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The article focuses on the relationship between William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Marston's Antonio's Revenge, examining their closely aligned revenge plots and the contentious question of which play influenced the other. It argues that while both plays might have drawn from the lost Ur-Hamlet, the significant divergences in detail suggest that one playwright was likely aware of the other's work. more...

This article is a case study examining the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Chinese translation of Hamlet, which is part of its “Shakespeare Folio Translation Project” that was launched in 2015. Textual interpolations and alterations of the plot in this version are demonstrated, ranging from cuts of critical scenes and roles to lines and single words rendered in an “audience-friendly” way into an alleged Chinese context. Based on an analysis of the translator’s edits, textual transpositions, and choices of Chinese wording, this paper recognizes this version’s contribution to the diversity and acculturation of Shakespeare for a special intellectual community in a different culture in twenty-first-century China. Nevertheless, it proposes that this edition be more accurately entitled “RSC Hamlet for the Chinese Stage” rather than the officially designated “RSC Chinese Folio Hamlet” in order to avoid possible misconceptions of “acknowledged authority” that Chinese readers and audience may conceive under the halo of RSC and the misleading label of “Commissioned Folio Translation.” more...

One of the reasons why Shakespeare’s Hamlet, as a play representing the essential problematics of Western Modernity, is still relevant today, is that it contains the cultural dynamics that ranges over issues around colonialism, patriarchy, and individual identities, all of which have been causes and consequences of the Western Modernity. More specifically, in the current context of the declining Western hegemony, symbolized by regional military conflicts and environmental degradation, among other crises, the urgency to freshly produce and interpret this play seems to be increasing. This essay attempts to question the significance of staging Hamlet today by examining Satoshi Miyagi’s version of the play at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and through its analysis, we aim to reflect how Hamlet, while characterizing Western Modernity, harbors the potential to critique its essence. more...

This essay examines some notable Shakespearean productions and adaptations in Japan from 2020 to 2023. The main focus is on a Hamlet production by Mansai Nomura, a Kyogen performer, in March 2023; it was an amalgamation of the traditional Japanese theatres, such as Kyogen, Nô, Kabuki, and Bunraku. Mansai’s aspiration to produce Hamlet, utilizing all the elements of traditional Japanese art forms, began twenty years ago, when he played Hamlet in Jonathan Kent’s production in London and in Tokyo. He re-examined the text and offered a completely new interpretation of a scene, giving the play a fresh dimension. Moreover, this essay examines other recent Shakespeare productions and adaptations, including my two new plays based on Shakespeare, as well as Kôki Mitani’s Thirteen Vassals of Kamakura Shogun, a serial historical TV drama, broadcast by NHK (Japan’s version of the BBC). more...

To English eyes, France's first stageworthy adaptation of a Shakespeare play, Jean-François Ducis's Hamlet (1769), is a pale but gloomy shadow of the original. One of the few elements of Shakespeare's tragedy that Ducis retains is the Ghost of Hamlet's father, who presses the hero on to avenge the original murder. But Ducis's Ghost is both more savage and more ambiguous than Shakespeare's; being perceptible to none but Hamlet, it may be no more than a hallucination. More bloodthirsty than its Shakespearean counterpart, it demands that Hamlet kill his mother Gertrude alongside Claudius, thus producing a conflict of loyalties that leads him to doubt the moral legitimacy of his mission. Although Ducis himself later felt compelled to rewrite his own ending, in all versions Hamlet's sustained refusal to accede to the Ghost's demands eventually marks his triumph over both his melancholy and his incapacities as incumbent ruler of Denmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The research aims to analyze the structure of the lines of verse in "Hamlet", examines the translation techniques employed, and understands their impact. This study adopts a descriptive qualitative approach with case studies on translation products. It used purposive sampling to select documents, specifically the original verses from "Hamlet" and their Indonesian translations. It gathered insights from informants, including a literary expert, a translation expert, and raters. The research involved two types of data: linguistic data, which consists of the lines of verse in "Hamlet," and translation data, which included the translation techniques and the shifts observed in the translated text. Data collection methods included document analysis and focus group discussions, analyzed through an ethnographic model using domain, taxonomy, and component analysis to identify cultural themes. The findings show that "Hamlet's" verse contains both regular lines with five metrical foot and irregular lines that deviate from this pattern. Seventeen translation techniques are identified: paraphrase, established equivalent, transposition, modulation, reduction, variation, explicitation, compensation, implication, pure borrowing, particularization, addition, generalization, discursive creation, adaptation, literal translation, and linguistic amplification. These techniques result in translation shifts at both micro and macro levels. The study underscores the complexities of translating literary works, especially in preserving the original poetic form and meaning. Future research could compare the translation of the same literary work into various target languages, offering insights into how different translators handle similar challenges across diverse linguistic and cultural contexts and the techniques they use to achieve equivalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Taking as my cue the Introduction to the First Folio edition of his plays, I examine Shakespeare's particular interest in English law and juridical procedure. It is likely that his considerable, detailed knowledge of law derived at least in part from his association with the Middle Temple, whose members included neighbours and friends from Stratford-upon-Avon. I proceed to consider the profound influence of The Commentaries or Reports of Edmund Plowden (Plowden himself was a member of the Middle Temple) over the content of his plays, notably Plowden's report of Hales v Petit to Shakespeare's depiction of the death by suicide of Ophelia in Hamlet. I develop the thematic link with the Middle Temple by interrogating the thesis, proposed by various scholars, that an early version of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida was given a performance there during the revels of 1597–98. The theatrical transplantation of the city of Troy to London, described by writers and lawyers alike as Troynovant, the utopian city of commerce and the mythical birthplace of English law, leads me to analyze the predominant tropes of the marketplace which populate Troilus and Cressida. I conclude with the observation that in his epilogue to the play, Pandarus addresses in appropriately base terms the very people (lawyers) whose skills were supposed to redress the injustices engendered by commerce and the marketplace, but who failed to acknowledge the relevance of ethics and community to the attainment of societal cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The essay views William Shakespeare's play Hamlet as a kind of London double-decker tourist bus. Visible on the open top level is the revenge tragedy. On the lower level, hidden in typical Elizabethan cryptic fashion, is an illustration of the internal journey an actor must take in order to be able to portray, "to be," the character of Hamlet. This makes Hamlet two plays in one, both a revenge tragedy and an actor's guidebook. When corroborated alongside the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavsky, the advice on acting outlined in Hamlet proves to be surprisingly sophisticated and contemporary. Is it a coincidence that the central question of the play is "To be or not to be" and the goal of Stanislavsky's teachings is to achieve the "I am being" state while acting? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The study investigates Shakespeare’s universal human experience in Hamlet by comparing cultural shifts in two adaptations, what components of Shakespeare's original are retained or changed, and how speech and story advance. Meiliana believes that comparative literature explores connections between literary works, examining sources, topics, mythologies, genres, creative techniques, social movements, and trends, breaking traditional national and international boundaries, and determining universal human interactions. Shakespeare is one of the most significant writers in the history of literature, thus there is not much point in contesting that. His writings have been essential to any study of literature for centuries and have inspired innumerable popular and non-popular adaptations and imitators of his style. The research is a critique of the two Shakespearean play adaptations, Haider (2014) by Vishal Bhardwaj and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), by Tom Stoppard based on rigorous and in-depth research into the scholarly debate around them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This research paper examines the experimental nature of appropriation focusing on The National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) renditions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1603) and Richard III (1597). It investigates how these adaptations bring about changes in both dramatic structure and artistic expression, dissecting visual and performative elements to uncover diverse meanings within live performances. The research delves into how NAPA’s creative choices offer new ways to examine Shakespeare’s universal themes—jealousy, incest, ambition, and hatred— through unconventional theatrical presentations, viewed from a post-dramatic perspective. Using Hans Thies Lehmann’s Post-dramatic theory (1960), it analyses alterations dramaturgical and aesthetical presentation such as plot construction, sign and symbol presentations. By bridging the gap between the art world and stagecraft, this study aims to deepen our understanding of how appropriation, aesthetics, and performance intersect. It also explores how these adaptations contribute to the global presentation of Shakespearean plays, offering insights from Pakistan’s theatrical landscape. more...

Since unfortunate events can happen to anyone at any time, it is important for everyone to understand the concept of psychological trauma and be able to identify its symptoms to prevent or treat it before it becomes too late. The character of Hamlet is traumatized from the very beginning of the play, and as the story develops, so does his trauma. Shakespeare's Hamlet is a well-known and widely performed play, making it a good option to illustrate trauma and its detrimental consequences on both the individual and others around them in real life. The study, which was founded on the constructivist paradigm, demonstrated adult psychological trauma, its symptoms, and its effects by using a phenomenological approach. Twelve people, six men and six women, over the age of eighteen (from 19 to 60), participated in this study. After an analysis of the experiences and feedback provided by the participants, it became clear that if psychological trauma is not identified and treated in a timely manner, it can negatively impact not only the victim's own life but also the lives of those close to them and even society as a whole. more...

Il s’agit de tracer l’influence de François de Belleforest sur William Shakespeare à travers le personnage de Gertrude (nommé « Geruthe » chez Belleforest) dans la pièce Hamlet. S’appuyant sur la légende danoise originale de Saxo Grammaticus (Historia Danica), c’est Belleforest dans les Histoires tragiques qui donne une voix à celle qui est à la fois mère du protagoniste (se nommant « Amleth » chez Belleforest) et reine du Danemark. Par la suite, Shakespeare élabore et approfondit le portrait de Gertrude. S’inspirant largement de l’exemple de Belleforest, le dramaturge élisabéthain met en valeur la rupture psychologique entre Hamlet et sa mère, soulignant surtout l’évolution de leur rapport qui passe du conflit à la réconciliation au cours de la tragédie. La représentation belleforestienne de Geruthe comprend aussi son rôle ambigu dans les nombreux complots du roi contre Amleth. Ces manigances sont adaptées par Shakespeare pour augmenter la tension du drame et pour faire de Gertrude elle-même un personnage tragique. more...

Challenges from infections caused by biofilms and antimicrobial resistance highlight the need for novel antimicrobials that work in conjunction with antibiotics and minimize resistance risk. In this study we investigated the composite effect of HAMLET (human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells), a human milk protein-lipid complex and amoxicillin on microbial ecology using an ex vivo oral biofilm model with pooled saliva samples. HAMLET was chosen due to its multi-targeted antimicrobial mechanism, together with its synergistic effect with antibiotics on single species pathogens, and low risk of resistance development. The combination of HAMLET and low concentrations of amoxicillin significantly reduced biofilm viability, while each of them alone had little or no impact. Using a whole metagenomics approach, we found that the combination promoted a remarkable shift in overall microbial composition compared to the untreated samples. A large proportion of the bacterial species in the combined treatment were Lactobacillus crispatus, a species with probiotic effects, whereas it was only detected in a minor fraction in untreated samples. Although resistome analysis indicated no major shifts in alpha-diversity, the results showed the presence of TEM beta-lactamase genes in low proportions in all treated samples but absence in untreated samples. Our study illustrates HAMLET’s capability to alter the effects of amoxicillin on the oral microbiome and potentially favor the growth of selected probiotic bacteria when in combination. The findings extend previous knowledge on the combined effects of HAMLET and antibiotics against target pathogens to include potential modulatory effects on polymicrobial biofilms of human origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Copyright of Latino Studies is the property of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) more...

This study aims at conducting a pragmatic analysis of speech acts expressing flattering in some selected literary texts (Hamlet). Flattering is used to express encouragement, which is false positive evaluation. Flattering assumes the effect of the listener's feelings, actions and thoughts via the speech acts of flattering. Flattery is a social phenomenon that treads a fine line between acceptable and unacceptable social behavior and brings forward the strategic element of language use. Although flattery was studied in different areas but pragmatic literature has not addressed the phenomenon, despite its potential to inform the interpretive process participants engage in when evaluating politeness strategies in interactions. A pragmatic methodology was used to collect the data. The results of this study show how the characters judge an action to be flattery, what (verbal) acts count as flattery, and the functions of flattery in interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Da bi bolje razumeli vlogo Shakespearja in njegovih del v ruskem kulturnem prostoru, v prispevku najprej podamo kratek zgodovinski pregled prevajanja Hamleta v ruščino. Ta zajema prevodno specifiko Aleksandra Sumarokova, čigar stvaritev s sredine 18. stoletja je bolj samostojno dramsko delo kot prevod, Mihaila Vrončenka, ki vzpostavi nekatere nove prevajalske smernice, in Nikolaja Polevoja, ki ustvari pomanjkljiv, a svojčas priljubljen prevod. Po kratkem orisu trenutnega stanja in obdobja t. i. parazitskega prevoda se osredotočimo na dogajanje v prvi polovici 20. stoletja. Izpostavimo poskusa nesojenega Nobelovega nagrajenca Borisa Leonidoviča Pasternaka ter Mihaila Leonidoviča Lozinskega, ki velja za enega najbolj izpopolnjenih ruskih književnih prevajalcev. Njuna prevoda prvega dejanja Shakespearjeve tragedije primerjamo med seboj, z izvirnikom ter s slovenskim prevodom Otona Župančiča. Na primerih preučimo, kako sta se prevajalca lotevala pomenskih, zvočnih, oblikovnih in drugih izzivov, ki jih poraja besedilo. Iščemo predvsem trenutke, kjer prihaja do izrazitejših razhajanj, vseeno pa opozarjamo tudi na tiste, kjer sta se odločila za enako rešitev. V manjši meri se posvetimo kritiškemu odzivu na prevoda in teoriji s področja prevodoslovja. Ugotovimo, da je Pasternak na prvo mesto postavljal ritmičnost, poleg tega pa je skušal kar najbolj posnemati individualiziranost govora, značilno za Shakespearjeve drame; na drugi strani je Lozinski skorajda do črke natančno sledil izvirniku, a njegov prevod zato deluje manj živo. Vseskozi si zastavljamo večno prevajalsko vprašanje: je legitimnejši prost ali zvest prevod? Razmišljamo o prednostih in slabostih obeh prevodov ter njuni zapuščini, katere odmev je v Rusiji čutiti še danes. more...

For the spectator initiated in the political aspect of the Shakespearean theatre, Carlos Manuel Varela’s Interrogatorio en Elsinore proposes “a kind of extended palimpsest” of Hamlet that connects on stage a troubled, fictional Elsinore to the traumatic reality of Uruguay during the military junta. For the reader fascinated by comparative literary studies and implicated in the theatre world, Interrogatorio en Elsinore resonates with the Bulgarian playwright Nedjalko Iordanov’s The Murder of Gonzago by drawing from parallel extreme ideologies of neo-fascist and communist dictatorships and their institutionalized regime of terror. Both plays showcase the potential of the performance in Hamlet to underpin the role of the artist in the political landscape. Applied to Interrogatorio en Elsinore, such reflections lead the initiated spectator to conclude that Varela’s play proposes a Hamlet who connects on stage a troubled, fictional Elsinore to the traumatic reality of Uruguay. more...

Claudius likes to party--a bit too much. He frequently binge drinks, is arguably an alcoholic, but is not an aberration. Hamlet says that Denmark is internationally known for heavy drinking. That's what Shakespeare would have heard in the sixteenth century. By the seventeenth, English writers feared that Denmark had taught their own nation its drinking habits. Synthesizing criticismon alcoholism as an individual problem in Shakespeare's texts and times with scholarship on national drinking habits in the early modern age, this essay asks what the tragedy of alcoholism looks like when located not on the level of the individual but on the level of a culture, as Shakespeare depicts in Hamlet. Our window into these early modern cultures of drunkenness is sociological studies of American college fraternities plus social-learning theories that explain how one person--one culture--teaches another its habits. For Claudius's alcoholismis both culturally learned and culturally significant. And, as in fraternities, alcoholism in Hamlet is bound up with ethnicity, wealth, masculinity, and tragedy. Thus alcohol imagistically reappears in keymoments of Hamlet--the vial of "cursed hebona," Ophelia's liquid death, and the poisoned cup in the final scene--that stand out in recent performances and adaptations with alcoholic Claudiuses and Gertrudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

As a professor emeritus of the Department of English, National Taiwan University, Perng Ching-Hsi (1945-) has dedicated his lifetime to literary translation and Shakespeare Studies for more than half a century. His Chinese translations of Shakespeare's plays are adopted by local Taiwan drama companies for their outstanding lingual performability on the stage for the audience of our times. The paper seeks to explore how Perng manages to render the various Shakespearean poetic styles of Hamlet into equivalent, readable and performable Chinese language. First, the investigation will focus on the way Perng resorts to sophisticated domestication strategy in translating the proper names of the play into corresponding Chinese character names, names that are in most cases highly revealing of the characters' essential roles as well as dramatic functions in the play. Second, the research will probe into Perng's special literary expressions in the Chinese language, a language that hallmarks formal and semantic fidelity to Shakespeare's original rhetorics and poetics. Altogether, I argue that Perng Ching-Hsi's Chinese translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet features a dual contextualization, with which he attempts not merely to represent the original poetic styles of the play, but also to incarnate the poetics of Chinese literary convention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Anamorphosis, or the secret perspective, was not so secret in William Shakespeare’s time. There is evidence throughout Hamlet, for example, of an anamorphic sensibility, noticeable most obviously in the form of the haunting “thing” that arrives on stage from outside the “living” world of the play, at an angle as it were, but also in the way the covert is centrally embedded in the play’s action and meaning – how much of the play remains distorted or hidden from both the characters in the play and from readers/audience beyond it, obliging them to “re-form” the world anew. In this article, I will explore anamorphosis in Hamlet in two separate but connected areas: (1) the Ghost as a “tangential clairvoyant” – Maurice Molhollo’s term in the context of Miguel Cervantes – which denotes a spectral figure that exposes what has been hidden from sight (though that object may have been visible (that is, “suspected”) all along and, in the added sense I am suggesting, sets in motion the main action of the play even though it is not a central actor itself), and (2) the secret perspective of intuited, repressed, verbal, or off-stage material beyond the immediate sight or consciousness of characters and readers/audience. In both cases – of the Ghost as tangential clairvoyant and of the wider intuited, repressed material in the play – anamorphosis in Hamlet involves a new perception of a previously distorted object or situation, which leads to two similar yet opposed responses: either one of complete surprise (“I would never have guessed”) or astonished confirmation (“I knew it all along”). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In this paper I analyze two versions of Hamlet written and published after the fall of communism in Romania and Russia. Starting from the distinction made by Carl Schmitt in Hamlet or Hecuba (1956) between the real Elizabethan temporality that erupts in Hamlet and the atemporal-literary form of tragedy, I explore the mutations of the tragic produced by the adaptation of Shakespeare’s play in the post-communist East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Appropriating the dramatic genre, whose procedures are cited in the body of the text, this article reflects on some of the aspects involved in the teaching of literature in contemporary Brazilian universities. In a five-act sequence --each act referring to a different space in the university environment (the classroom, the meeting room, etc.)--, this paper explores different notions of learning and teaching, comments on responses to recent changes in the corpus and university bodies in Brazil, considers the relationship between the endogenous tradition of Brazilian patriarchal culture and immunitarian policies, and reflects on the complexity of the notion of heritage, in dialogue with the specters that haunt both Hamlet and the institutions where literature is taught. Throughout the text, I seek to highlight the materiality of daily life at university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Over the last few years, increasing scholarly attention has been devoted to how digital editions are reconceptualising the textual transmission and editorial mediation of Shakespeare and early modern drama. Yet, many questions are still open to debate. In particular, doubts have arisen concerning the benefits and possible drawbacks of affording access to the multiple surviving versions of the playwright's texts cross-referenced to complex editorial apparatuses in interactive environments. Against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving scene, this essay addresses the potentialities, challenges and possible future directions of Shakespeare digital editing, comparing print-based and digital-based reading practices, with a view to investigating the still partly unexplored hermeneutic implications for the reader. Focusing on Hamlet as a case in point, and examining a selection of Web-based resources that interestingly imitate, absorb and inventively 'remediate' page-based conventions of text representation, light is shed on how the shift from print to the digital medium affects our understanding of and possibilities of engaging with Shakespeare's textual heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Copyright of Cahiers Elisabethains: A Biannual Journal of English Renaissance Studies is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) more...

One of AI's core abilities is the conjuring up of images that seem familiar to us, based on our individual visual and architectural preoccupations. This splicing of the known with the unknown can create a sense of déjà vu that is both centred and defamiliarised. Italian artist, architect and researcher in visionary architecture Cesare Battelli takes us through some of the characters of the past who have utilised such creative tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Being vivacious and colourful members of the medieval and Renaissance courts, jesters served for a variety of recreational purposes in addition to having the oblique subaltern voices in the administration of the kingdoms. Despite their ostentatious clothing and jaunty manners, which they manifested while delivering jokes and tricks, their contribution to the royal administration had to be indirect and clever. Indeed, these men of great observation and acute cunning used their humour in order to voice what cannot be expressed by the others. In their peculiar kind of way that was also associated with their divergent nature, jesters were inclined to act as the advocates of truth which had to be suppressed or ignored at times in face of royal hegemony. As a rather skilled playwright, who was also familiar with the conventions of the court manners, Shakespeare spared an exceptionally subtle role for the character of the jester in his plays. This role reveals itself through witty jokes of criticism masked by the jolly words of a fool. Nevertheless, Shakespeare ascribes a markedly grim condition for his late jester Yorick who has to deliver his criticism through his deceased body, a skull per se. Deriving mobility from the Derridean sense of decentralizing the meaning, the article employs a deconstructionist reading of Hamlet through the absence of a jester to exhibit how the lack of a critical perspective may yield catastrophic dim-sightedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Why do we strike intrinsically inoffensive objects when they intrude upon our lives? Why, for example, do we kick the car when it breaks down, or slap the chair that pinches our finger against the table, or strike the open door that collides with our head? In this essay, I ask whether this phenomenon, which I call the performance of "pure object revenge", might arise from an impulse to execute vindicatory, and in that sense vengeful, justice upon the offending object. My new explanation for the phenomenon is that we strike the offending object because it has no life but has briefly acted as if it were alive. It therefore reminds us in the brief moment of its offence that our bodies are also inanimate dust and will return to dust and in the meantime are only briefly animated. In short, my argument is that we strike the object because it is a memento mori. To test and support this, I offer a reading of the "closet scene" at the centre of Shakespeare's Hamlet to illustrate the performative impulse to banish inanimate objects at the threshold of the living and the dead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Hamlet is a troubling piece. In this essay the reasons of internal ambiguity are analyzed through the conceptual prism of revenge. Moving from the well-known dispute between T.S. Eliot and C. Schmitt, the Author proposes an anti-canonical reading of the themes of the tragedy by reconstituting its socio-legal context. The aim is to bring to the surface legal elements which would be combined with the political facts already described by Schmitt in order to aid and amplify the validity of his argumentative approach. The historical transition from a documentary culture to a revenge culture, that marked the English imaginative world in Renaissance and post-Renaissance time, allows the interpreter to explain the excess not contained by Hamlet's plot not only with the figures of the taboo of the Queen and the taboo of the Avenger (outlined by Schmitt in his work Hamlet or Hecuba), but also with a new and yet unexplored taboo of justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Este artigo tem como objetivo estudar A tragédia de Hamlet, príncipe da Dinamarca, observando como as temáticas razão e loucura são relevantes na estruturação da peça, no desenvolvimento da tragédia e na formação e singularidade dos personagens Hamlet e Ofélia. Nosso estudo tem como foco não somente o príncipe, mas também a figura feminina e sua representação em obras de arte posteriores a Shakespeare. Nosso interesse analítico parte do imaginário em torno da morte dessa moça que enlouquece por amor e provavelmente se suicida por não ter sido correspondida pelo angustiado príncipe. O elo entre razão, loucura e morte permanece como questão central deste artigo, cujo referencial teórico-metodológico é baseado no estudo de Northrop Frye e de Gaston Bachelard. Além de ressaltar o excesso de razão e individualismo em Hamlet, características do herói moderno, nosso objetivo é expandir a imagem delicada e frágil da jovem ninfa para as suas representações, ou seja, interpretações nas artes dos séculos posteriores. Para isso, trouxemos o pensamento de Bachelard sobre a imagem da água na morte de Ofélia, além da ressemantização da imagem da moça na pintura, no cinema e na poesia. No nosso artigo, mostramos o par dualista entre razão e loucura na peça, a valorização poética da imagem melancólica e perturbada da personagem Ofélia, bem como o seu protagonismo no decorrer dos séculos. more...

Challenges from infections caused by biofilms and antimicrobial resistance highlight the need for novel antimicrobials that work in conjunction with antibiotics and minimize resistance risk. In this study we investigated the composite effect of HAMLET (human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells), a human milk protein-lipid complex and amoxicillin on microbial ecology using an ex vivo oral biofilm model with pooled saliva samples. HAMLET was chosen due to its multi-targeted antimicrobial mechanism, together with its synergistic effect with antibiotics on single species pathogens, and low risk of resistance development. The combination of HAMLET and low concentrations of amoxicillin significantly reduced biofilm viability, while each of them alone had little or no impact. Using a whole metagenomics approach, we found that the combination promoted a remarkable shift in overall microbial composition compared to the untreated samples. A large proportion of the bacterial species in the combined treatment were Lactobacillus crispatus, a species with probiotic effects, whereas it was only detected in a minor fraction in untreated samples. Although resistome analysis indicated no major shifts in alpha-diversity, the results showed the presence of TEM beta-lactamase genes in low proportions in all treated samples but absence in untreated samples. Our study illustrates HAMLET’s capability to alter the effects of amoxicillin on the oral microbiome and potentially favor the growth of selected probiotic bacteria when in combination. The findings extend previous knowledge on the combined effects of HAMLET and antibiotics against target pathogens to include potential modulatory effects on polymicrobial biofilms of human origin. more...

“Books within books” as a form of intertextuality is a characteristic phenomenon of all world literature. All the writers listed in the title of the present essay may serve as examples of intertextual dialogue between books, as their works were rooted in preceding sources and in turn became part of later literature. The article, however, is based on a report at a conference which proposed to consider how books appear in other books not only as allusions or sources, but as immediate elements of the text. In this essay two of the research directions, suggested by the organizers, are combined and explored: the books read by literary heroes created by writers who influenced Dostoevsky’s work and the role and the artistic image of books in the art of the Russian writer himself. Consequently, the choice of writers and their texts is not a random selection: Dante, Shakespeare, and Pushkin each in his own way had an impact on Dostoevsky; at the same time, in many of their works books appear as physical objects, being at once both “things” and impulse for the reader to think about. The article explores several of Dostoevsky’s compositions where books by Dante, Shakespeare, Pushkin, and even his own, appear either as part of an intertextual mosaic, or as material “artifacts.” The research shows the deep connections between the authors, both on a level of ideas and through the thematic of books. The end of the paper draws a parallel between the episodes of Dante’s Comedy and Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment where two characters together are reading one book that in both cases becomes a guide to Love. more...

In this contribution, the sentence type (declarative or interrogative), the disjunctor or, the infinitive mode of the verb to be as well as the lexical meaning encoded in it are addressed with regard to some translations of the move that opens Hamlet’s soliloquy, in the Third Act of the tragedy named after him. In the description, the translated passage is quoted and a retranslation into English is proposed, so that the choice made by the translator is better understood. As is evident, this choice is partly related to the architecture of the language into which the text is translated, and partly motivated by the translator’s own interpretation. Moreover, certain features of the language structure deserve to be considered in order to ask whether and how a language system influences the interpretation itself. The legacy of Coseriu’s insights invites us to rethink the activity of translation as a form of knowledge that can access a truly interlinguistic level (übereinzelsprachliche Ebene). more...

In this paper I endeavour to retell a partial history of the Hungarian translation of Hamlet’s commentary: “This is one Lucianus, nephew to the King!” (3:2:239) on the “Murder of Gonzago,” aiming to elucidate the intricate interplay between translation, cultural discourse, and socio-political dynamics. Hamlet’s commentary, seemingly straightforward yet laden with complexity, poses implications capable of reshaping the trajectory and purpose of his theatrical experiment, crafted to probe and establish Claudius’ guilt. The partial history of translations encompasses the epochs of Ferenc Kazinczy (18th century) and János Arany (19th century) up to the modern renderings of István Eörsi and Ádám Nádasdy (20th-21st centuries). Within this framework, I claim that exploring these translations of Hamlet’s commentary offers a gauge of Hamlet’s position in Hungarian cultural discourse. The evolving connotations of words, reflective of linguistic shifts, imbue layered meanings not only onto the statement itself but also onto the theatrical experiment it encapsulates. This exploration of translation, interpretation, and linguistic evolution sheds light on Shakespeare’s and Hamlet’s socio-cultural-political role in Hungary, as translations serve not merely as transparent channels of meaning but also as reflections on the political and cultural commitments of translators and their audiences. more...

The paper focuses on five Czech productions of Hamlet that attracted the most critical and public attention between 2000 and 2023. Namely, the productions directed by Miroslav Krobot (2006), Jan Mikulášek (2009), Daniela Špinar (2013), Michal Dočekal (2021) and finally the most recent version by Jakub Čermák (2022). All five performances could be seen as contemporary reinterpretations of a classical text using a (post-)modern stylistic approach, as examples of post-millennium Hamlets. The paper discusses dramaturgical choices (such as the conceptualisation of the ghost, the mousetrap scene, or the character of Fortinbras) in order to identify and analyse possibilities for interpreting Hamlet as a political drama in the context of Czech performance tradition and the current political situation. The results show that performances generally present variations of Hamlet as a family drama, foregrounding different issues of memory and body, while the political reading is obsolete. more...

The release of Chinese film director Feng Xiao Gang’s The Banquet in 2006 declares the first Chinese Hamlet film adaptation. Feng chooses to sinicize the play and interweaving cultural elements by framing the play into a Chinese martial art film and by applying Chinese Nuo mask and its variation in his filmic interpretation of the play. The frame of martial art film is heavily featured as the Chinese cultural touch deployed by the director in the transformation of a western play into a Chinese film, which proves to be an effective tool for displacing the western cultural elements with Chinese cultural ideology and principles. The use of the Nuo mask motif throughout the film is discussed with the following examples: 1. The director’s choice of using the Chinese Nuo mask in his adaptation of the play-within-the-play scene in the film, displacing the Mousetrap with its Nuo drama counterpart. 2. The director’s re-interpretation of Hamlet’s hesitation and madness, his representation of the Ghost and his symbolic approach to the building of characters by adopting a white paper mask. 3. The director’s transfer from the Ghost of Old Hamlet to copper carved mask symbolization. 4. The director’s building of characterization by using one’s own face as the mask. The framing of martial art film and the adoption of Nuo mask are the tools of sinicization in the process of the intercultural film adaptation of the western classic. The success of the film has explored the connections between the two cultures and challenged the transfer of Chinese culture into a western play. more...

Статья посвящена рассмотрению и описанию концепта «to be or not to be» в пьесе У. Шекспира «Гамлет, принц Датский». Это художественный концепт, выраженный сочетанием, устойчиво ассоциирующимся с конкретным произведением английской литературы XVII века. Концепт «to be or not to be» указывает на двойное и противоположное свойство одного и того же состояния – бытия/небытия. Ввиду того, что это противоречие является сутью трагедии принца Датского, Гамлета, этот концепт является центральным концептом драмы У. Шекспира. Кроме того, жанр драмы подразумевает динамику развития концепта от события к событию, то есть анализ концепта должен происходить в логике и динамике развития событий пьесы. Это обусловило применение к анализу концепта «to be or not to be» методики событийно-действенного анализа пьесы и композиционно-стилистического анализа текста монолога Гамлета. Тогда признаковой структурой концепта как символа двоемирия становится система, формируемая из ответов на вопросы: в каких событиях проявляется «двоемирие»? какими характеристиками обладает «двоемирие»? Ядром концепта является следующий смысл: это состояние сознания, которое осознает свою двойственность, одновременное существование в двух измерениях – «быть или не быть»; момент, в котором сознанием улавливается «квантовое» состояние мира, из которого лишь решением наблюдателя он становится другим: состояние жизни меняется на состояние смерти или наоборот. Концепт «to be or not to be» проанализирован в процессе познания текста, вписанного в литературно-философскую европейскую традицию XVII века, при помощи событийно-действенного анализа жанра трагедии, принятого в русском психологическом театре. В ядро концепта помещен чувствующий человек и его когнитивная деятельность сложной динамики. more...

This article shows us how C. S. Lewis offers an alternative way of framing expertise as he speaks and writes about his period(s) and text(s). This essay establishes that Lewis’s humility is, to some degree, a deliberately cultivated and rhetorically shrewd one. The self-characterization of childlike inexperience and humility is a traditional medieval rhetorical move of which Lewis is a master. Moreover, the irony of this humility has washed over commentators who believe Lewis’s claim to be no true Shakespearean scholar and who have all too readily sought to rescue Lewis from his reticence. This paper sets the record straight by resituating Lewis as an academic exploring medieval and renaissance texts from the inside out. It takes Lewis’s reticent remark at the beginning of his Shakespeare Lecture to the British Academy (1942) as a case in point. more...

Both Freud and in Lacan make extensive, albeit different, use of art and literature in their theories. This can be better observed when they focus on the same work, such as Hamlet and, in Freud's case, Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Thus, this article analysed Freud's readings of these two Shakespearean tragedies, as well as Lacan's analysis of Hamlet, investigating some particularities about their relations with art and literature. Despite differences in interpretation, these works bring together important elements valuable as a paradigmatic example of psychoanalytic reflections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Shakespeare's Hamlet is a good example of a political play that accentuates the remarkable ways in which power is seized and used for manipulative objectives. Thus, manipulation happens in Hamlet, especially in terms of trying to search for the truth. It is also a kind of play that creates the distinction between virtue and vice. As it is reflected, Claudius becomes desperate to ascend to the throne, and for this reason, he kills his brother. This situation presents fertile ground for tragic situations in the process of political pursuit. Thus, as we see the effort of Hamlet in pursuing retributive justice for his father's death, many other forms of truth are revealed, and these bring about the act and the practice of the reality of life. Therefore, this paper reveals how Shakespeare presents moral questions and considerations using the characters of Hamlet, the protagonist, and Claudius, the antagonist, and revealing how a family feud affects a nation. The attempt to take revenge leads to multiple deaths. The paper accentuates the function of power and how Hamlet emphasises that nothing can stand in his way of revenge, including his Christian faith. The loyalty to his late father becomes a strong measure for fulfilling his wish. In other words, tragedy would not have evolved if Hamlet has not made himself a complex person by refusing to accept what his uncle has done. He becomes very careful to regain what his uncle has taken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

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Background and Objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major global health challenge. The BRAF V600E mutation, found in 8–12% of CRC patients, exacerbates this by conferring poor prognosis and resistance to therapy. Our study focuses on the efficacy of the HAMLET complex, a molecular substance derived from human breast milk, on CRC cell lines and ex vivo biopsies harboring this mutation, given its previously observed selective toxicity to cancer cells. Materials and Methods: we explored the effects of combining HAMLET with the FOLFOX chemotherapy regimen on CRC cell lines and ex vivo models. Key assessments included cell viability, apoptosis/necrosis induction, and mitochondrial function, aiming to understand the mutation-specific resistance or other cellular response mechanisms. Results: HAMLET and FOLFOX alone decreased viability in CRC explants, irrespective of the BRAF mutation status. Notably, their combination yielded a marked decrease in viability, particularly in the BRAF wild-type samples, suggesting a synergistic effect. While HAMLET showed a modest inhibitory effect on mitochondrial respiration across both mutant and wild-type samples, the response varied depending on the mutation status. Significant differences emerged in the responses of the HT-29 and WiDr cell lines to HAMLET, with WiDr cells showing greater resistance, pointing to factors beyond genetic mutations influencing drug responses. A slight synergy between HAMLET and FOLFOX was observed in WiDr cells, independent of the BRAF mutation. The bioenergetic analysis highlighted differences in mitochondrial respiration between HT-29 and WiDr cells, suggesting that bioenergetic profiles could be key in determining cellular responses to HAMLET. Conclusions: We highlight the potential of HAMLET and FOLFOX as a combined therapeutic approach in BRAF wild-type CRC, significantly reducing cancer cell viability. The varied responses in CRC cell lines, especially regarding bioenergetic and mitochondrial factors, emphasize the need for a comprehensive approach considering both genetic and metabolic aspects in CRC treatment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper deals with the questions Dostoevsky's reception in Hungary in the last decades of the 19th and in the first two decades of the 20th centuries. The author investigates the growing interest towards Dostoevsky in the context of the new tendencies of the art and literature and gives a detailed survey of the most characteristic reactions (i.e. reviews, studies, introductions to the books) about the new translations and editions of Dostoevsky's works. Among the most relevant questions are treated the stereotypes about Russian culture and people, living in Hungary through the past centuries, the various interpretations of the Crime and Punishment and some comparative aspects in the analysis of this novel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...