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

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