University of Virginia professor Paul Cantor, curator of the Shakespeare and Politics website (thegreatthinkers.org/shakespea...) in the first of three lectures on Hamlet.
I have just learned of Professor Paul Cantor's death in 2022 on Wikipedia. I've been listening to Shakespeare's plays and Cantor's lectures and the lectures add so much to my understanding of these plays. I did come here to praise Professor Cantor and offer my gratitude to his generosity in sharing his wisdom. R.I.P.
This is an incredible analysis of the play. Thank you, professor - this lecture has been invaluable in deepening my understanding of one of my favorite works by Shakespeare
I have read, seen, listened to, and yes been in Hamlet. The Professor examines the "peculiar" nature of The Prince in an enlightening and compelling way; until you watch this, you are not fully loaded for BEAR.
Trivia point, but it seems Donatello's bronze "David" (at the Bargello) was the first free-standing nude (although it has boots and a helmet) since the Renaissance, not Tullio's "Adam" @5:35
~20:00 The basic structure of Hamlet’s battle with Claudius is clearly an iteration of Osiris, Set and Horus. Shakespeare makes two or three distinct references to this. The Norse probably informs more details directly but the pattern goes back several thousand years.
In the lecture on Caesar, Cantor referenced Hegel's definition of tragedy as having to choose between two goods. Since Hamlet is a tragedy, what are the two goods that Hamlet is trying to choose between?
Whenever I hear scholars complain that Hamlet doesn't rush to kill Claudius (and they do this a lot!) I want to ask them how they expect him to accomplish it. It's like saying you want to kill the president. Not so easy! These guys are guarded and I suspect Claudius is even guarded against family. You check your dagger at the door when you enter the king's presence, something I suspect most Elizabethan audiences took for granted but never seems to occur to modern scholars. If I were staging the play, Claudius would always have armed guards around him, the way Coppola always had the muscle shadow Michael in Godfather 2. We might also consider that Hamlet might want to get away with killing Claudius, as Claudius himself got away with killing Hamlet Sr., without which it might be thought it's not much a vengeance.
+Noah Spencer Jack Lemmon is terrible in the film, he can't speak the verse, doesn't understand the character and is doing 'method acting' in a renaissance play. An embaressment.
I agree that Crystal is terrific. He's completely understandable, clearly understands what he's saying, and genuinely funny. Lemmon is just a little past his prime to be standing a sentry post or keeping up with the high power talent in the film. I thought Williams was less effective, as much because he wasn't actually on the set with everyone else as anything else.
Although apropos for an undergraduate course at a very elite university, the tacit hypothesis formulated as "political marriages don't work" is outside the cited political sources. The mechanics of political marriage are found neither in Machiavelli, nor Aristotle, nor Hegel, and esp. not Nietzsche. A better conclusion is that a close study of Shakespeare and his plays.inspires a belief that the only marriages that might work are those where one partner is away most of the time.
Sorry, but I read a negative comment on his delivery. I find his name appropriate. A Cantor he is, I love watching him, listening, enjoy his interjections; notice when reading the text it is tone perfect, precise and always, as Hamlet would say, correct.
Th Russian version is named Gamlet because the Russian language doesn't know the consonant"H. If Russians encounter this consonant they usully spell it as a "G".
I hope this doesn't sound rude, but I don't know why this professor completely ignores the history of Danish invasion and laws in England in the eleventh century, as if Hamlet wouldn't be some allusion to that in England? Why is he focused on Greek influence of Homer's Iliad or Odyssey? I don't find that kind of connection nearly as blatant as the actual possession of large parts of England by the Danish tribes in the year 1000 until before the Norman invasion... Anyone else help here?
It's either your lectures are so complete that no questions are necessary or your UVA students are unable to formulate an intelligent one. Could be both.
He imitates Lucius Junius Brutus who feigned madness in the court of the Tarquin kings according to Livy. Brutus was a key player in overthrowing the tyrant and establishment of the Roman Republic. Hamlet is less of a threat if people think him mad.
I can get that some background is necessary to appreciate the play but the excessive details, of who was who and what was what, seem dispensable. Hamlet would not have stayed to hear these words, words, words
No he doesn't. He provides context for reinterpretation (such as other, relevant Shakespeare plays) and for casting off of lazy views of the character/play. What a smartarse comment.
TBH, it's difficult to put up with these details about Renaissance and the hard to pronounce Renaissance stars..... whatever happened to the soul of wit professor?😕
I have been a high school English teacher for 38 years. I read the Variorum "Hamlet" every summer just for fun, and teach Hamlet every year to my senior class, both A.P. and regular. I have never been so bored in my life hearing anyone speak about Shakespeare or Hamlet. His reading from Shakespeare's text is wooden and barely shows understanding of the words. His audience is pretty quiet; his students must be sleeping. He directs students to the text by citing page numbers?! I don't know one high school English teacher who uses page numbers; we admonish our students not to do this, but rather, to refer to the play by act, scene, line. I didn't find this lecture insightful or even the least bit interesting
PAUL CANTOR'S LECTURES -HAMLET AND ALL OF HIS LECTURES-ARE SUPERB -HAVE CHANGED LIVES FOR THE BETTER-EXCEPTIONAL UNDERSTANDING-this 'likespurple ' person doesn't have a clue-and is ignoramus
Oh, I didn't know you had to be an accomplished actor to teach Hamlet. I've listened to a bunch of lectures and I appreciate the way he runs through the lines quick and easily without a lot of fuss. I want an analysis, not a stage show.