Hamlet and Habit: The Renaissance Problem of Programmable Life

• Published in: Modern philology Vol. 118; no. 1; pp. 25 - 47
• Main Author: Pfannebecker, Mareile
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago The University of Chicago Press 01.08.2020; University of Chicago, acting through its Press
• Subjects: Drama; Habits; Morality; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Social life & customs; Theater criticism

Questions of “habit” and “custom” recur throughout William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, as they do elsewhere in early modern culture, in theological, legal and moral philosophical debate as well as in popular literature of improvement. In this article, I will argue that the Second Quarto edition of Shakesp...