401F Winter 2026 (Re)discovering Hamlet

Since Hamlet’s first performance, readers, playgoers, actors, and directors have grappled with its mysteries. What are we to make of its unsettling world, where the path to truth lies through spying, deception, and putting on a play? How often must we revise our first impressions of the characters we meet, as they respond to their circumstances by going mad, betraying friends, or resorting to cruelty or violence? What does it mean to act in this world, whether to fulfill a ghost’s vengeful demand, maintain a kingdom or a crumbling marriage, or survive a family’s destruction? And what do we make of Hamlet himself, for whom Shakespeare wrote his greatest soliloquies and his longest play? In each of our meetings, we’ll consider these questions, exploring the play’s language and stagecraft, watching videos of important scenes, and discovering (or rediscovering) Shakespeare’s tragic masterpiece.

Susan McCloskey received her Ph.D. from Princeton University, was a tenured professor of English literature at Vassar College, and spent a memorable year as the dramaturg for the Classic Stage Company in New York City.