Theorising the Uncanny Adaptation through Hamlet

Abstract

Adaptations possess an uncanny quality, especially when those adaptations are built on tragic narratives. When audiences see the same characters relive the same plots in different contexts, what was once familiar becomes unfamiliar, and a kind of haunting is produced. Adaptations that move across mediums from stage to film to video games carry an especially prominent potential for uncanniness. Using adaptations of Hamlet and specifically the video game, Elsinore, to track this evolution reveals that the temporal ambiguity that the uncanny adaptation produces within a tragic narrative carries the potential to enact ethical aims, while also suggesting a way forward in thinking about that narrative’s future. By first defining the uncanny adaptation and examining Elsinore as a case study, this article explores the ethical potential that is made possible through the uncanny elements of tragic adaptation.