[MR] Hamelt Precurser?

[Alianora Munro]

--- Rowanwald Central <rowanwald at sybercom.net> wrote:

> Any chance that Shakespeare knew the story of this
> saint? I think he was
> born too late to have got a Catholic education - but
> the story may have been
> known to Englishmen as "history". What do you think?

Most scholars think that Shakespeare lifted _Hamlet_
from the story of the Danish prince Amleth in the
_Histoires Tragiques_ of Francois Belleforest, who in
turn seems to have lifted it from a twelfth-century
chronicle by Saxo Grammaticus. Saxo may have been
using Geatish legend which had rooted in Denmark, and
possibly a now-lost Icelandic saga.

On the other hand, the topos of the usurping uncle and
vengeful son (which is the real theme of _Hamlet_, not
the poisoned cup) is widespread in world literature --
in addition to the Saxo Grammaticus/Belleforest
version, there are other examples -- for example a
similar story is found in an 11th-c Persian text
called the Shah-nama (say Shaw-nah-MAY, lit. "The Book
of Kings"), which is a legendary history of Persia
before the Islamic conquest.

regards,
Alianora, who in real time is teaches _Hamlet_ and
portions of the Shah-nama to recalcitrant 18-year-olds



 

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