Reception Aesthetics of Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Abstract

H.R.Jauss, an influential German readerresponse critic, engages with the historical reception of literary works. According to Jauss, the first responses to a work are significant in its future interpretations. The audiences of each era, he declares, are equipped with certain horizons of expectations which they bring to the text, in the process of deciphering its meaning. Theses horizons will not necessarily remain intact. In fact, Jauss provides a yardstick to evaluate the aesthetic value of a literary work. The extent to which the horizons of expectations change, are reoriented or even left intact determine the aesthetic value of the text. The more the distance between expectation and fulfillment, the greater the aesthetic value of the work. By employing Jauss’s theory and by dividing the responses to Hamlet into different phases, the present paper aims to focus on the specific responses of each phase and the objectives they bring in perceiving the play and at the same time, accounting for the gaps they have left behind.