Theory In Practice: Hamlet

Often regarded as Shakespeare's most complex play, Hamlet has frequently confounded those who regard it as too ambitious for adequate theatrical representation. In the translation from study to stage, however, many have found it a challenge both in its cariety of effects and discourses and also in its cultivation of a flawed yet sympathetic humanism. Is Hamlet's own voice a summation of the whole play? If not, how can we come to terms with its many accents and profound fears ? This volume approaches the play from four declared positions within literary criticism (mythic; performance study; feminist and Lacanian). It illustrates how complex critical theories might affect critical practice in detail; and illumintes both Hamlet and the theories themselves. A select bibliography6 and essay introductions by the volume editors hellp those new tto theory to assimilate and apply it in reading or seeing the play.