Hamlet
William Shakespeare, c. 1600
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Prince Hamlet of Denmark comes home after his father's death to find his mother married to his uncle, Claudius, who is now king. The ghost of his father says Claudius murdered him and demands revenge. Unsure whether the ghost can be trusted, Hamlet puts on an antic madness, stages a play that mimics the murder to watch his uncle's face, and in a fit of rage kills Polonius, the father of Ophelia, who goes mad herself. Claudius plots with Laertes to end Hamlet in a fencing match with a poisoned blade, and the play closes with most of the court dead and Fortinbras taking the throne.
Where it happens
- Denmark The setting of the play, where Hamlet's uncle holds the throne and Norway's Fortinbras threatens invasion.12
- Wittenberg, Germany The university city where the dialogue places Hamlet, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as students.1
- The Globe, London Playhouse where the Lord Chamberlain's Men acted, with Hamlet played in contemporary dress on minimal sets.1
- Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London Where Davenant's company first staged Hamlet with painted movable scenery after the Restoration.1
Through time
- 1600Shakespeare writes Hamlet at some point between 1599 and 1601.1
- 1603The First Quarto appears, printed by Valentine Simmes for the booksellers Nicholas Ling and John Trundell.1
- 1604Nicholas Ling publishes the Second Quarto, the longest early edition.1
- 1623The play is printed in the First Folio, the first collected works of Shakespeare.1
- 1887Clark and Wright's Victoria edition, taken from the Globe edition, is published; Standard Ebooks bases its text on it.2
- 1948Laurence Olivier's film wins the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Actor.13
Who is in it, and behind it
William Shakespeare author
Wrote the tragedy between 1599 and 1601, and it is his longest play.1
Prince Hamlet character
Son of the dead King Hamlet, who vows to avenge his father but doubts the ghost that charges him to do it.1
Claudius character
Hamlet's uncle, who has murdered his brother to take the throne and marry the widowed queen.12
Gertrude character
Hamlet's mother, who has married Claudius and later drinks the poisoned wine meant for her son.1
Polonius character
Father of Ophelia and Laertes, killed by Hamlet while spying behind an arras; scholars have guessed he was modelled on Lord Burghley.1
Ophelia character
Wooed by Hamlet, she is driven mad by her father's death.1
Horatio character
Hamlet's friend, who first sees the ghost with the sentries and is with Hamlet when he dies.1
Richard Burbage subject
Chief tragedian of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, for whom Shakespeare almost certainly wrote the part of Hamlet.1
Valentine Simmes printer
Printed the 1603 First Quarto, which holds just over half the text of the later Second Quarto.1
What it is about
Doubting the ghost
Hamlet cannot be sure the ghost speaks truth rather than the devil's trick, so he seeks proof before acting.1
Feigned madness
Hamlet decides to act as though he has gone mad, and Polonius and the court read the act as lovesickness.1
The play within the play
Hamlet has actors stage a murder in the style of his father's, to watch Claudius's reaction.1
Revenge and its cost
The pursuit of vengeance for one king's death ends with the deaths of Polonius, Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius and Hamlet.1
Psychoanalytic readings
Freud drew on the play for his ideas about the Oedipus complex, and Ernest Jones and Lacan later reworked those readings.1
In its own words
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine ownself be true
I’ll have grounds More relative than this: the play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.
To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times
there’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all
The shape of the book
21 chapters, 31,942 words. Point at a bar.
How it came to be here
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet sometime between 1599 and 1601, drawing on older Hamlet legends and perhaps a lost earlier play. Three early versions survive: a short First Quarto in 1603, a much fuller Second Quarto in 1604, and the First Folio text of 1623, each with lines the others lack. Richard Burbage probably created the title role. The play stayed popular on stage through the Restoration and after, and it is Shakespeare's longest. Freud drew on it for his ideas about the Oedipus complex, and it has been filmed and adapted many times. The site's text follows the 1887 Victoria edition used by Standard Ebooks.
Free to read elsewhere
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Sources
- Hamlet (Wikipedia)
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Standard Ebooks)
- 21st Academy Awards, 1949 (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
Text: PG 1524. CC0 (Standard Ebooks).