How Hamlet drew on The Aeneid
A documented line of influence: William Shakespeare demonstrably engaged Virgil’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
The Aeneid
Virgil · 19 BCE
Ancient RomeThe influenced
Hamlet
William Shakespeare · c. 1600
ShakespeareRelevance
7/10
On Hamlet’s page
- Hamlet's Player's Speech is Virgil, explicitly: 'Aeneas' tale to Dido,' the fall of Troy from Aeneid Book 2
- Shakespeare has the actor recite Priam's slaughter and Hecuba's grief as a play-within-the-play — and it's that Virgilian image that goads Hamlet into shame at his own delay
- Knowing the source episode sharpens the scene: this is the most famous tragedy borrowing its emotional pivot from the Roman epic
On The Aeneid’s page
- Shakespeare puts the Aeneid on stage inside Hamlet — the Player's Speech is named outright as 'Aeneas' tale to Dido'
- The actor recites Virgil's account of Priam's slaughter and Pyrrhus from Book 2, the fall of Troy, while Hamlet watches
- The grief of Hecuba in that speech — Virgil's image — is what sends Hamlet into his fury at his own inaction