Abstract:William Shakespeare is the greatest playwright and poet of Britain during European Renaissance. At the same time, he is one of the founders of realism in the world literature. He was recognized as the peak of the English Renaissance. Shakespeare is one of the world’s greatest writers. In his works, Hamlet is considered the peak of the four great tragedies. Since the work came out, it has gained a lot of criticisms. Critics interpreted his plays from different perspectives: the traditional criticism, new criticism, psychological and feminist. However, the researches on the biblical character archetype study of Hamlet are much fewer. Archetypal criticism is a type of critical theory that interprets a text by focusing on recurring myths and archetypes in the narrative, symbols, images and characters in a literary work. Archetypal criticism became popular in the 1950’s and 1960’s, largely due to the work of Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye. This thesis, based on Northrop Frye’s archetypal critical theory, attempts to explore the archetypal figures of the Bible in Hamlet in terms of characters in order to uncover the everlasting charm and profound significance of Shakespeare’s masterpiece.

Keywords:  Hamlet  the Bible  archetypal criticism  biblical archetypal figure

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1Brief Introduction to Shakespeare and Hamlet-1

1.2 The Bible’s Influence on Shakespeare’s Literary Creation-2

1.3Purpose and Significance of the Study-2

1.4Organization of the Thesis-3

Chapter Two Literature Review-4

2.1Northrop Frye’s Archetypal Criticism-4

2.2 Previous Research on Hamlet-4

Chapter Three The Biblical Archetypal Figures in Hamlet-6

3.1 Hamlet-6

3.2 Claudius and Elder Hamlet-7

3.3 Polonius and Ophelia-8

Chapter Four Conclusion-11

4.1 Major Finding-11

4.2 Limitations and Suggestions-11

References-12