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Hamlet (The RSC Shakespeare)
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Product Description
Review
'Jonathan Bate is a passionate advocate of Shakespeare and his introductions are full of striking and convincing observations ... footnotes at the bottom of each page gloss unfamiliar items of vocabulary, paraphrase tricky meanings and uncover bawdy puns. There is a universe to be found in these annotations: the Renaissance world of power and fate, sex and death, language and philosophy.' - Times Educational Supplement
Product Description
From the Royal Shakespeare Company – a fresh new edition of Shakespeare's most celebrated play.
This book includes:
* An introduction to Hamlet by award-winning scholar Jonathan Bate
* The play – with clear explanatory notes on each page
* A scene-by-scene analysis
* An introduction to Shakespeare's career and the Elizabethan theatre
* A rich exploration of approaches to staging Hamlet
The most enjoyable way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or participate in it. This book presents a historical overview of Hamlet in performance, recommends film versions, takes a detailed look at specific productions and includes interviews with three leading Directors – Michael Boyd, Ron Daniels and John Caird – so that we may get a sense of the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible - a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made 'our contemporary' four centuries after his death.
This book includes:
* An introduction to Hamlet by award-winning scholar Jonathan Bate
* The play – with clear explanatory notes on each page
* A scene-by-scene analysis
* An introduction to Shakespeare's career and the Elizabethan theatre
* A rich exploration of approaches to staging Hamlet
The most enjoyable way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or participate in it. This book presents a historical overview of Hamlet in performance, recommends film versions, takes a detailed look at specific productions and includes interviews with three leading Directors – Michael Boyd, Ron Daniels and John Caird – so that we may get a sense of the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible - a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made 'our contemporary' four centuries after his death.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This play is extracted from Bate's complete RSC Shakespeare, with some additional material. The short notes are by far the most important, and these are also in the "complete" Shakespeare. If all you want is to 'read all the plays with minimum pain' then, on this evidence, the RSC Complete Shakespeare should be considered. If you want a bit more background with your Hamlet, but not technical overkill, then get this.
Many versions of Hamlet are rather formidable for the general reader. My "Arden playgoers edition" has 159 pages of introduction, 150 pages of appended long notes, and the 'short notes' take up more space than the actual text of the play! Useful, no doubt, for PhD students specialising in the technicalities and alternative versions of Hamlet, but this general reader will not be reading the Arden introduction again any time soon! ('Playgoers' version indeed!)
Anyway, back to this edition, edited by Jonathan Bate. It has a superb 20 page introduction (that I will be re-reading) and some nice short articles at the back of the book. But it has no 'long notes' at the back. All the (very short) notes are on the page you are reading, leading to a much better reading experience.
The very short notes never disrupt the reading, and only ever enhance it. Any archaic words are translated, and complicated phrases are *briefly* re-phrased for 'adequate' understanding. These notes are a remarkable exercise in concise explanation. Jonathan Bate has a great reputation as an approachable Shakespeare scholar, and these notes prove that this is deserved.
Many versions of Hamlet are rather formidable for the general reader. My "Arden playgoers edition" has 159 pages of introduction, 150 pages of appended long notes, and the 'short notes' take up more space than the actual text of the play! Useful, no doubt, for PhD students specialising in the technicalities and alternative versions of Hamlet, but this general reader will not be reading the Arden introduction again any time soon! ('Playgoers' version indeed!)
Anyway, back to this edition, edited by Jonathan Bate. It has a superb 20 page introduction (that I will be re-reading) and some nice short articles at the back of the book. But it has no 'long notes' at the back. All the (very short) notes are on the page you are reading, leading to a much better reading experience.
The very short notes never disrupt the reading, and only ever enhance it. Any archaic words are translated, and complicated phrases are *briefly* re-phrased for 'adequate' understanding. These notes are a remarkable exercise in concise explanation. Jonathan Bate has a great reputation as an approachable Shakespeare scholar, and these notes prove that this is deserved.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The RSC Complete works is an impressive tome, but it is inevitably a bulky item - not something you want to carry around with you! The individual plays are being gradually issued and these are far more user friendly. For me the most insightful part - and the bit that really adds value to this edition - is the directors' comments on various productions. It is fascinating to hear the different views and interpretations and reveals why these great plays continue to have a life after all these years.
The layout of the book is clear and the notes on the text are on the same page - thereby overcoming the problem of having to keep turning to the notes elsewhere. The notes tend to also be quite brief - unlike say the Arden series - which is usually all you need. Some of the notes are very useful, although some make you think "why didn't the editor think I wouldn't understand that word?".
Other editions do contain more depth, but this series puts the plays into context and feel like a more modern approach than some of the other series.
I am replacing all my versions with this series.
The layout of the book is clear and the notes on the text are on the same page - thereby overcoming the problem of having to keep turning to the notes elsewhere. The notes tend to also be quite brief - unlike say the Arden series - which is usually all you need. Some of the notes are very useful, although some make you think "why didn't the editor think I wouldn't understand that word?".
Other editions do contain more depth, but this series puts the plays into context and feel like a more modern approach than some of the other series.
I am replacing all my versions with this series.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm one of those people afraid of Shakespeare - partly because English is not my first language and partly because my English teacher at high school had us skip most of it. However in recent months, references to 'Hamlet' have been cropping up all around me - from David Foster Wallace's novel 'Infinite Jest' to TV show 'Sons of Anarchy' - so I decided to bite the bullet and read Hamlet.
I agonised over what edition to pick because I wanted something 'idiot proof', with notes, explanations and summaries so that I could actually understand what I was reading. I eventually settled on the RSC edition and I'm really glad that I did. It's very well laid out, without being specifically targeted at A Level students (which for some reason I tend to find offputting).
Main features:
- It has a great overall introduction which goes into some detail about the various versions of the play;
- List of characters;
- The play itself has footnotes throughout;
- Summary for each scene
- Chapter about Shakespeare and Elizabethan theatre
- History of the many 'Hamlets' who played the lead character over the centuries;
- Q&A with major theatre directors.
I thought I'd struggle with the play, but I actually found myself not needing to read all the footnotes - although it was great to know that they were there.
One small tip: keep some post-it notes handy so that you can easily flick back and forth to the characters list, scene summary and main body of the play.
I'll definitely buy an RSC edition of a Shakespeare play again - maybe the next one will be Macbeth!
I agonised over what edition to pick because I wanted something 'idiot proof', with notes, explanations and summaries so that I could actually understand what I was reading. I eventually settled on the RSC edition and I'm really glad that I did. It's very well laid out, without being specifically targeted at A Level students (which for some reason I tend to find offputting).
Main features:
- It has a great overall introduction which goes into some detail about the various versions of the play;
- List of characters;
- The play itself has footnotes throughout;
- Summary for each scene
- Chapter about Shakespeare and Elizabethan theatre
- History of the many 'Hamlets' who played the lead character over the centuries;
- Q&A with major theatre directors.
I thought I'd struggle with the play, but I actually found myself not needing to read all the footnotes - although it was great to know that they were there.
One small tip: keep some post-it notes handy so that you can easily flick back and forth to the characters list, scene summary and main body of the play.
I'll definitely buy an RSC edition of a Shakespeare play again - maybe the next one will be Macbeth!
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