The Forest of Arden is described as ‘that shadow-land elsewhere’ (Introduction, As You Like It, p. 1). To what extent is a fantasy of ‘elsewhere’ significant in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy?Explain.
The quotation used in the question refers to As You Like It; you are not required to write about that text.
Focus should be: the temporal ‘elsewhere’ i.e. the idealised elsewhere of a real or imagined past in relation to the characters of Hamlet and Bel-Imperia.
Required references are:
Kyd, T.: Gurr, A. & Mulryne, J.R. (eds), The Spanish Tragedy (New Mermaids)
Thompson, A. & Taylor, N. (eds), The Arden Shakespeare Hamlet (Revised edn)
The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Tragedy – Tanya Pollard’s chapter, ‘Tragedy and revenge’, AND/OR Gregory Colón Semenza’s ‘The Spanish Tragedy and metatheatre’
“The Spanish Tragedy” and “Hamlet”: Infernal Memory in English Renaissance Revenge Tragedy ZACKARIAH C. LONG English Literary Renaissance
Vol. 44, No. 2 (SPRING 2014), pp. 153-192
Guidance:
‘Elsewhere’ suggests a location placed in relation to another locale, so you will need to consider that relationship and its purpose. The quotation includes the word ‘shadow-land’, and it would be a good idea to consider the implications of that. This is an invitation to consider the literary purpose of either real or imagined locations, and you should make sure you avoid simply describing settings and locations. Does ‘elsewhere’ have symbolic intent? Perhaps ‘elsewhere’ is not a literal place at all, but one created in the mind. You are free to develop any argument and take whatever approach to the EMA that seems to you to answer the question best. Whatever your approach, you will need to provide evidence from close textual analysis, and from critics, to substantiate your conclusions.
In your answer, you must also demonstrate significant evidence of independent study through reference to critical sources and/or other sources from outside the directed teaching material.
Remember that your prime aim in your answer must be to cast light on the details ‒ things such as language, literary techniques and genre conventions – of the two set works that you are discussing. Before you start writing, therefore, make sure that you know both of the set works you have chosen well,. Devote roughly equal space to each of your set works.
