Background+and+context+of+the+play+-+Emine,+Ahmad+and+Enrique

During the 18th and mostly during the 19th century Shakespeare’s works became “immoral classics” Shakespeare’s father was a glove-maker, and Shakespeare received no more than a grammar school education. In the period of greatest success Shakespeare’s bibliography states that he was a poor boy from the village, uneducated, he ran away to London from Stratford to escape prosecution, and in London his talent flourished. The town records of Stratford shown that John Shakespeare, his father, was a wealthy man and held in turn several municipal offices. William Shakespeare was the third son of the family, Shakespeare was in fact educated but he was not fluent in Latin and a university man like most writers were. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582, but left his family behind around 1590 and moved to London, where he became an actor and playwright. Shakespeare was eighteen when he married and had three children with Ann; Susanna, Hamnet and Judith. No one knows when Shakespeare came to London. However we know that in 1592 Shakespeare was not just in London but he was writing plays and beginning to make such a name that he called forth jealous apprehension of an established writer. In 1593, the year of the plague, theaters we closed and Sheakspeare’s two long poems //Venus and Adonis// and //The Rape of Lucrece// entered in the Stationers register. Before 1594 theaters had been largely low class entertainment and the plays had been rather poor quality. After private theaters were established and higher class citizens attended these theaters child actors were permitted to play on stage as in Hamlet. (act II, scene 2) He was an immediate success: Shakespeare soon became the most popular playwright of the day as well as a part-owner of the Globe Theater. His theater troupe was adopted by King James as the King’s Men in 1603. Shakespeare retired as a rich and prominent man to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1613, and died three years later.
 * EMINE :Hamlet- background and context to the play**
 * Life** **of William Shakespeare-** (1592-1611)

Two night guards of the castle of Elsinore have seen the ghost of the late king Hamlet. They watch again with Horatio, the prince Hamlet’s school friend, and decide to tell Hamlet what they have seen. Meanwhile Hamlet is in a general council meeting. His uncle Claudius, the new king of Denmark is busy handling the affairs of the state. Hamlet reveals in a soliloquy that he is feels resentful because of his mothers hasty marriage with this uncle Claudius right after his father’s death. Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father and finds out that the King’s death was not accidental but a deliberate murder and the murderer “now wears a crown”. Hamlet swears to avenge his father’s murder, to protect himself for spying purposes Hamlet feigns madness. Lord Polonius thinks that Hamlet is mad because of his love for Ophelia, lord Polonius’s daughter. Claudius and Polonius arrange for Hamlet to meet Ophelia. Hamlet has to rebuke the girl he loves in order to convince everyone of his insanity. The king sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet but they have so success. At this time troupe actors arrive in the palace, the actors are Hamlet’s old friends and they agree to add some lines into the play in order to trap Claudius. Hamlet and Horatio watch closely the Kings reactions to the murder scene. The king grows increasingly nervous and stops the play. Gertrude calls her son to her room to scold him for his actions. On his way Hamlet sees Claudius praying, revenge is at hand now, but he does not kill him because Claudius would go to heaven if he died now. Hamlet, in his mother’s room, hears a cry from behind the curtain and hoping it is the king drives his rapier through the curtain into the heart of Polonius, who was eavesdropping. The king dubious of Hamlet’s insanity sends him to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet escape’s his guards and returns to Denmark. In the meantime Ophelia unstable because of her fathers death drowns herself. Laertes, Ophelia’s brother returns from France to take revenge for hi father’s death. Laertes challenges Hamlet and they fence about. Leartes and Hamlet wound each other, meanwhile to queen takes a sip from the glass which Claudius had prepared for Hamlet which contains poison.
 * Introduction to Hamlet: (The tragedy of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark )**

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Hamlet Notes, James L. Roberts, M.A., Coles Notes ,1973, coles publishing company limited

Ahmad- Background and contextualization of Hamlet and Shakespeare

Enrique Lahmann 13i English SL   Hamlet – Background and Context to the Play The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare was written around 1600 or 1601. This play was probably performed in front of an audience for the first time in July 1602. The play was published in printed form in 1603. As it was common during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, William Shakespeare used ideas presented in other literary works to inspire himself to write his books. Some say that the story of Hamlet could have come from different sources such as: the Latin history of Denmark by Saxo Grammaticus and prose work by Francois de Belleforest, entitled Histoires Tragiques. The raw material that Shakespeare used to write Hamlet is based upon the story of a Danish prince whose uncle murders the prince’s father, marries his mother, and claims the throne. This prince acts as if he has a weak mind to try and catch his uncle off guard. As a result he managed to kill his uncle in revenge. However, William Shakespeare did not write hamlet as the basic raw material describes. He made hamlet a philosophically minded prince who delays taking revenge upon his uncle. The main reason for this is unclear perspective because he is not sure whether his uncle truly murdered his father or not. Shakespeare’s main character hamlet is described with a personal trait of uncertainty which introduces several ambiguities into the play that even the audience cannot resolve. There are several mysteries in the play. Whether Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, shares Claudius’s guilt; whether hamlet continues to love Ophelia even as he rejects her; whether Ophelia’s death is suicide or accident; whether the ghost offers reliable knowledge; and the key mystery in the play, whether hamlet would be morally justified in taking revenge in his uncle without being sure if he killed or not his father. All this obscurity enhances the darkness in the play.