
Activating Hamlet
Eddie Burton(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 6. May 2026
Book
Hardback
12 pages
978-1-032-96427-0 (ISBN)
Description
Activating Hamlet offers a new theory of Hamlet, highlighting how significant philosophical themes within the play mirror those that surround the text's complex and mysterious bibliographical history.
Hamlet is a cornerstone of western literature, a play obsessed with the ideas of likeness, authenticity, and the relationship between a thing's outer appearance and its hidden inner nature, yet there is no definitive version of the play itself. Eddie Burton explores the three different early texts that have come to dominate subsequent editions of the play, examining editing, authenticity, likeness, the appropriateness of names and the veracity of language. Burton discusses how the challenge of deciding on a singular 'true' version of the text may lead to a deeper understanding of the play itself, affording a new vision of Hamlet, and considers if we should re-think how we engage with literature itself.
This book will be of interest to anyone studying Shakespeare, early modern culture, or theatre and performance.
Hamlet is a cornerstone of western literature, a play obsessed with the ideas of likeness, authenticity, and the relationship between a thing's outer appearance and its hidden inner nature, yet there is no definitive version of the play itself. Eddie Burton explores the three different early texts that have come to dominate subsequent editions of the play, examining editing, authenticity, likeness, the appropriateness of names and the veracity of language. Burton discusses how the challenge of deciding on a singular 'true' version of the text may lead to a deeper understanding of the play itself, affording a new vision of Hamlet, and considers if we should re-think how we engage with literature itself.
This book will be of interest to anyone studying Shakespeare, early modern culture, or theatre and performance.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Academic, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate Advanced
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
277 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-96427-0 (9781032964270)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions


Person
Eddie Burton is Head of HE Performing Arts at ESPA Stamford, UK.
Content
Introduction; 1. The Origins of Hamlet; 2. Hamlet's Early Editors; 3. The Discovery of Q1 and Current Theories on Hamlet; 4. The problem of universals: the one and the many in Elsinore; 5. Hamlet, Words and Truth; 6. Felski and Elsinore; Conclusion; Works Cited; Index