In writing
Hamlet,
Shakespeare
was not
only
embracing,
deliberatelyand
wholeheartedly,
a set of
theatrical
conventions
which his
audience
would
understand
as being
in
thetradition
of English
Senecan
revenge
drama; he
was going
a step
further by
taking an
old and
well-knownplay
which is a
jokey
byword for
the whole
Senecan
tradition
and
rewriting
that, by
carrying
on his
intenselyactive
and
inventive
creation,
deepening
his
profound
thinking
contents,
enquiring
deeply
