Download or read book Hamlet's Moment written by András Kiséry and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although we take for granted that drama was crucial to the political culture of Renaissance England, we rarely consider one of its most basic functions, namely, that it helped large audiences to understand what politics was. This book suggests that in this moment before newspapers, drama as a form of popular entertainment familiarized its audience with the profession of politics, with kinds of knowledge that were necessary for survival and advancement in politicalcareers. Shakespeare's Hamlet is particularly interested in these issues: in the coming and going of ambassadors, and in the question of the succession and of the conflict with Norway. Plays writtenby Ben Jonson, John Marston, George Chapman, and others in the following years shared a similar focus, inviting the public to imagine what it meant to have a political career. In doing so, they turned politics into a topic of sociable conversation, which people could use to impress others.