Gertrude and Claudius are the “villains” of Hamlet: he the killer of Hamlet’s father and usurper of the Danish throne; she his lusty consort, who marries Claudius before her late husband’s body is cold. But in this imaginative “prequel” to the play, John Updike makes a case for the royal couple that Shakespeare only hinted at. Gertrude and Claudius are seen afresh against a background of fond intentions and family dysfunction, on a stage darkened by the ominous shadow of a sullen, erratic, disaffected prince. “I hoped to keep the texture light,” Updike said of this novel, “to move from the mists of Scandinavian legend into the daylight atmosphere of the Globe. I sought to narrate the romance that preceded the tragedy.”
- ISBN10 0241141133
- ISBN13 9780241141137
- Publish Date 27 July 2000 (first published 8 February 2000)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 30 January 2010
- Publish Country AU
- Imprint Hamish Hamilton
- Format Hardcover
- Language English