|This is a page for the course "Some Versions of Hamlet" (EN 420a-Writing Intensive), taught by Prof. Alan Baragona of the VMI Department of English and Fine Arts.
Hamlet is so complex and ambiguous that every reading of the text and every performance of it can constitute not just a different interpretation but essentially a different version of the play. This course examines the different "versions" of the character Hamlet and of his play as a whole in four ways: first, through reading of a "basic" text; second, through a study of the three main versions of Shakespeare's text that have come down to us (the First and Second Quarto and the First Folio); third, through actors' interpretations of Shakespeare's creation on stage and on film; and fourth, through other authors' renditions of the characters and events in the play.
Hamlet in Performance
General Sites for Shakespeare and Hamlet