Activating Hamlet

This book tells a new story about Hamlet, exposing its key philosophical concerns are also significant factors in the work’s own bibliographical history. Eddie Burton analyses how Hamlet has evolved, how the play continues to be activated, and how it speaks to us about modern approaches to literature.

Activating Hamlet offers a new theory of Hamlet, highlighting how significant philosophical themes within the play mirror those that surround the text’s complex and mysterious bibliographical history. Hamlet is a cornerstone of western literature, a play obsessed with the ideas of likeness, authenticity, and the relationship between a thing’s outer appearance and its hidden inner nature, yet there is no definitive version of the play itself. Eddie Burton explores the three different early texts that have come to dominate subsequent editions of the play, examining editing, authenticity, likeness, the appropriateness of names and the veracity of language. Burton discusses how the challenge of deciding on a singular ‘true’ version of the text may lead to a deeper understanding of the play itself, affording a new vision of Hamlet, and considers if we should re-think how we engage with literature itself. This book will be of interest to anyone studying Shakespeare, early modern culture, or theatre and performance.