Where was Hamlet studying before he returned to Denmark?
Hamlet was away studying at Wittenberg, the renowned university located near Berlin and founded in 1502. Is “nunnery” a euphemism for a brothel in Hamlet? It is true that “nunnery” had two very different meanings in Tudor England. Modern dictionaries only list one definition of the word, which is, of course, a convent. However, if you look up “nunnery” in a dictionary of archaic words and uses, you will see that “nunnery” did mean both a convent and a brothel in Shakespeare’s day. Its meaning as a “brothel” was colloquial, though, even in Tudor England. Despite the use of “nunnery” as “house of ill repute” in Shakespearean England, there can be no question that Hamlet is referring to the standard definition of the word a house of meditation for women who have devoted themselves to God. Only by entering a nunnery can Ophelia ensure that she will not procreate and become a breeder of sinners. As is pointed out in the Oxford edition of the play, “The injunction makes it clear that nunnery
