Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 6, No. 0607. Friday, 4 August 1995.
(1) From: W.L. Godshalk <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 03 Aug 1995 16:03:19 -0500 (EST)
Subj: Re: SHK 6.0601 Re: Hamlet (Was "To be or not to Be")
(2) From: Martin Green <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 4 Aug 1995 08:55:52 -0400
Subj: Re: SHK 6.0602 Re: Salvini
(1)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: W.L. Godshalk <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 03 Aug 1995 16:03:19 -0500 (EST)
Subject: 6.0601 Re: Hamlet (Was "To be or not to Be")
Comment: Re: SHK 6.0601 Re: Hamlet (Was "To be or not to Be")
For Sean Lawrence:
In Hamlet's Christian world, there is no non-being. Hamlet's father is dead,
but he still exists. The existential world is, basically, a world without god.
(I have a difficult time understanding the position of the Catholic
existentialists.) In Hamlet's world, death is a transition to another state of
being, where angels sing the protagonist to his rest, and where his father is
still in existential torment.
Thus, I see Hamlet's "2 B r 0 2 B" speech as beginning with a contemplation of
nobility, and then considering the consequences of certain possibly noble
actions. Harry Levin has a good analysis of this speech in THE QUESTION OF
HAMLET, near the end of Chapter 2 (pp. 68ff. in the Viking paperback), which
supports your position more strongly than mine! But Levin points our how the
binary oppositions work in the speech.
Yours, Bill Godshalk
(2)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Martin Green <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 4 Aug 1995 08:55:52 -0400
Subject: 6.0602 Re: Salvini
Comment: Re: SHK 6.0602 Re: Salvini
G. L. Horton's reference to Salvini's former fame: in "The Othello of Tommaso
Salvini " (1890) E. T. Mason wrote: "The aim of this book is to describe,
fully and accurately, a great theatrical performance - perhaps the greatest of
our time. As Shakespeare is to other dramatists, so is Salvini to other actors
- etc." High praise! And I believe I read somewhere that Salvini acted the
part only in Italian - is that possible?
M. Green