1、毕 业 论 文学生姓名 刘璐 学 号 020901052院 (系) 外国语学院专 业 英语（师范）题 目 新历史主义解读哈姆雷特徐晓兵 讲师指导教师（姓 名） （专业技术职称/学位） 2013 年 5 月 10 日New Historicist Reading of HamletA Thesis Submittedto School of Foreign LanguagesHuaiyin Normal Universityin Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the Degree of Bachelor of ArtsByLiu LuSup
2、ervisor：Xu XiaobingMay 10, 2013淮阴师范学院毕业论文iAcknowledgementsI want to express my appreciation to many who supported my efforts in writing this dissertation during past few months.I am greatly indebted to Prof. Ms. Xu who patiently helped me and gave me a lot of useful information. It took her a large
3、amount of time to read and improve my paper. Without her help, I would have failed to finish my paper. I am deeply impressed by her hardworking spirit. Hearty thanks should also be given to Professor Zhang Xiuguo, who has offered the course Essay Writing that tell us how to write a well-formed thesi
4、s.Special thanks should be extended my classmates who show their kind encouragement and useful suggestions to me during my writing process.淮阴师范学院毕业论文iiAbstractHamlet is regarded as the peak of Shakespeares artistic creation. From then on, the play has been studied by a large number of literary schol
5、ars, many of whom hold various opinions about the text, so-called “there are one thousand Hamlets in one thousand readers minds”. The objective of this thesis is to disclose the relationship between Hamlet and its historical context by applying the major theories of New Historicism, especially the N
6、ew Historicist dictum of “historicity of text and textuality of history”. Based on New Historicism, the thesis examines the text from three aspects: firstly, Shakespeares creational background of Hamlet; secondly, the influence of the historical context on Hamlet which makes the play a representatio
7、n of the Elizabethan era and the specific effect of Hamlet on the construction of the historical context of the Elizabethan era. Last， the important role playing in the development of drama and culture. Thus，the new historicist reading of Hamlet will highlight some cultural aspects of the text. Keyw
8、ords: Hamlet; Shakespeare; New Historicism；historicity；textuality 淮阴师范学院毕业论文iii摘要哈姆雷特是莎士比亚艺术创作的巅峰之作。时至今日，莎翁评论家依然对该剧众说纷纭，真所谓“有一千个读者就有一千个哈姆雷特” 。本文运用“文本的历史性和历史的文本性”这一新历史主义最重要的理论，挖掘哈姆雷特与它所产生的社会历史环境间的“对话性”关系。本文从三个层面解析文本：首先探讨莎士比亚创作哈姆雷特的历史背景；其次哈姆雷特反映了伊丽莎白时代的特定历史背景，揭示历史对文本的影响；最终指出哈姆雷特在英国戏剧和文化发展中所起的重大历史作用。因此
9、，本文将有助于文本的文化层面的解读。关键词：哈姆雷特 ；莎士比亚；新历史主义；历史性；文本性淮阴师范学院毕业论文ivContents1. Introduction .12. An Introduction to New Historicism .22.1 The definition of New Historicism.22.2 Major theories of New Historicism.23. Hamletthe Product of Shakespeares Negotiation with the Historical Context .43.1 The dynamic rol
10、e Shakespeare played in creating Hamlet .43.1.1 Shakespeare, a secret Catholic sympathizer.43.1.2 Shakespeares interest in mental problems .53.2 The submissive role Shakespeare played in creating Hamlet .74. HamletA Realistic Representation of the Society in the Elizabethan Era.84.1 A brief account
11、of the religious and social background of the Elizabethan era.94.2 Characters in Hamlet: typical figures of the Elizabethan era.104.2.1The role of Hamlet in the text .104.2.2The role of Fortinbras in the text.115. The Historical Power of Hamlet .11淮阴师范学院毕业论文v5.1 Dramatic level .125.2 Cultural level
12、.136. Conclusion.14Works Cited .16淮阴师范学院毕业论文（设计）11. Introduction Shakespeares Hamlet has aroused hot discussions among many critics in all ages. From the early 17th century, the play was famous for its ghost and vivid dramatization of melancholy and insanity, leading to a procession of mad courtiers
13、 and ladies in Jacobean and Caroline drama. This view changed drastically in the 18th century, when critics regarded Hamlet as a heroa pure, brilliant young man thrust into unfortunate circumstances. For example, Gilbert Murray said in his “Hamlet and Orestes” that “The things that thrill and amaze
14、us in Hamlet . but things belong to the old stories and the old magic rites” (171). By the 19th century, literary criticism came to focus more on character and less on plot. In the 20th century, criticism branched in several directions, discussed in context and interpretation. However, few critics p
15、ay much attention to its historical background. The author was invoked by them into a serious thinking about the specific relationship between Hamlet and its historical background. Is Hamlet deeply influenced by the historical background? Does it have some influence on the history in return? And how
16、 did Shakespeare create such a play at that particular time? New Historicism offers a perspective for authors thinking because “the relationship between history and text remain in the center of the New Historicist arguments” (Zhu G 260). The theories of New Historicism would provide me with wider an
17、d firmer basis to make a systematic study on the relationship between Hamlet and its historical context, which in this specific aspect, could be more in depth than the previous studies. The author would like to divide her dissertation into mainly four parts. In chapter 1, the author would give a bri
18、ef introduction is given to New Historicism and its major theories, especially those which are feasible for the research on Hamlet to offer a theoretical basis for my research. Author would focus on the author, Shakespeare in chapter 2, applying some theories of New Historicism such as “social energ
19、y” and “negotiation” to analyze how Shakespeare produced Hamlet. The next two chapters deal with the relationship between the text Hamlet and the historical context of the Elizabethan Era with the help of the well-known New Historicist dictum of “historicity of texts” and “textuality of history” sep
20、arately. In chapter 3, the author would 淮阴师范学院毕业论文2discuss the influence of history on the text which makes the play a realistic recording of the Elizabethan Era. And the author would discuss in chapter 4 the influence of the text on the historical contextthe historical power of Hamlet. On the whole
21、, the author would do a research on Shakespeares Hamlet from the perspective of New Historicism in order to show the important value of this play to analyze inter-influence between the play and the historical context of the Elizabethan Era, and to approach again to the relationship between history a
22、nd text.2. An Introduction to New Historicism2.1 The definition of New HistoricismAccording to the New World Encyclopedia, “New Historicism is an approach to literary criticism and literary theory based on the premise that a literary work should be considered a product of the time, place, and histor
23、ical circumstances of its composition rather than as an isolated work of art or text”. New Historicism suggests literature must be studied and interpreted within the context of both the history of the author and the history of the critic. New Historicists aim simultaneously to understand the work th
24、rough its historical context and to understand cultural and intellectual history through literature, which documents the new discipline of the history of ideas. Unlike previous historical criticism, which limited itself to simply demonstrating how a work reflected its time, it evaluates how the work
25、 is influenced by the time in which the author wrote it. It also examines the social sphere in which the author moved the psychological background of the writer, and the books and theories that may have influenced him or her. In New Historicists eyes, “a text can have neither a unified ideology nor
26、an entirely aesthetic function” (Colebrook 24-25).2.2 Major theories of New HistoricismNew Historicism borrows the “Power Theory” from the famous Post-Structuralist 淮阴师范学院毕业论文3Michel Foucault to analyze in depth the detailed relations between history and text. In Foucaults theory, power refers the r
27、elations of domination and resistance which saturate our social, political and cultural relations, but it can also refer to the ways in which power is a productive, even pleasurable, part of our existence. It is everywhere; not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere (Fo
28、ucault 93). Obviously, “power” here has a much broader application than the words like “politics” and “economy”, which are used by the traditional historicism. “Power also needs to have subversion, otherwise it would be without the opportunity to justify itself, and to make itself visible as power”
29、(Brannigan 8). As a result, certain text could be subversive to some extent, in the interest of power. Foucaults principal interest is how power diffuses itself in systems of authority and how it affects of truth produced within discourses which in themselves are neither true nor false. In New Histo
30、ricists opinion, literary texts are placed in the specific historical context and related to other non-literary texts which constructed within other specific historical context; similarly, history is regarded as a text of interrelated contexts. “Different New Historicists may have different inclinat
31、ions to historicity and sexuality” (Zhu G 260). This is just the famous New Historicist dictum of “historicity of text and textuality of history”, which based on the New Historicist Louis Montroses theory. In Louis Montroses most famous dictum, the new orientation to history in literary studies may
32、be characterized as a dynamic dialogue between literature and history and it has a reciprocal concern with “the historicity of texts and the textuality of history”. History can influence text and in the meanwhile, it can also be influenced by text and is constituted by various texts. “The relationsh
33、ip between history and text remains in the centre of the New Historicist arguments” (Zhu G 206).Another important theory New Historicism has established is about the “writer”. Stephen Greenblatt argues that the writer as a subject is always doing “self-fashioning” within the historical context. We c
34、an understand the key point of this “Writer Theory” from the meaning of the word “subject”. “Subject” can refer to a person or a thing which can perform action according to its own will. It can also be used as an adjective, having the meaning of “to be submissive and governed by others”. So to be a “subject”, one has to be
