Abstract
"3 He set aside the manuscript, not taking it up again until March to June of 1880, when he composed the "Notice" and chapters 181/2 to 21, a relatively short addition to the novel that halts after Colonel Sherburn shoots Boggs. [...]what had changed that allowed Twain to proceed with such speedy and wonderful success? I argue that part of what helped Twain overcome his difficulties with the plot and composition of Huckleberry Finn was a development in the way he made use of and reference to Hamlet. [...]in Twains breakthrough in the summer of 1883, he develops his reading of Hamlet yet further, addressing several of the elements most central to Shakespeares play: the crisis of conscience, and the importance of memory in shaping moral action? "8 It is indeed noteworthy that, in its final form, Twain never resolves the mystery of Pap's murder, and this remains as a lingering sign of the shift in Twain's ideas about how the