Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
Dr. Anthony Russell
Second Advisor
Dr. Louis Schwartz
Abstract
This thesis explores the theme of identity confinement through the lens of Shakespeare's Hamlet and its contemporary adaptations, Fat Ham by James Ijames and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. At the core of this comparative study is Hamlet's paradoxical claim that he could be "a king of infinite space" were it not for his "bad dreams," a statement that encapsulates the tension between internal autonomy and external constraint. The thesis argues that Hamlet's sense of self is shaped-and ultimately fractured-by external demands, including his father's ghostly command for vengeance, the political corruption of Denmark, and an existential fixation on death.
Recommended Citation
Houston, Anna-Laura, "‘King of Infinite Space:’ Confinement and Identity in Hamlet & Contemporary Adaptations" (2025). Honors Theses. 1818.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/1818
