21:38 Hamlet

Day 21 of 38:38
Hamlet -- The Bad Quarto

So, since I'm at the Shakespeare Association of America conference, I can't pull out my Arden edition of this play to consult, so forgive me if I misspeak (or just comment and correct me, or add things I'm missing ;-) ) For those of you who aren't scholars of the bard, just to catch you up, we have three texts of Hamlet: The first quarto (known as the "Bad Quarto"), the second Quarto, and the Folio. When you see Hamlet performed you are usually seeing a conflation of the texts from the Folio and the second Quarto. The first quarto edition of Hamlet is quite different from the other two texts and full of what seems to be textual mistakes and problems. This version, I would have said, does not get performed due to the "errors." But due to the academic interest in this version, there have recently been fully staged productions of the text of the first quarto Hamlet. The plots are practically identical between the different texts, what is different is the poetry and some of the ordering of the scenes.

Nearly all of the soliloquies are considerably shorter in the first Quarto Hamlet, and there will be a line that is identical to what we know, followed by a line that is completely different. For example, the line we know goes "To be or not to be; that is the question." The first quarto says "To be or not to be, aye there's the point."

Anyway, the first quarto is called the Bad Quarto for several reasons - it is a lot shorter, leading to the claim that things are missing, a lot of the logic of the speeches is missing, the syntax is weird, and the poetry many find to be inferior. Where did this text come from?

From what I recall there are two prevailing theories about the Q1. The first that it is a memorial reconstruction of the actual Hamlet play by Shakespeare. An actor with an apparently very bad memory tried to write down the entire play and had to approximate large chunks of it. The second theory is that the q1 is Shakespeare's first draft, based off of the Ur-Hamlet, or the name given to the supposed source play that Shakespeare based his Hamlet off of. Then, the theory says, Shakespeare rewrote the play entirely to what we know today.

But the Q1 Hamlet is ... weird. I know that's a completely subjective assessment. But the characters all seem underdeveloped. Their arcs don't make sense. The poetry is inferior. There is a lot of missing logic. Syntax is strange. Thoughts are unfinished. Several names are different.

So here's a totally crazy thought that I have no evidence for, and don't have the time to properly research. But what if the Q1 Hamlet IS the Ur-Hamlet? What if this text is not Shakespeare at all, but the text that Shakespeare based his version off of?

It's claimed that the Q1 version of Hamlet is some version of Shakespeare's writing, because, I suppose, there are many identical lines, and the plot follows the same trajectory. But Shakespeare's other plays also have extreme parallels with source material. But I would need to do further research on other source plays and Shakespeare's versions to see if there are direct line quotes as there are between the Hamlets.

One of the scholars at the reading noted that he thought the Q1 Hamlet was a superior text. I and my friends found this questionable. But, hey, to each his own.

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Favorite Female Character:
Gertrude
Favorite Male Character:
uh... don't have one

Laugh out loud:
Hamlet There's never a villain dwelling in all Denmark,
But he's an arrant knave.
Horatio There need no Ghost come from the grave to tell you this.

"That's what she said!":
Hamlet Upon your lap, what do you think I meant country matters?

How insulting:
Ghost that incestuous wretch

Shakey loves his meta:
Gilderstone In Faith my Lord, novelty carries it away,
For the principal public audience that
Came to them, are turned to private plays,
And to the humor of children.

Oh, misogyny:
Hamlet Frailty, thy name is woman.

Boys are silly:
Corambis Sum men often prove,
Great in their words, but little in their love.

Favorite Moment/Line:
Hamlet Why what a dunghill idiot slave am I