【正文】 s greatest playwrights were active during her reign, including Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare. With her permission, professional theaters were built in England for the first time, attracting 15,000 theatergoers per week in London, a city of 150,000 to 250,000. The Shakespearean sonnet, Spenserian stanza, and dramatic blank verse also came into practice during the period. During the time of Elizabethan theater, plays about tragedy and revenge were very mon and a regular convention seemed to be formed on what aspects should be put into a typical revenge tragedy. Shakespeare’s works are the greatest representation of religion and art from Elizabethan England. In 1603, Hamlet was premiered, which was very closely follows the dramatic conventions of revenge in Elizabethan theater. It followed every convention required to classify it as a revenge play quite perfectly. And at the same time, it reveals the faith of Catholic sympathizers secretly so it was popular and shocked the audience at that time. Characters in Hamlet: typical figures of the Elizabethan era Every historical context would give birth to some typical figures, some of whose personalities are influenced, even caused by the historical context. So would the Elizabethan era. There existed various kinds of people in this historical context, some of whom hold many distinctive characteristic caused by this specific context. Two kinds of these typical figures are reflected in Hamlet by the characters in the play. And the portrayal of these characters makes the play a more realistic reading of the Elizabethan era. role of Hamlet in the textHamlet is the representative of many English Renaissance young men. His living states and personalities are deeply influenced by the historical context. In Renaissance period, humanism was the essence of Renaissance, formed in man’s mind. Shakespeare was one of the best representatives of the English humanists. In his work Hamlet, the role of Hamlet fully embodies the spirit of humanism.Wittenberg was a place that really existed in history. It is also the birthplace of the Humanism. Shakespeare applied this historical context into Hamlet. In the play, Hamlet studied at the University of Wittenberg, his mind and view point was influenced by the atmosphere of the current notion. We always see that Hamlet is a dull prince because it seems that he didn’t care what happened around him. Actually, it might be Hamlet’s trick to the world. He hid his true feeling, as we know that humanism emphasizes personal power. So there may be sprout of Humanism in Hamlet’s mind. Hamlet advocated that man is the center: “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals! ” (Act II, Scene ii, 285) such a delight in nature and man was characteristic of the humanist of the Renaissance. Shakespeare, as a humanist, he applied his humanistic emotions and minds into Hamlet just to show his advocation for humanist. role of Fortinbras in the textFortinbras is the representative of Catholicism. Fortinbras, we know he is a prince of Norway that serves as a foil for Hamlet. The more notable is a Norwegian crown prince with a few brief scenes in the play, who delivers the final lines that represent a hopeful future for the monarchy of Denmark and its subjects. As the tragedy es to a close, Fortinbras is the only character with the strength left to repair all the damage that has been done. Fortinbras is a plex, almost contradictory character. He is a soldier trained in the ways of war, yet he brings order and stability when everything has bee chaotic. His actions speak for him. Norway at that time is a Catholic country until now. The Catholic Church in Norway is as old as the kingdom itself. The Norwegians were Catholics until the Danish king Christian III of Denmark ordered Denmark to convert to Lutheranism in 1536 and as Norway was then ruled by Denmark, the Norwegians converted as well. From the history of Norway, its Catholic reformation is near to the Shakespeare living era. So from the historicity of texts, we have firm reasons to assert Shakespeare describes deliberately a role of Fortinbras in Norway as a foil to Hamlet to secretly indicate himself that he advocated Catholicism. Shakespeare endows a good figure of Fortinbras, as a determined and successful role for the father revenge, with the Catholic history in Norway.5. The Historical Power of Hamlet“Textuality of History” is a part of the New Historicist dictum which sees history to be constructed as a text of interrelated contexts. It makes the study of literature in relation to history a matter of “addressing the role that discourse, including literature, plays in negotiating and making manifest the power relations and structure of a culture” (Brannigan 81). That is to say, all literary works can have powerful effect in the construction of historical context. It can help the ruling class to consolidate its authority and the ruled class to subvert the authority. As one of the most influential plays of the Elizabethan era, Hamlet has its specific effect on the construction of the historical context of the Elizabethan era and has bee an inseparable part of this historical context. Dramatic level The most important influence of Hamlet on the historical context may be that it is the milestone of Shakespeare’s four great tragedies and at the same time, it is Shakespeare’s new interpretation to the tragedy. In the creation of tragedies, Shakespeare has introduced a new era. Firstly, let’s see it from the tragic plot. According to the theory of the tragedy creation, most of the literature and art theorists still thought that tragedy and edy should have strict boundaries. However, during the renaissance, this theory has changed.