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William Shakespeare

Shakespeare   grew up in Stratford upon Avon in England, where he was born in 1564 and lived until 1616. He was married and had three children. It is estimated Hamlet was written around 1601, after he had mostly completed his transition from comedy-writing to tragedy-writing. It is also highly possible that Shakespeare was influenced by the death of his father, which occurred near the time of the play’s writing.
Shakespeare’s plays were first performed in the Globe Theater by his playing company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The theater was built in 1599 and could probably hold up to 2300 spectators, although plays were generally attended standing. People during Shakespeare’s time would flock to the theater to see his plays, which were considered greatly entertaining.


The story of Hamlet, although tweaked and personalized by Shakespeare, was not initially created by The Bard. Originally titled The Legend of Amleth, Hamlet first appears in the twelfth-century Danish History, a Latin text by Saxo Grammaticus, and was translated into French in 1570, roughly 30 years before the writing of Hamlet. The earlier story was somewhat different from Shakespeare’s; the version that we read is partly based on the original, with pieces drawn from later versions and some additions made by Shakespeare himself. The character of Hamlet, for example, is clearly not a creation of Shakespeare’s; however, many of the subtle traits that make him such an intriguing character seem to be unique to the Shakespeare version.
Even Shakespeare’s version of the play has several editions. Shakespeare’s plays were all originally published in numerous versions, based on size. Readers could obtain copies of the play as Folios, copies with sheets folded in half to make four large sides, Quartos, with sheets folded twice to make four smaller leaves (8 pages) Octavos, with sheets folded four times, or Duodecimos, with sheets folded to make twenty four pages. Within the different editions are yet more versions: the first Quarto, the second Quarto, and so on, resulting in several variations in different copies of the play. These could be very different – compare the “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy from the First Quarto and First Folio (the Folio is the one with which we are more familiar):

“To be or not to be” in the First Folio

To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep—

No more, and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to . . . 

 

“To be or not to be” in the First Quarto

To be or not to be, ay there’s the point;

To die, to sleep, is that all? Ay, all.

No, to sleep, to dream; ay marry, there it goes.

For in that dream of death, when we awake

And borne before an everlasting judge,

From whence no passenger ever returned,

The undiscovered country, at whose sight

The happy smile, and the accursed damned . . 


The people who attended Shakespeare’s plays were very different from theater-goers today. It is important to keep in mind Shakespeare’s audience and the way that they would react to his writing and the performance. For one thing, they were accustomed to Elizabethan language, since this is what they spoke in their everyday lives. Shakespeare often uses high or flowery language, writing in poetry or making allusions to mythology; however, most of his audience could understand such language and allusions, since these were part of popular culture at the time. For more information on Elizabethan language and Shakespeare’s literary technique, see Terms and Literary Elements. Shakespeare also takes advantage of his audience’s familiarity with, and probably belief in, the superstitions surrounding ghosts, as well as the symbolic significance of various flowers. Both of these would help the audience connect with the drama and plot. Shakespeare’s audience also loved puns and metaphors, especially sexual ones. Shakespeare incorporates such wordplay often, even in his tragedies, to satisfy his audience and make his plays enjoyable- after all, his audiences attended the plays for entertainment and expected to have a good time.