Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and the Elizabethan Playhouse
A space for spectacle and reflection
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a play that has fascinated audiences for over four centuries. With its rich exploration of madness, revenge, political intrigue, and existential dread, it remains one of the most performed and analyzed works in the Western literary tradition. But to truly appreciate Hamlet, it is essential to consider both the Elizabethan playhouse and the broader historical and cultural context in which it was written.
The Elizabethan Playhouse
When Hamlet premiered around 1600-1601, it was most likely performed at the Globe Theatre, one of the most famous playhouses of the period. The Globe, an open-air amphitheater, could accommodate an audience of up to 3,000 spectators from all walks of life, from aristocrats in the ‘Lord’s Rooms’ to groundlings standing in the pit. The structure itself shaped the way the play was received: daylight performances meant that audiences relied on language rather than lighting for mood-setting, and minimal scenery required actors to evoke Denmark’s eerie Elsinore Castle through words alone.
For instance, in the beginning of Act 1, Scene 4, Hamlet and Horatio invite the audience to imagine a cold and dark night, as they wait for the ghost to appear:
Hamlet: The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
Laertes: It is nipping, and an eager air.
Hamlet: What hour now?
Horatio: I think it lacks of twelve.
Marcellus: No, it is struck.
The interactive nature of Elizabethan theater also influenced the way Hamlet was performed and perceived. Soliloquies, such as the famous “To be or not to be” speech, allowed actors to engage directly with the audience, drawing them into Hamlet’s internal struggle. The play’s themes of deception and theatricality took on additional resonance in a space where spectators were acutely aware of their own roles as watchers of a performance. In a world where disguise, spying, and public spectacle were common in both courtly and everyday life, Shakespeare’s exploration of performance within Hamlet, from the traveling players to Hamlet’s feigned madness, mirrored broader societal anxieties.
For example, after revealing the truth about his death, the Ghost pleads Prince Hamlet to remember him. Hamlet replies:
Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
The audience watching the play at the Globe in the early 17th century could interpret the phrase “in this distracted globe” both as Hamlet's head (where the memory of the Ghost is imprinted) or as the Globe theatre itself!
Reading Hamlet in context
Discussing Hamlet in context opens up rich possibilities for interpretation. One approach is to examine the play’s connection to contemporary political and philosophical concerns. Elizabethan England was a time of uncertainty: Queen Elizabeth I was aging and had no direct heir, leading to widespread anxiety about succession and the stability of the realm. These concerns echo in Hamlet, where the sudden death of a king and the ascent of a potentially illegitimate ruler unsettle the Danish court.
The play also reflects Renaissance humanism, particularly its preoccupation with the nature of man. Hamlet’s introspective soliloquies engage deeply with the philosophical ideas of the period, questioning the meaning of existence, action, and mortality. Influences from Montaigne’s essays and the Stoic tradition resonate in Hamlet’s musings on fate and free will.
Another compelling avenue of discussion is Hamlet’s engagement with revenge tragedy. The genre, popular in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, typically featured a protagonist tasked with avenging a wrongful death, leading to escalating violence and a climactic bloodbath. Shakespeare complicates this formula by making Hamlet a deeply reflective character who struggles with the morality of revenge, delaying action in favor of philosophical inquiry. His hesitation, often read as indecision, forces audiences to consider whether vengeance is ever truly justified.
Do you want to explore this play further? Hamlet is the second stop in our year-long program Read the Classics in 2025 with Books & Culture. For each book, you get access to preparatory material in PDF, an introductory video lesson, a live reading and commentary of Act 1, an in-depth video lesson, an academic article, and a group discussion via Zoom. Click on the button below to know more and register: