The First Two Quartos of ‘Hamlet’: A New View of the Origins and Relationship of the Texts by Margrethe Jolly (review)

In the early twentieth century, scholars of Shakespearean literature decided on two classes of his work. The designation of quartos into these categories of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ have seriously undermined the study of the texts labelled as ‘bad’ quartos; that is, those not considered to be legitimate drafts of Shakespeare’s work. Margrethe Jolly aims to correct this anomaly by dispelling the myth that the first quarto of Hamlet was a memorial reconstruction of the second quarto by actors. Instead, Jolly argues, the first quarto was indeed written by Shakespeare, and she presents a study based on sturdy evidence that strongly supports this theory.

Jolly begins by considering important points, such as the linguistics of the texts, and the problem of which of the two quartos was most likely to have been written first. She also reflects on the many links between earlier publications, such as François Bellforest’s Les Histoires Tragiques, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in order to determine how much influence these older texts had on each of the quartos. Next, she concentrates on the problems of memorial reconstruction using other contemporary works as examples, and includes a detailed discussion of how stage instructions help to support the idea that the first quarto was a genuine draft by Shakespeare’s hand, upon which the second quarto was built. Jolly finishes with an evaluation of the evidence against a theoretical Ur-Hamlet upon which Shakespeare based his first quarto. The text is supplemented by comprehensive appendices providing the reader with details of the colloquialisms used in the first two quartos, together with linguistic comparisons between Les Histoires Tragiques, the first and second quartos, and Shakespeare’s First Folio.

The First Two Quartos of ‘Hamlet’: A New View of the Origins and Relationship of the Texts makes an invaluable contribution to the study of Shakespearean texts, successfully supporting the hypothesis that the first quarto was a rough draft by Shakespeare’s own hand. Any reader interested in Shakespeare and his work will find this an interesting and thought-provoking read.