Shakespeare: Lyrical Wordsmith or Fraud?

To be, or not to be?

Praise                                                                                                                                  Cody

    Shakespeare was wont  to creating work based on others' ideas and stories. In fact, most of his work was just dramatic treatments of other authors fables. (Think: Brother Grimm's transition into modern fairy tales.) But! I beseech thee! Do not gaze sorrow-ingly upon Shakespeare, for he strode into other minds for ideas of which he could create a masterpiece from; he did not seek to wrong them of their words or work. Now, enter Thomas Nashe, and Robert Green, for Shakespeare delved into the minds of these two men more than once. As he "copied-and-pasted" what he could find, and added dramatic flare and pun. Hamlet was being born, anew.

Thomas Nashe, Robert Greene, William Shakespear

Truths and Conspiracies                  Erica

Ur-Hamlet/ Menaphon:•Protagonist was a young Danish Prince.•Antagonist was in-relation-to protagonist.•Death of Political Figure.•Apparition acts as a prologue.• Not-so-much death.•'Happier' endings.

            Hamlet(WS.):•Protagonist was a young Danish Prince.•Antagonist was in-relation-to protagonist.•Death of King.•Apparition acts as a prologue.•Dramatized as a tragedy.•Tragic ending.•Full of literary genius and original speeches in iambic pentameter.  

Hamlet, Menaphon

From Him to Him to He                    Cody

In an epistle by Thomas Nashe, Tom shared his idea for a play. The play was about a Danish Prince from Denmarke (intentional) named Hamblet. The letter, sent to Robert Greene, was an outline with few ideas about the play. The basic idea for the play was a betrayal wrapped in a mystery stuffed inside of a comedy. Meaning, it holds similarities in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The play was written and performed a few times, but never had any success. Then, BAM! Shakespeare is writing the drama that shakes the stone of wood of the Globe Theater.

Globe, Performance

Presented by Erica and Cody

Created by Gary

Works Cited  

"Hamlet." Wikipedia. N.p., 5 Sept. 2011. Web. 19 Oct. 2011.      <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet>.

Kempry, Dane. "All the Year Around." Afterword. Shakespearianan I. By Charles      Dickens and Dane Kempry. Vol. 1. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 17-178. Rpt. in      Unpublished Works . N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. The Shakespeare Collection.      Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://shakespearean.org.uk>.

Dowden, Edward. Theater History. N.p., Feb.-Mar. 2005. Web. 19 Oct. 2011.      <http://www.theatrehistory.com>.