ABSTRACT
The different versions of The Bloody Hand in George R. R. Martin’s chapter and the HBO show are variously intertextual, metatheatrical, and intertextually metatheatrical—meaning they allude to Shakespeare, reflect upon their own acts of artistic representation, and allude to Shakespeare’s reflections on art. In Martin’s chapter, The Bloody Hand is both Shakespearean and deliberately Not-Shakespearean. Martin breaks new ground with The Bloody Hand, however, by presenting Arya as a Hamlet whose metatheatrical acting is woven into the acting of revenge. HBO omitted the Shakespearean resonances Martin wrote into The Bloody Hand. Deftly drawing upon the comical qualities of Shakespearean metatheater, Jack Bender’s The Bloody Hand is a farce. By shifting the genre of the playlet from tragedy to farce, HBO’s version of The Bloody Hand brings audiences to reconsider earlier understandings of the main narrative. HBO’s version of The Bloody Hand shows history distorted in the representation of it.
