Category: Introduction to Literary Studies

According to Anthony DiMatteo’s “Shakespeare and the Public Discourse of Sovereignty: ’Reason of State’ in ’Hamlet’”, how does Shakespeare tend to present political rulers in Hamlet?

A. Shakespeare presents political rulers as flawless, perfect human beings.
B. Shakespeare presents political rulers as often meeting ruinous and violent endings.
C. Shakespeare only presents fictional political rulers and does not explore any political realities.
D. Shakespeare considers all political rulers to be corrupt.

In “Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays”, what does William Hazlitt mean when he states the following: “We do not like to see our author’s plays acted, and least of all, ’Hamlet’. There is no play that suffers so much in being transferred to the stage” ?

A. Hamlet cannot be staged properly because of the complexity of the play’s use of language.
B. Hamlet is not relevant to the Romantic age.
C. The role of Hamlet cannot be properly played by any actor.
D. Hamlet is a work that was written to be read, not performed.