Hamlet: Ghosts and the Afterlife

In today's episode, we are expanding our research on Early Modern beliefs about ghosts. We'll looking be at how folk tales and ghost stories influenced the writing of Hamlet and the depiction of King Hamlet's ghost as much as (or possibly more than) Early Modern religious beliefs about the afterlife. We'll also discuss the details of how a ghost would appear onstage in Shakespeare's time and how early theatrical traditions influenced Shakespeare and his company. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was using the stage name "Korey Leigh Smith".

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

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Works referenced:

Belsey , Catherine. “Beyond Reason: Hamlet and Early Modern Stage Ghosts.” Gothic Renaissance - a Reassessment, edited by Beate Neumeier and Elisabeth Bronfen , Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK, 2017.

Gordon, Bruce, and Peter Marshall, editors. The Place of the Dead: Death and Remembrance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2000.

McKeever, Amanda Jane (2011) The ghost in early modern Protestant culture: shifting perceptions of the afterlife, 1450-1700. Doctoral thesis (DPhil), University of Sussex.

Phillippy, Patricia. Women, Death and Literature in Post-Reformation England. Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Schreyer, Kurt A. “‘Then Is Doomsday Near’: Hamlet, the Last Judgment, and the Place of Purgatory Book.” Shakespeare's Medieval Craft Remnants of the Mysteries on the London Stage, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2014, pp. 104–134.