Hamlet

Anon. (1589?, 1594)


Historical Records


The LPD treats the play documented by the entry in Henslowe's Diary and alluded to by Nashe (1589) and Lodge (1596) as the same play; it considers this early version of the Hamlet story—universally and hereinafter called the "Ur-Hamlet"— to be essentially discrete from the Hamlet preserved in Q1 (1603).

Henslowe's Diary


F. 9 (Greg, I.16)

ye 9 of June 1594 ………. Res at hamlet ………. viijs


Thomas Nashe, Preface, Menaphon, 1589



Thomas Lodge, Wits Miserie, 1596



Theatrical Provenance

A London venue c. 1589
Newington 1594
The Theater in Shoreditch c. 1596


Probable Genre(s)

Tragedy


Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

1514: Saxo Grammaticus, Danorum regum heroumque historiae

1570: Francois de Belleforest, Histoires tragiques, vol 5


References to the Play

Nashe, 1589, preface to Menaphon

Lodge, 1596, Wit's Miserie

Critical Commentary

Authorship



Relation to Q1



Projected Content




For What It's Worth




Works Cited

Boas
Erne
Honigmann
Malone
Menzer
Robertson
Sams
Smith
Urkowitz



Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor of English, Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; created 19 November 2012; updated DD Month YYYY.