Hamlet, a genre-bending revenge tragedy? – Act 1 scene 2

Abstract

This article concentrates on an early, but strategic scene in Shakespeare’s celebrated tragedy in which the audience is introduced to the court world of Elsinore and to the protagonist himself. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which Shakespeare’s innovative text tests early modern expectations of revenge tragedy as well as incorporating those associated with rhetoric and pedagogy in the period. The article ends demonstrating the international political emphasis of this scene as well as the unexpected continuities in self-representation between the leading male figures onstage.