Hamlet and the Corpse of Polonius 1835

Eugène Delacroix made this lithograph, Hamlet and the Corpse of Polonius, in 1835. Here, Delacroix depicts a scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet in which Hamlet has just killed Polonius by stabbing him through a curtain. Delacroix was part of the Romantic movement in France, which emphasized emotion and individualism, as opposed to the rationalism of the Enlightenment. But this was also a time of great social upheaval, following the French Revolution. The image speaks to the social structures of its time by representing a moment of violence and betrayal within the royal court. It is a critique of the institutions of power and authority. To understand this work better, one might turn to historical documents about the Romantic movement, Shakespearean criticism, and the social and political context of 19th-century France. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.