THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARK EDITED BY E. K. CHAMBERS, B.A. SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD BOSTON, U. S. A. D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 1905 In this edition of SHAKESPEARE an attempt is made to present the greater plays of the dramatist in their literary aspect, and not merely as material for the study of philology or grammar. Criticism purely verbal and textual has only been included to such an extent as may serve to help the student in the appreciation of the essential poetry. Questions of date and literary history have been fully dealt with in the Introductions, but the larger space has been devoted to the interpretative rather than the matter-of-fact order of scholarship. Aesthetic judgments are never final, but the Editors have attempted to suggest points of view from which the analysis of dramatic motive and dramatic character may be profitably undertaken. In the Notes likewise, while it is hoped that all unfamiliar expressions and allusions have been adequately explained, yet it has been thought even more important to consider the dramatic value of each scene, and the part which it plays in relation to the whole. These general principles are common to the whole series; in detail each Editor is alone responsible for the play or plays that have been intrusted to him. Every volume of the series has been provided with a Glossary, an Essay upon Metre, and an Index; and Appendices have been added upon points of special interest, which could not conveniently be treated in the Introduction or the Notes. The text is based by the several Editors on that of the Globe edition: the only omissions made are those that are unavoidable in an edition likely to be used by young students. By the systematic arrangement of the introductory matter, and by close attention to typographical details, every effort has been made to provide an edition that will prove convenient in use. INTRODUCTION. 1. LITERARY HISTORY OF THE PLAY. THE early history of Hamlet affords one of the most difficult problems with which Shakespearian scholarship has to deal. Three printed versions of the text have The critical come down to us. These present remarkable problem. variations from each other, and one of them in particular, the earliest, appears to be fundamentally different from the other two. The most probable explanation is that the play underwent a process of revision after it was originally written and acted. If, then, we could determine the exact relation in which the three forms stand to one another, we should learn a good deal about Shakespeare's dramatic method as shown in the deliberate modification of his first ideas. Unfortu nately this is not so easy. Scholars still disagree hopelessly as to the exact nature of the earliest version; and the whole question is complicated by the probable existence of a preShakespearian Hamlet, which may have had a considerable influence upon the later play. So that for the present one must be content to bring together the facts, to indicate the conditions of the problem, and to suggest the most likely hypothesis for its solution. The Registers of the Stationer's Company for The Stationers 1602, amongst other entries of books allowed Registers. to be printed', contain the following: xxvjto Julij James Robertes. Entered for his copie vnder the handes of master Pasfield and master Waterson warden, A booke called 'the Revenge of HAMLETT Prince [of] Denmarke' as yt was latelie Acted by the Lord Chamberleyne his seruantes. vjd. |