Tolkien's Lost Lecture on Hamlet, Reconstructed

Abstract

According to Hammond and Scull’s Chronology (2006) for the Hilary Term 1937, “Tolkien is also listed as one of a series of lecturers (with Nevill Coghill, H.V.D. Dyson, C.S. Lewis, and C. L. Wrenn) on Hamlet, at 5.00 p.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 22^nd January.”  At first I thought that there was no hope of finding out about the topic Tolkien had chosen, and Ms C. McIlwaine of the Bodleian Library confirmed that the lecture had not turned up among Tolkien’s papers so far. However, by guesswork on Tolkien's special  and personal interests, confirmed by two footnotes in an essay by J. S. Ryan, I set before you not only my theory about Tolkien's chosen topic, but also suggestions about the topics chosen by the other four named lecturers.