Literary Society lecture: Dr Daniel Swift on Shakespeare and Hamlet
The English Department was fortunate enough to host Dr Daniel Swift (New College of the Humanities) for our third Literary Society lecture this term. Dr Swift engaged an audience comprising girls from Year 7 through to the Sixth Form, staff and parents, as well as visiting Sixth Formers and their teachers from South Hampstead High School, North London Collegiate School and City of London School for Girls. Focusing in particular on the opening to Hamlet, Dr Swift invited us to consider the nuances and clues within Shakespeare’s initial lines shared between the watchmen, Barnardo and Francisco. By means of a comparison within Shakespearean tragedy, Dr Swift also discussed the opening to Macbeth. Shakespeare’s use of meta-theatricality in such openings and the context of the plays’ first performances in the original Globe Theatre were also touched upon, before Dr Swift tackled a range of thoughtful questions from the audience concerning matters including authorial intention and historicism in reading and watching Shakespeare plays.
