Question

Which fact about hamlet would be most important to a student analyzing the play through a historical lens

Answer 1

With regards to the historical origins of the play it is interesting to point out that the play was very likely inspired by the Danish story Life of Amleth, which made part of the larger Gesta Danorum, written by the Danish author Saxo Grammaticus during the 13th century. Many of the plot elements of Shakespeare's work come from the Danish story such as a prince that pretends to be mad, who k ills a spy that is hiding nearby (Polonius), whose mother drops her mourning quite fast to rapidly marry another man who turns out to be the k iller of his late father and even the prince foiling a conspiracy to execute him by manipulating two other people to be executed in his place. There is also the historical context of the play during the time of its inception: the fierce, ongoing conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism. Hamlet's ghost tells his son that he is in Purgatory because he died without receiving his last rites, two very Catholic doctrines. Also, Claudius can be seen as a metaphorical personification of the Catholic Church, he per verts monarchy for his own personal benefit just as the Catholic Church - according to Protestant beliefs - pe rverted Christianity in order to gain extreme social, economic and political power. Furthermore, Hamlet takes place in Denmark, a very Protestant country, and he studies at the University of Wittenberg, the exact same college where Martin Luther launched Protestant Reformation. Finally, the fact that the play insists on the importance of preserving the social order and purge it from corrupting elements stems from the fact that Shakespeare lived in an era that had been preceded by the great suffering and upheavals of the Wars of the Roses.

Answer 2

The correct answer, according to edge, is:

A. It was written during a time when kings and queens had absolute power