hamlets burdens cripple the power of thought
Schlegel
to understand hamlet we must reflect on ourselves, “i have a smack of hamlet in myself”
Coleridge
focussed on hamlets hesitation - he was overwhelmed by ‘amazement and sorrow’
Goethe
there is no play that suffers so much in being transferred to the stage
Hazlitt
when was it prominent?
late 18th/early 19th century
what did they focus on?
hamlet as an individual
Romantic ideas
focused on natural world, demonised industry, spiritual struggle and the outsider, emotion and individuality