Telling a hamlet from a Hamlet from a "Hamlet" from a Hamlet or a Hamlet
Typography in print editions uses capitalization, quotation marks, and underscoring or Italic type to communicate, efficiently and certainly, the distinctions among common nouns (names of ordinary types of persons, places or things), proper nouns (names of specific persons, places or things), the titles of short works of literature or parts of larger works, and the titles of large, complete works of literature. When you use these four types of code in your papers, you prevent redundancy because you do not have to tell us "the play" or "the Take this short multiple choice quiz to determine whether you understand how to use these four types of signifiers.
1) Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset, into the street of Salem Village.
The subject of the sentence identifies a) a person b) a short story
2) "Young Goodman Brown" came forth in 1835.
The subject of the sentence identifies a) a person b) a short story
3) Young Goodman Brown cried out, "My faith is gone!" but he did not cry out "My Faith is gone!"
Which cry expresses loss of religious belief and which laments either the loss of a character by name or an allegorical idea expressed as a capitalized noun?
4) The hamlet of Shakespeare is located in New Mexico.
The subject of the sentence identifies a) a place b) a character c) it's ambiguous
The object of the preposition "of" identifies a) a person's name b) a place's name c) it's ambiguous
5) Sir John Gielgud's Hamlet was considered strikingly different from Sir Lawrence Olivier's Hamlet.
The object of the possessive in both cases identifies a) a place's name b) a character's name c) a play d) it's ambiguous
6) Sir John Gielgud's Hamlet differs in almost every respect from Sir Lawrence Olivier's Hamlet.
The object of the possessive in both cases identifies a) a place's name b) a person's name c) a play d) it's ambiguous
7) Shakespeare's Hamlet shows us a Hamlet far from the hamlet of Shakespeare's birth.
Which is the person, which is the place, and which is the play?
8) The title of my new book is "Hamlet"'s Hamlets, Hamlet by Hamlet: A Survey of the Shakespearian Protagonist's Performance by Members of Touring Dramatic Companies in Various Towns in the American Midwest.
Which of the Hamlets in the first half of the title indicate the person, the place, or the play? How else might the play's title be distinguished while still preserving the distinguishing typography of the book's title?