The core of the ground-breaking, three text edition, this self-contained, free-standing volume gives readers the Second Quarto text (1604-5) and includes in its Introduction, notes and Appendices all the reader might expect to find in any standard Arden edition. As well as a full, illustrated Introduction to the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts and a thorough survey of critical approaches to the play, an appendix contains the additional passages found only in the 1623 text."The new Arden Hamlet is a pathbreaking edition, one that promises to change irrevocably our understanding of Shakespeare's greatest play."- Professor James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare'Hamlet's latest editors have undertaken a heroic task with great skill and thoroughnesss.' - Stanley Wells, The Observer"(The) new Arden Hamlet is quite simply the most comprehensive edition of the play currently available, a status I suspect it will enjoy for many years to come" - The British Theatre Guide"Stunning! There is absolutely no doubt about this being the text to buy if you are studying the play at A Level. And the same stands for those students who will be studying the play at university. This critical edition gives the reader the Second Quarto Text (1604-1605), annotated with intelligence and care, a wealth of historical and cultural references and a survey of different critical approaches to the play."- The Use of English, The English Association
List of illustrations
General editors preface
Preface
INTRODUCTION
The challenges of Hamlet
- The challenge of acting Hamlet
- The challenge of editing Hamlet
- The challenge to the greatness of Hamlet: Hamlet versus Lear
Hamlet in our time
- The soliloquies and the modernity of Hamlet
- Hamlet and Freud
- Reading against the Hamlet tradition
Hamlet in Shakespeares time
- Hamlet at the turn of the century
- The challenge of dating Hamlet
- Was there an earlier Hamlet play?
- Are there any early references to Shakespeares play?
- Can we date Hamlet in relation to other contemporary plays?
- Hamlets first performances
The story of Hamlet
- Murder most foul
- An antic disposition
- Sentences, speeches and thoughts
The composition of Hamlet
- The quartos and the Folio
- The quartos
- The First Folio
- The relationship of Q2 to Q1
- The relationship of F to Q2
- What, then, of Q1?
- Editorial practice
- Why a three-text edition?
Hamlet on stage and screen
- Hamlet and his points
- Enter the director
- Hamlet and politics
Novel Hamlets
- Hamlet meets Fielding, Goethe, Dickens and others
- Hamlet and women novelists
- Prequels and sequels
The continuing mystery of Hamlet
THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK (The Second Quarto, 1604?)
Appendix 1: Folio-only passages
Appendix 2: Textual discussion
Appendix 3: Editorial conventions, sample edited passages and a comparison of scenes across the three texts
Appendix 4: The act division at 3.4/4.1
Appendix 5: Casting
Appendix 6: Music
Abbreviations and references
Abbreviations used in notes
Works by and partly by Shakespeare
Editions of Shakespeare collated
Other works cited
Index
Ann Thompson is Professor of English and Head of the School of
Humanities, King's College London. She is also a General Editor of The
Arden Shakespeare.
Neil Taylor is Dean of Research at Roehampton University.
