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Just Another Marlowe Monday
Also making an appearance in my “star for later” bucket is Casablanca Girl’s “Hamlet / Dr. Faustus” crossover. At 1000 words or so it’s a pretty quick read.
The premise is kind of neat. Everybody’s quick to point out that Hamlet at Wittenburg is complete anachronism, as the university did not exist in Hamlet’s time (it did in Shakespeare's). So then was Shakespeare maybe copying directly from Marlowe? Is the connection deliberate?
3 comments:
I liked it. A good little prologue to something for sure. As to Shakespeare's designs what follows is my conjecture--even some of the dates are in question--not my conjecture.
1592 Faustus 1st performed
1593 Marlowe dies
1599-1601 Hamlet written?
1600 Hamlet 1st performed?
1604 Faustus 1st published
Marlowe's idea came from legend.
If you're going to be anachronistic anyway, why not choose an already "legendary', familiar location. Dazzle 'em with the skill of your marketing and publicity techniques. "Oh yeah, Wittenberg- the Divil-won't miss this hamlet thing..."
A ghost and purgatory too...now there's a thought...it was so popular in Kyd's Tragedy...hmmmm
For what it's worth, Faustus has two throwaway characters named "Cornelius and Valdez" in Act I, and Hamlet has "Cornelius and Voltemand."
There's actually a play out there that takes advantage of the same concept... Wittenberg, by David Davalos (I saw it here http://www.repstage.org/Productions/season0910/wittenberg/index.html )
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