Hamlet: Succession and Geopolitics

Have you ever wondered why Claudius becomes king over Hamlet? In today's episode, we are exploring the laws of succession that Shakespeare's audience would have understood and diving into how modern productions have highlighted the geopolitical themes within the play. 

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

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was "Korey Leigh Smith".

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

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Works referenced: Assay, Michelle. “'Hamlet' in the Stalin Era and Beyond: Stage and Score.” Universite Paris-Sorbonne and University of Sheffield, Universite Paris-Sorbonne and University of Sheffield, 2017.

LAKE, PETER. “Hamlet.” How Shakespeare Put Politics on the Stage: Power and Succession in the History Plays, Yale University Press, 2016, pp. 511–33. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1gxxpsd.28. Accessed 6 Sep. 2022.

Stabler, A. P. “Elective Monarchy in the Sources of ‘Hamlet.’” Studies in Philology, vol. 62, no. 5, 1965, pp. 654–61. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4173509. Accessed 6 Sep. 2022.