Furthermore, doing so will reveal ways in which Shakespeare’s linguistic playfulness in 'Hamlet' works at and beyond edges of English. As well as acknowledging the influence of the essays’ original French on all three 'Hamlet' texts – the First and Second Quartos, and the Folio – the comparison will reveal the authors’ shared general interests in invoking multiple meanings. Making a case for Shakespeare’s knowledge of French, this paper will trace some of the ways in which Shakespeare has Hamlet translate Montaigne’s philosophy, with a particular focus on plays and playing.
However, this comparative history has been largely conducted through John Florio’s 1603 translation, even though 'Hamlet' was first performed at least as early as 1600, and perhaps much earlier. The critical history of connections between Shakespeare’s work and the 'Essais' of Michel de Montaigne go back as far as 1779. However, Shakespeare’s playful language does not stop at the edges of the English but moves further beyond it. Language in 'Hamlet' is frequently centred on the impossibility of representing meaning through acting or through words. Shakespeare’s reputation for puns, or plays on words, is well founded, but one text for which he is particularly well known is a play about words. Presented at the ANZSA 'Shakespeare at Play' conference at the University of Melbourne, February 8, 2018. Please contact me if you wish to read any of this work directly.
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