plays waned as the English Renaissance took hold, and playwrights like Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe revolutionised theatre.
Hamlet and Ophelia, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. From its premiere at the turn of the 17th century, Hamlet has remained Shakespeare's best-known, most-imitated, and most-analyzed play. The character of Hamlet played a critical role in Sigmund Freud's explanation of the Oedipus complex. [1]
He states, "Shakespeare's Hamlet... is a play dealing with the effect of a mother's guilt upon her son." [ 5 ] In 1924, the social reformer Lillie Buffum Chace Wyman published a study, Gertrude of Denmark: An Interpretive Romance , an early attempt to give Gertrude's own perspective on her life and the events of the play.
Most of Shakespeare's greatest post-1599 plays were written for the Globe, including Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. [11] Reconstructed Globe theatre London. The Globe, like London's other open-roofed public theatres, employed a thrust-stage, covered by a cloth canopy.