Barkovs Hamlet: A Tragedy of Errors

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William Shakespeare authorship:
The text of Hamlet contains indications that Shakespeare portrayed himself as an allegedly dead university graduate.

HAMLET: A TRAGEDY OF ERRORS,
OR THE TRAGICAL FATE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE? by Alfred Barkov

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When the text of
William Shakespeare: a mask for Hamlet - Christopher Marlowe?
William Shakespeare
Hamlet is read attentively, and no details are disregarded, it becomes evident that William Shakespeare included in it something quite different from what has been traditionally interpreted. According to the text, prince Hamlet was not a son to king Hamlet, king Hamlet has never been poisoned, pregnant Ophelia was drowned by prince Hamlet's half-brother. Though that might sound odd, the facts Shakespeare included in the text suggest that the plot of Hamlet has been perceived erroneously.

In what we traditionally consider to be the plot of Hamlet, there exist multiple contradictions and discrepancies which cannot be explained within the established interpretation. Even the age of the hero is not known for sure: Hamlet of the Act I is around twenty while in the Act V he appears to be thirty years old.

If we really rate Shakespeare's talent that highly as we use to proclaim, we have to exercise a different approach to the contradictions in Hamlet. That is, they must be treated as composition means intended by Shakespeare as integral parts of the structure of Hamlet. Attentive reading suggests that the contradictions reflect a sophisticated structure with two plots both containing seemingly the same cast of characters factually possessing with different biographies.

Though the real plot of Hamlet as it was intended by Shakespeare can be comprehended without employment of any theory, there was necessary to develop a version of Literary Theory capable to address the problems of decoding and describing the inner structure of special class of fiction called menippeah. Despite that Hamlet belongs to that class, in my paper, I avoided plunging into the issues of literary theory because the hidden content of any menippeah can be perceived with just attentive reading, Shakespeare's Hamlet being no exception.

Menippeah is different from the three known classes of fiction: the epics, the lyrics, and the drama. It employs a specific way of narrating widely used even in everyday communication (when irony is intended.)...

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...lizabeth?..

The Shakespeare mystery was maintained at the state level as a top state secret. Queen Elizabeth personally tackled two cases threatening the fate of Christopher Marlowe.

Chapter VIII: The second Virgin in the history of human civilization?

Christopher Marlowe taught Arabella Stuart, a prospective queen. The parliament adopted a decision the throne should be succeeded by Queen Elizabeth's 'natural' rather than 'legitimate' issue.

Chapter IX: Is Christopher Marlowe The Swan of Avon?

Shakespeare-Hamlet: is Marlowe the Swan of Avon? The place Queen Elizabeth delivered a child in April 1564 is situated on river Avon. That might attribute Ben Jonson's definition to Marlowe.

Related pages:

Shakespeare Authorship. Hamlet and Marlowe's works: same structure

Hamlet by William Shakespeare, and Christopher Marlowe's dramas possess with identical very sophisticated structure.
Hamlet, a summary (The complete version, in Russian)
Roberta Ballantine's site dedicated to Christopher Marlowe
William Shakespeare Authorship Roundtable

Alfred Barkov ut5ab alfred@barkov.kiev.ua P.O. Box 36 Kiev 01103 Ukraine

Copyright © Alfred Barkov 2000, 2003
Last updated: Nov. 23, 2003

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