Hamlet without the prince

(redirected from hamlet)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Hamlet without the prince

An event that happens despite the absence of a key player. Hamlet, the titular character of Shakespeare's play, is the prince of Denmark. The phrase originated from this very occurrence: a performance of Hamlet that took place without the actor who was to play Hamlet. Oh, we couldn't have a party without you—that would be like Hamlet without the prince! I know that having a board meeting without the chairwoman is like Hamlet without the prince, but she's ill and asked us to go on without her. A: "Why are you home so early?" B: "Because my therapist had to cancel. And therapy can't exactly go on without the therapist, ala Hamlet without the prince."

Hamlet without the prince

a performance or event taking place without the principal actor.

The phrase comes from an account given in the Morning Post of September 1775 . The member of a theatrical company who was to play Hamlet in a production of Shakespeare's play ran off with an innkeeper's daughter before the performance; when the play was announced to the audience, they were told ‘the part of Hamlet [was] to be left out, for that night’.

See also: prince, without

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

See also:

References in periodicals archive ?

Hamlet's thinking leads him to the conclusion that he must test the reliability of the Ghost and find confirmation of his own conviction.

Perfect Idealism in Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet

Before offering perceived limitations and critical evaluations to these two points of view, it should be noted that Shakespeare can be portrayed via the Hamlet text and the characters of Hamlet and Horatio as a far-reaching poet/proto-modern philosopher whose implicit commitment to an understanding of the philosophical nature of time, human thought, and being, as set in crisis by the mysterious Ghost, who becomes the pivot for a philosophical reading, which is more systematically and explicitly developed by later philosophical thinkers.

Introduction: busting the Hermeneutical Ghosts in the Hamlet machine

The extract from the text of 'Hamlet' is analysed, from point of view of implicature and the violation of the maxims.

Hamlet in the Light of Cooperative Principle

Hamlet's grief over his father's death, which Claudius ridicules as "unmanly," is anything but.

TheatreReview

"There's been some doubling up of roles and certain bits of the play have been cut out as Hamlet is usually staged with a lot more people," says the 25-year-old who is originally from Cambridge.

Girl power; While Hamlet may be the role that leading male actors covet, a new production features an all-female cast. Karen Price speaks to the actress who Pages 2 & 3 is playing Shakespeare's raging prince

The need for radical ruptures with all kinds of Arabo-Islamic essentialist "isms," which lurk in our discursive structures, has become very urgent with the Hamlet rhetoric.

Margaret Litvin, Hamlet's Arab Journey: Shakespeare's Prince and Nasser's Ghost

Even before hearing about the ghost from Horatio and the soldiers on the watch, Hamlet appears to be a walking shadow, haunting Denmark with the memory of his dead father.

Ear disease in Hamlet

Storey (131-35), Scalise-Sugiyama ("Cultural Variation"), and Boyd ("Literature" 18-19) all comment on Laura Bohannan's essay on Hamlet. (Oddly, though writing several years after Storey, making many of the same points, and using sometimes nearly identical phrasing, Scalise-Sugiyama does not cite Storey or include his book in her bibliography.

Intentional meaning in Hamlet: an evolutionary perspective

* Claudius: The King of Denmark, Hamlet's uncle, and the play's antagonist.

Auditions to be held for abridged 'Hamlet'

This rendition of Shakespeare's Hamlet was performed at the Vertigo Theatre in Canada.

Ahad Raza Mir wins award for Hamlet performance

For him, starring in Shakespeare's Hamlet was like going back to his roots.

Ahad RAza Mir wins 'Best Actor' international award for 'Hamlet'

Through his eyes you can see Mir's Hamlet processing what others say to him.

Ahad Raza Mir bags Int'l nomination for Hamlet

With the sale of Hamlet Homes to its senior managers in 2017, company founder Brodsky continues to serve as the CEO for Hamlet Homes and, over the next few years, will provide support and advice to the new owners.

Deal snapshot: HAMLET HOMES SENIOR MANAGERS ACQUIRE HAMLET HOMES/HAMLET DEVELOPMENT

M2 EQUITYBITES-January 15, 2019-Hamlet Homes Senior Managers Acquire Hamlet Homes/Hamlet Development