‘Like a Soldier to the Stage’ Field Commander Hamlet and the ends of tragedy

Barker, Simon (2009) ‘Like a Soldier to the Stage’ Field Commander Hamlet and the ends of tragedy. The Cyder Press, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham. ISBN 978-1-86174-197-4

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Abstract

Simon Barker’s inaugural lecture considers the treatment of Shakespeare’s most famous protagonist in a variety of contexts and environments: school and university curricula; stage and screen (from London’s Globe Theatre to the work of Laurence Olivier and David Tennant); and as an object of curiosity, a ‘character’ quite apart from Shakespeare’s play, whether in the psychiatrist’s chair, the world of comedy or in advertising. The lecture addresses these various Hamlets as a measure of the significance of Shakespeare as a long-present and continuing force in both popular and high culture. The lecture concludes, however, with the view that Hamlet’s most coherent identity is his most controversial, an identity as soldier-prince completely omitted from the most recent Stratford production but one that has much to say about the meaning of tragedy in general.

Item Type:	Book
Additional Information:	The Cyder Press is an imprint established by the University of Gloucestershire as an extension of the resources provided by the University's existing Dymock Poets Archive & Study Centre
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Shakespeare; Hamlet; theatre; tragedy;
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Creative Arts
Research Priority Areas:	Culture, Continuity, and Transformation
Depositing User:	Anne Pengelly
Date Deposited:	21 Feb 2017 14:27
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 08:56
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/4358

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