【正文】 ter play in creating a specific work of art? “Negotiator” who has to negotiate with the historical context to create a “currency” (text) that is valid for a profitable “exchange”. Thus “the work of art is the product of a negotiation between a creator or a class of creators, equipped with a plex, munally shared repertoire of conventions and the institutions and practices of society” (qtd. in Veeser 1989 12).3. Hamlet—the Product of Shakespeare’s Negotiation with the Historical Context From the New Historicists’ point of view which has been discussed in the previous chapter, work of art can be seen as a product of negotiation between its creator and the historical context. Applying this theory to the study of Hamlet, we can argue that when Shakespeare was creating the play Hamlet, he was in fact, negotiating with the historical context. On one hand, he was a dynamic initiator of action who had his own sharply defined identity and interests。因此，本文將有助于文本的文化層面的解讀。 New Historicism；historicity；textuality ii摘要《哈姆雷特》是莎士比亞藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作的巔峰之作。畢 業(yè) 論 文學生姓名學 號院 (系)外國語學院專 業(yè)英語（師范）題 目新歷史主義解讀《哈姆雷特》New Historicist Reading of HamletA Thesis Submittedto School of Foreign LanguagesHuaiyin Normal Universityin Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the Degree of Bachelor of ArtsByLiu LuSupervisor：Xu XiaobingMay 10, 2013淮陰師范學院畢業(yè)論文AcknowledgementsI want to express my appreciation to many who supported my efforts in writing this dissertation during past few months.I am greatly indebted to Prof. Ms. Xu who patiently helped me and gave me a lot of useful information. It took her a large amount of time to read and improve my paper. Without her help, I would have failed to finish my paper. I am deeply impressed by her hardworking spirit. Hearty thanks should also be given to Professor Zhang Xiuguo, who has offered the course Essay Writing that tell us how to write a wellformed thesis.Special thanks should be extended my classmates who show their kind encouragement and useful suggestions to me during my writing process.iAbstractHamlet is regarded as the peak of Shakespeare’s artistic creation. From then on, the play has been studied by a large number of literary scholars, many of whom hold various opinions about the text, socalled “there are one thousand Hamlets in one thousand readers’ minds”. The objective of this thesis is to disclose the relationship between Hamlet and its historical context by applying the major theories of New Historicism, especially the New Historicist dictum of “historicity of text and textuality of history”. Based on New Historicism, the thesis examines the text from three aspects: firstly, Shakespeare’s creational background of Hamlet。時至今日，莎翁評論家依然對該劇眾說紛紜，真所謂“有一千個讀者就有一千個哈姆雷特”。關(guān)鍵詞：《哈姆雷特》；莎士比亞；新歷史主義；歷史性；文本性iiiContents1. Introduction 12. An Introduction to New Historicism 2 The definition of New Historicism 2 Major theories of New Historicism 23. Hamlet—the Product of Shakespeare’s Negotiation with the Historical Context 4 The dynamic role Shakespeare played in creating Hamlet 4 Shakespeare, a secret Catholic sympathizer 4 Shakespeare’s interest in mental problems 5 The submissive role Shakespeare played in creating Hamlet 74. Hamlet—A Realistic Representation of the Society in the Elizabethan Era 8 A brief account of the religious and social background of the Elizabethan era 9 Characters in Hamlet: typical figures of the Elizabethan era 10 role of Hamlet in the text 10 role of Fortinbras in the text 115. The Historical Power of Hamlet 11iv Dramatic level 12 Cultural level 136. Conclusion 14Works Cited 16v1. Introduction Shakespeare’s Hamlet has aroused hot discussions among many critics in all ages. From the early 17th century, the play was famous for its ghost and vivid dramatization of melancholy and insanity, leading to a procession of mad courtiers and ladies in Jacobean and Caroline drama. This view changed drastically in the 18th century, when critics regarded Hamlet as a hero—a pure, brilliant young man thrust into unfortunate circumstances. For example, Gilbert Murray said in his “Hamlet and Orestes” that “The things that thrill and amaze us in Hamlet ... but things belong to the old stories and the old magic rites” (171). By the 19th century, literary criticism came to focus more on character and less on plot. In the 20th century, criticism branched in several directions, discussed in context and interpretation. However, few critics pay much attention to its historical background. The author was invoked by them into a serious thinking about the specific relationship between Hamlet and its historical background. Is Hamlet deeply influenced by the historical background? Does it have some influence on the history in return? And how did Shakespeare create such a play at that particular time? New Historicism offers a perspective for author’s thinking because “the relationship between history and text remain in the center of the New Historicist arguments” (Zhu G 260). The theories of New Historicism would provide me with wider and firmer basis to make a systematic study on the relationship between Hamlet and its historical context, which in this specific aspect, could be more in depth than the previous studies. The author would like to divide her dissertation into mainly four parts. In chapter 1, the author would give a brief introduction is given to New Historicism and its major theories, especially those which are feasible for the research on Hamlet to offer a theoretical basis for my research. Author would focus on the author, Shakespeare in chapter 2, applying some theories of New Historicism such as “social energy” and “negotiation” to analyze how Shakespeare produced Hamlet. The next two chapters deal with the relationship between the text Hamlet and the historical context of the Elizabethan Era