Histrionic Hamlet

An original intervention in the critical history of Shakespeare's most famous play, Histrionic Hamlet argues that the Danish Prince is a stage representation of a histrionic personality, incongruously thrown in the middle of ruthless high-stakes power struggle.

Piotr Sadowski is a lecturer in Humanities in the Department of Film and Creative Media at Dublin Business School, Ireland. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of English, Trinity College, Dublin. Sadowski is the author of several books on medieval and Renaissance literature, film history, and cognitive semiotics.

Introduction: Between drama and life 1. "And all men and women merely players": Social role playing and theatrical acting 2. "Report me and my cause aright to the unsatisfied": Audiences and critics 3. "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder!": Hamlet versus pragmatic avengers 4. "How is it that the clouds still hang on you?": Hamlet's teen angst 5. "This fellow in the cellarage": Hamlet and the Ghost 6. "Doubt truth to be a liar": The melancholy lover 7. "Will you see the players well bestowed": Hamlet in his element 8. "The play's the thing": Hamlet's unfortunate theatrical experiment 9. "There's letters sealed": Hamlet's nemesis 10. "The rest is silence": The dénouement