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Hamlet - looking at the history of the play, the genre, Shakespeare himself and the globe theatre in which so many of Shakespeare's plays were preformed.

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Hamlet essay Hamlet. One of the, if not the, most famous of the plays written by William Shakespeare. In this, the first section, I will be looking at the history of the play, the genre, Shakespeare himself and the globe theatre in which so many of Shakespeare's plays were preformed. This play, like many other famous plays from this era, was written by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare was born in a small English town named Stratford-upon-Avon, located in Warwickshire and although the exact date of Shakespeare's birth cannot be confirmed the consensus is that Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564. He was baptized on April 26, 1564, at the Holy Trinity parish church in his hometown of Stratford. Shakespeare's parents, Mary Arden and John Shakespeare, had eight children. Shakespeare had two sisters named Joan, one born in 1558 and the other in 1569. No one knows first-born Joan's exact date of death, but it is assumed that she died in infancy. Second-born Joan survived her famous brother by more than 30 years. Shakespeare probably began his education at the age of six or seven at the Stratford grammar school, which is still standing only a short distance from his house on Henley Street and is in the care of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. ...read more.


This is ironic, as most people do not want to die and complain that they are dying to quickly whereas Hamlet in describing himself as 'too too solid' is saying he is not dying quickly enough. His next two sentences further prove his thoughts on suicide. 'Or that the everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!' In this he is referring to the sixth commandment 'thou shalt not kill' that also prevents suicide. This also shows that Hamlet is more than slightly Christian as he is not willing to defy the will of God even for something considered as important as revenge. He compares life to a garden and says his life is like an 'unweeded garden'. He accepts that bad things are a part of life just like weeds are a natural part of a garden but he says that 'things rank and gross in nature, Possess it merely' meaning that his life only consists of bad things. He goes on to explain part of the story saying that just less than two months past the king died, his father. He says that he was as a 'Hyperion to a Satyr' in comparison to his brother, hamlets uncle. He explains how much he loved Hamlets mother saying: 'That he might beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face to roughly. ...read more.


I would try to make my production follow the story and Shakespeare's script very accurately yet still make it original. I would do this by representing all the different characters with animals. To make my version of Hamlet interesting and original I will use animals to represent each of the different characters. The animals that would play each character would have to reflect their characters. I would have it so that the animals were based on how Hamlet viewed their characters. Therefore you could get an insight into Hamlets views on characters by what animals play them. So for example I would have his father as a lion (something powerful and proud) his uncle as a weasel or a snake (something devious and cunning). Hamlet would be the only character in the play that would actually be a human, because in his mind he is normal. With regards to scenes 1 and 2 I would try and keep them as close to the originals as possible. I would have it so that the change between scene one and two were very sudden so that the contrast between them is exaggerated. May have scene 1 ending with a flash of lighting with thunder. The lightening would merge with the bright light of the hall and the thunder would become the shouting and laughter of the party guests. BY Damien Leith! ...read more.

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