A street by any other name: The Shakespearean street names of Stratford and their meanings

Kronborg Castle in Helsingør was the inspiration for the Shakespeare's fictional Elsinore Castle. Photo / Getty

It’s no secret Stratford’s street names relate to the works of Shakespeare, a tradition dating back to 1878 when the then chairman of the Taranaki Waste Lands Board, Charles Whitcombe, instructed that all future streets in the town should reference the works of the Bard. In this regular column, editor Ilona Hanne talks about the Shakespearean characters and references behind these names. This week she explores the literary references behind the names of Elsinore and Claudius.

Elsinore certainly turned out to offer no exit for many of the characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet, with several of the characters ending their life in the castle. Photo / Ilona Hanne

Elsinore:

Hamlet: What make you at Elsinore?

Rosencrantz: To visit you, my lord, no other occasion.

It is possible to visit the castle where Rosencrantz visited Hamlet - spoiler alert - he was not there just to hang out with Hamlet, but rather was there at request of King Claudius who wanted to know why his nephew, and now step-son, Hamlet, was acting so strangely. Second spoiler alert - when your uncle murders your father so he can marry your mother and wear the crown - it can lead to you act a little “strangely” at times.

If you wish to visit the castle named Elsinore in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, don’t waste your time looking for Elsinore on a map of Denmark. Instead, follow the signs for the Danish town of Helsingor and there you will find Kronborg Castle, the inspiration for the play’s fictional castle. Why Kronburg Castle? Scholars believe Shakespeare set his play there as it was politically relevant at the time of writing - King James VI and I and his new wife, Queen Anne of Denmark, were married by proxy there in a ceremony in which Anne was present but James was represented by George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal. The plan was for Anne to sail for Scotland to join her husband after the proxy wedding, but poor weather and dramatic storms meant Anne took shelter in Oslo instead.

In a romantic gesture befitting of a Shakespearean play of its own, James set sail himself for Oslo to retrieve his bride, and the couple then held a second wedding ceremony - this time with both bride and groom present, in Oslo before they travelled to Kronburg Castle for James to meet the in-laws.

With James and Anne spending more than 10 weeks at Kronburg Castle before heading back to Scotland, the place was certainly the subject of plenty of royal and political gossip in England and Scotland. So when Shakespeare started considering where to set his latest play, which was based on the Scandinavian legend of Prince Amleth (does this mean Hamlet was the original Scandi-noir?), Helsingor came promptly to mind . To help his audiences follow the play, (and to the relief of posties across Stratford today) Amleth became the Anglicised version Hamlet, and Helsingor became Elsinore.

Claudius St is a dead end in Stratford, and Claudius himself met his dead end at the hands of his nephew and stepson, the eponymous character of Hamlet. Photo / Ilona Hanne

Claudius:

My words fly up; my thoughts remain below.

Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

Claudius speaking in Hamlet. Act III, Sc III

If you ever wanted proof that prayers save lives, the above prayer spoken by Claudius could perhaps convince even the staunchest of atheists. While Claudius is on his knees, praying at the altar, his nephew/ stepson Hamlet enters, planning to murder him to avenge the death of his father - whom Claudius killed by pouring poison into his ear. Seeing Claudius on his knees and hearing him pray, Hamlet hesitates and retreats instead of killing him, as he fears should Claudius die while in the middle of a prayer, his soul would still go to heaven.

Ironically, while Claudius was on his knees and speaking prayerful words, he himself admits his prayers are false. What Hamlet hears isn’t a plea for divine forgiveness, but rather a plea for divine help to soften his heart so that he can eventually seek forgiveness. Claudius admits to God that he is unwilling to do the right thing, to confess or to give up his newly acquired crown, power (and wife), and simply wants help to one day seek forgiveness, but not yet.

Regardless of the motives behind his prayer, the act of praying alone saves him - from this attempt on his life anyway. A second attempt to kill Claudius also fails, with Hamlet killing the unfortunate Polonius - father of Hamlet’s beloved Ophelia instead. It is a case of third time lucky (or unlucky, depending on if you are Claudius or Hamlet), when Hamlet finally kills Claudius. Hamlet is determined Claudius should die, first stabbing him with the sword Claudius himself had baited with poison in a plan to kill Hamlet, then making him drink from a poisoned chalice.

Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink of this potion.

Hamlet, Act V, Sc II