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    Hamlet
    Hamlet
    Hamlet
    Ebook231 pages2 hours

    Hamlet

    By William Shakespeare

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    About this ebook

    In William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, the famed melancholy Danish Prince is called on by the ghost of his dead father to avenge his murder. Written sometime between 1599 and 1602, it is Shakespeare's longest and best-known play and is considered to be one of the most powerful and influential works in all of literature. The coveted roles of Hamlet, Ophelia and Gertrude have traditionally been performed by the greatest actors of their days since its premiere.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media
    Release dateOct 30, 2018
    ISBN9781974997855
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

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    Reviews for Hamlet

    4/5

    6,494 ratings92 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Classic Shakespeare tragedy.
    • 4/5
      Who am I to review Shakespeare?!
    • 4/5
      The only Shakespeare plays I had read before this were Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, Macbeth being my favorite. Having now read Hamlet, I can honestly say that Macbeth is still my favorite.

      Let's discuss.

      So, Hamlet himself is an emo icon, and also a misogynist, who basically goes crazy, murders someone, and essentially ruins everything.

      The ending came a little too quickly for me, tbh. There wasn't enough time to really develop any other characters. It was pretty quotable, though. Really, it gave me more Romeo and Juliet feels than Macbeth feels.
    • 5/5
      The Penguin edition remains the best edition for highschool students, undergrad students and actors. Not as dense as the Arden nor as casual as the RSC, but the perfect in-between for people in those categories.
    • 4/5
      It amazes me how many people like Hamlet, no exception here, when it's really hard to relate to, but yet it's just one of those plays once you get into it, you come to love it. I read it for the first time in 12th grade and everyone would talk about it even when they didn't have to. The characters in Hamlet are amazingly complex and it doesn't just state how they are, you learn it through their actions and what they say. It's just so unique, I know everytime I read it I get a different opinion of the characters and the overall play.
    • 5/5
      Almost intriguing play, and not the easiest work to read. The tale of a young prince trying to come to terms with his father’s death is probably the best known of Shakespeare’s tragedies. There’s something for everyone here: high drama, low comedy, intriguing characters. I’d advise watching a video or move, or perhaps listening to an audio presentation either before or while reading this one. No matter how good your reading skills are, the enjoyment and understanding of any play is enhanced Psy seeing it performed. This time out I watched an old stage production starring Richard Burton. The highlight of that one is Hume Cronyn’s marvelously humorous take on Polonius.Highest recommendation possible.
    • 5/5
      My favorite, of all the histories and tragedies. I've seen it in performance at least 5 times--with Kevin Kline and Ralph Fiennes two of the most memorable.
    • 5/5
      This is probably the most famous play in the world. It is so well-known that I don't think I need to outline the plot.I can see why this play, and Shakespeare, have wowed audiences and readers through the ages.I find my reactions to the bard's work quite interesting. I don't know if I've gained in literary maturity, or if his writing is so uneven. In either case, while I've certainly enjoyed his works in the past, it isn't until I read Richard III recently that I understood why Shakespeare has been considered so great, so far above any other playwright since his time. I've certianly enjoyed his work, previously, but I had thought him slightly over-rated. Now I know that I was so wrong!In any case, I'm now a confirmed fan of The Bard, and look forward to reading more of his work!
    • 3/5
      This is one of the best Shakespeare plays. The soliloquies of Hamlet give us a real insight into his mind as he tortures himself with the way he is treating Ophelia, yet slowly descends himself into the madness he has forced upon her. I always say that Shakespeare cannot be understood by simply reading the text, you have to see it performed the way it was intended to be enjoyed, and Samuel West's portrayal of Hamlet at the theatre was superb.
    • 5/5
      I like other Shakespeare plays better, but I admit that this is Shakespeare's zenith.
    • 5/5
      One of the best things I've ever read. Hamlet's got it all. Shakespeare at his best, filling so few pages with so much story.
    • 5/5
      Hamlet's an amazingly dynamic and complex play about the lure of death and the struggle against inaction. Wonderful and dark and always a pleasure to read
    • 5/5
      I have loved this play since I first read it in high school. I find it both very tragic (but in a heroic kind of way) and very funny. I remember laughing at the fishwife dialogue in the library and my class mate thinking I was terribly odd. It doesn't matter, I still think this book is beautiful to read and very funny.
    • 5/5
      There: you can all stop nagging me, I've finally read it. The plot was mostly as expected, though I think whatever version I read as a child was less kind to Ophelia, as I had a rather different image of her in mind. I had a whole book of Shakespeare retellings, now I think about it: I can't really remember many of them, but I suppose they haunt me a little in my vague ideas of what the plays are like before I read them...

      Anyway, Hamlet: justly famous, and full of phrases and quotations that even people who've never read a Shakespeare play can quote. It's always interesting coming to those in situ at last.

      Still terribly glad I don't have to study Shakespeare now. If I end up somehow forced to read Shakespeare in my MA, I may scream. Much happier to come to his plays now, in my own good time.
    • 3/5
      Classic. I did enjoy reading this and I still have all my original underlines and footnotes on the page. The perfect definition of tragedy!
    • 5/5
      Who wants to read Hamlet? Ew. Ew Hamlet.But I enjoyed it. Despite being long long long and so thick, the pase was acutally quite brisk, and the language gorgeous, and I have fond memories of Hamlet. Compare Hamlet to Phaedra - Phaedra is a much shorter play, but the titular heroine spends the entirety of the play basically in the throes of the same emotion. Hamlet's issues, although they drag out through the whole play, keep changing and morphing, and corresponding to the action in the play.All in all, I am happy I read it.
    • 3/5
      Story:
      Everyone knows Hamlet. Okay, maybe not everyone, but most people do. Now, if you were to ask me if I liked Hamlet, my short answer would probably be 'no.' Really, though, it's not fair for me to encapsulate my feelings on Hamlet into such a simple answer. If Hamlet and I were in a relationship on facebook (assuming he it could ever decide whether to be in one...punned!), it would most definitely be complicated.

      Here's the thing: Hamlet is a great play. There's no denying it. When I think about the play objectively, there's a lot of amazing stuff in there. Shakespeare's wit is fantastic; gotta love all of those dirty jokes he makes in here. And, of course, the language is completely gorgeous.

      The characters I have never been particularly tied to, which is one reason Hamlet does not rank among my favorite plays; the tragedies often lack the sassy heroines you can find in the comedies. Hamlet's indecisiveness frustrates me endlessly. Whine, whine, whine, think about doing something, wimp out, wine more. Cry moar, anon. Yoda judges you. Hamlet's uncle father and his aunt mother are not especially likable, even if you don't think they're guilty of what Hamlet's ghosty father accused them of (namely, turning him into a ghost). Ophelia isn't the brightest; plus, her end does not for admiration make. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are probably my favorites, and that's only because of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard.

      Truly though, the reason that I don't really like Hamlet is how prevalent it is. I just get so tired of always hearing this same play over and over. I mean, who didn't have to read this in high school, and again in college?

      Performance:
      This audiobook is the recording of a stage version of the play, performed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival cast. They do a good job, and I imagine it was quite a fun performance that they did. It sounds like they did some interesting things with the characters, such as changing gender in some cases and some modernizing (thus the leather jacket Hamlet's wearing).

      Unfortunately, listening to a play and watching it just aren't the same. Had I not already been very familiar with Hamlet, I have little doubt that I would at time have been confused by some of the quick scene changes or by which voice belonged to which character. Some of the actors did have rather similar sounding voices.

      Between scenes, there is creepy dramatic music, which definitely set a mood, but I don't think I liked. Nor did I care for the fact that the players rapped everything. That was kind of weird. At least Ophelia didn't rap her crazyface songs. Speaking of Ophelia, she was my favorite part of the performance. Her voice and manner definitely reminded me of River Tam (Summer Glau's character in Firefly, who has a couple of screws loose). What an awesome way to portray Ophelia. Now I kind of want to try to write some fan fiction with the characters from Firefly performing Hamlet. Maybe not.
    • 4/5
      One of the bard's all time classics, so frequently performed that it occasionally needs to be re-read to experience it the way he wrote it, without all the directorial impulses to pretty it up or modernize it. It had been a long time since my last read, and I was somewhat surprised to realize that this play comes with very few stage directions outside of entrances and exits; there are so many things that directors do exactly the same, you forget they weren't mentioned in the stage directions, and have simply become habit. Anyway, this play, about ambition and revenge, still holds up well through the centuries, though many of the actions seem outdated to us now. The poetry of the language and the rich texturing of the characters, even the most minor of characters, creates a complex story that successfully holds many balls in the air at once. Shakespeare's frequent use of ghosts is noteworthy, since that is something that modern day playwrights are told to be very careful about, and avoid if at all possible. A satisfying story, and a satisfying re-read.
    • 4/5
      Last time I read Hamlet, I was in school and I remember having some difficulty with the language... This time I found the language easier (although still hard to follow in places -- "The canker galls the infants of the spring
      Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd,
      And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
      Contagious blastments are most imminent." Laertes to Ophelia; I have read this over & over and still don't understand it).
    • 4/5
      Good solid Shakespeare read. A bit too much of a "he did, she did" plot at times.
    • 5/5
      My favorite Shakespearean play. Though there is one that may end up taking it's place.
    • 5/5
      Read it in Sixth Form and it spoiled me for Julius Ceaser.It is a wonderful complex read. And trying to discover all the layers is part of the fun.At its base, Hamlet is a prince called to avenge his late father the murdered King of Denmark. Yet it's not as simple as that. Hamlet's birthright has him in turmoil with himself, and then there is the issue of his mother and her new husband, the King's brother.A modern version would be tacky and full of soap opera bachannal...but Shakesphere's play is a serious psychological study of a young man who should be King.
    • 3/5
      I'm not a big Shakespeare fan, so I won't rate any of his works very high
    • 5/5
      Hamlet is a phenomenal play. Just spectacular.
    • 1/5
      Forced reading from high school - I hated every moment of this.
    • 5/5
      This is the tragedy of Shakespeare.But this story don't contain love.This story is a man whose father was killed.So he tried to revenge.Can he accomplish it?
    • 4/5
      It's difficult to critique a work that is widely considered to be the best piece produced by the greatest author who ever lived. To put it in simple terms, I did enjoy Hamlet for the most part. Once I got used to the language and re-familiarized myself with reading a script, the story flowed very well. My only real complaint was that the format took a bit out of the climactic finale for me. I feel that it would have read much better in a novel format.Shakespeare has written one of the most compelling tragedies ever in Hamlet, and his plot and character development are topnotch. Hamlet's downward spiral into madness is classically done. All said, a must read.
    • 5/5
      Great classic
    • 5/5
      Oh, Hamlet, Hamlet, Hamlet, Hamlet, Hamlet. Get thee to a nunnery.
    • 5/5
      After King Lear, this is one of my favorites. Hamlet, in short, is the Lion King. Rather, I should say The Lion King is Hamlet. My reassurance of Shakespeare's credibility and talent is purely unnecessary so a review is kind of pointless. But if you liked the Lion King, attempt Shakespeare's version. It has more blood and wit.

    Book preview

    Hamlet - William Shakespeare

    Dramatis Personæ

    HAMLET, Prince of Denmark.

    CLAUDIUS, King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle.

    The GHOST of the late king, Hamlet’s father.

    GERTRUDE, the Queen, Hamlet’s mother, now wife of Claudius.

    POLONIUS, Lord Chamberlain.

    LAERTES, Son to Polonius.

    OPHELIA, Daughter to Polonius.

    HORATIO, Friend to Hamlet.

    FORTINBRAS, Prince of Norway.

    VOLTEMAND, Courtier.

    CORNELIUS, Courtier.

    ROSENCRANTZ, Courtier.

    GUILDENSTERN, Courtier.

    MARCELLUS, Officer.

    BARNARDO, Officer.

    FRANCISCO, a Soldier

    OSRIC, Courtier.

    REYNALDO, Servant to Polonius.

    Players.

    A Gentleman, Courtier.

    A Priest.

    Two Clowns, Grave-diggers.

    A Captain.

    English Ambassadors.

    Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and Attendants.

    SCENE. Elsinore.

    ACT I

    SCENE I. Elsinore. A platform before the Castle.

    Enter Francisco and Barnardo, two sentinels.

    BARNARDO.

    Who’s there?

    FRANCISCO.

    Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.

    BARNARDO.

    Long live the King!

    FRANCISCO.

    Barnardo?

    BARNARDO.

    He.

    FRANCISCO.

    You come most carefully upon your hour.

    BARNARDO.

    ’Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco.

    FRANCISCO.

    For this relief much thanks. ’Tis bitter cold,

    And I am sick at heart.

    BARNARDO.

    Have you had quiet guard?

    FRANCISCO.

    Not a mouse stirring.

    BARNARDO.

    Well, good night.

    If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

    The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

    Enter Horatio and Marcellus.

    FRANCISCO.

    I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who is there?

    HORATIO.

    Friends to this ground.

    MARCELLUS.

    And liegemen to the Dane.

    FRANCISCO.

    Give you good night.

    MARCELLUS.

    O, farewell, honest soldier, who hath reliev’d you?

    FRANCISCO.

    Barnardo has my place. Give you goodnight.

    [Exit.]

    MARCELLUS.

    Holla, Barnardo!

    BARNARDO.

    Say, what, is Horatio there?

    HORATIO.

    A piece of him.

    BARNARDO.

    Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, good Marcellus.

    MARCELLUS.

    What, has this thing appear’d again tonight?

    BARNARDO.

    I have seen nothing.

    MARCELLUS.

    Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy,

    And will not let belief take hold of him

    Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us.

    Therefore I have entreated him along

    With us to watch the minutes of this night,

    That if again this apparition come

    He may approve our eyes and speak to it.

    HORATIO.

    Tush, tush, ’twill not appear.

    BARNARDO.

    Sit down awhile,

    And let us once again assail your ears,

    That are so fortified against our story,

    What we two nights have seen.

    HORATIO.

    Well, sit we down,

    And let us hear Barnardo speak of this.

    BARNARDO.

    Last night of all,

    When yond same star that’s westward from the pole,

    Had made his course t’illume that part of heaven

    Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,

    The bell then beating one—

    MARCELLUS.

    Peace, break thee off. Look where it comes again.

    Enter Ghost.

    BARNARDO.

    In the same figure, like the King that’s dead.

    MARCELLUS.

    Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.

    BARNARDO.

    Looks it not like the King? Mark it, Horatio.

    HORATIO.

    Most like. It harrows me with fear and wonder.

    BARNARDO

    It would be spoke to.

    MARCELLUS.

    Question it, Horatio.

    HORATIO.

    What art thou that usurp’st this time of night,

    Together with that fair and warlike form

    In which the majesty of buried Denmark

    Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge thee speak.

    MARCELLUS.

    It is offended.

    BARNARDO.

    See, it stalks away.

    HORATIO.

    Stay, speak, speak! I charge thee speak!

    [Exit Ghost.]

    MARCELLUS.

    ’Tis gone, and will not answer.

    BARNARDO.

    How now, Horatio! You tremble and look pale.

    Is not this something more than fantasy?

    What think you on’t?

    HORATIO.

    Before my God, I might not this believe

    Without the sensible and true avouch

    Of mine own eyes.

    MARCELLUS.

    Is it not like the King?

    HORATIO.

    As thou art to thyself:

    Such was the very armour he had on

    When he th’ambitious Norway combated;

    So frown’d he once, when in an angry parle

    He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.

    ’Tis strange.

    MARCELLUS.

    Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,

    With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.

    HORATIO.

    In what particular thought to work I know not;

    But in the gross and scope of my opinion,

    This bodes some strange eruption to our state.

    MARCELLUS.

    Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,

    Why this same strict and most observant watch

    So nightly toils the subject of the land,

    And why such daily cast of brazen cannon

    And foreign mart for implements of war;

    Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task

    Does not divide the Sunday from the week.

    What might be toward, that this sweaty haste

    Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:

    Who is’t that can inform me?

    HORATIO.

    That can I;

    At least, the whisper goes so. Our last King,

    Whose image even but now appear’d to us,

    Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,

    Thereto prick’d on by a most emulate pride,

    Dar’d to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet,

    For so this side of our known world esteem’d him,

    Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal’d compact,

    Well ratified by law and heraldry,

    Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands

    Which he stood seiz’d of, to the conqueror;

    Against the which, a moiety competent

    Was gaged by our King; which had return’d

    To the inheritance of Fortinbras,

    Had he been vanquisher; as by the same cov’nant

    And carriage of the article design’d,

    His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,

    Of unimproved mettle, hot and full,

    Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,

    Shark’d up a list of lawless resolutes,

    For food and diet, to some enterprise

    That hath a stomach in’t; which is no other,

    As it doth well appear unto our state,

    But to recover of us by strong hand

    And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands

    So by his father lost. And this, I take it,

    Is the main motive of our preparations,

    The source of this our watch, and the chief head

    Of this post-haste and rummage in the land.

    BARNARDO.

    I think it be no other but e’en so:

    Well may it sort that this portentous figure

    Comes armed through our watch so like the King

    That was and is the question of these wars.

    HORATIO.

    A mote it is to trouble the mind’s eye.

    In the most high and palmy state of Rome,

    A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,

    The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead

    Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets;

    As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,

    Disasters in the sun; and the moist star,

    Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands,

    Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.

    And even the like precurse of fierce events,

    As harbingers preceding still the fates

    And prologue to the omen coming on,

    Have heaven and earth together demonstrated

    Unto our climatures and countrymen.

    Re-enter Ghost.

    But, soft, behold! Lo, where it comes again!

    I’ll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion!

    If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,

    Speak to me.

    If there be any good thing to be done,

    That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,

    Speak to me.

    If thou art privy to thy country’s fate,

    Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,

    O speak!

    Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life

    Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,

    For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,

    Speak of it. Stay, and speak!

    [The cock crows.]

    Stop it, Marcellus!

    MARCELLUS.

    Shall I strike at it with my partisan?

    HORATIO.

    Do, if it will not stand.

    BARNARDO.

    ’Tis here!

    HORATIO.

    ’Tis here!

    [Exit Ghost.]

    MARCELLUS.

    ’Tis gone!

    We do it wrong, being so majestical,

    To offer it the show of violence,

    For it is as the air, invulnerable,

    And our vain blows malicious mockery.

    BARNARDO.

    It was about to speak, when the cock crew.

    HORATIO.

    And then it started, like a guilty thing

    Upon a fearful summons. I have heard

    The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,

    Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat

    Awake the god of day; and at his warning,

    Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,

    Th’extravagant and erring spirit hies

    To his confine. And of the truth herein

    This present object made probation.

    MARCELLUS.

    It faded on the crowing of the cock.

    Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes

    Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated,

    The bird of dawning singeth all night long;

    And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,

    The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,

    No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm;

    So hallow’d and so gracious is the time.

    HORATIO.

    So have I heard, and do in part believe it.

    But look, the morn in russet mantle clad,

    Walks o’er the dew of yon high eastward hill.

    Break we our watch up, and by my advice,

    Let us impart what we have seen tonight

    Unto young Hamlet; for upon my life,

    This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.

    Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,

    As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?

    MARCELLUS.

    Let’s do’t, I pray, and I this morning know

    Where we shall find him most conveniently.

    [Exeunt.]

    SCENE II. Elsinore. A room of state in the Castle.

    Enter Claudius King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Voltemand,

    Cornelius, Lords and Attendant.

    KING.

    Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death

    The memory be green, and that it us befitted

    To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom

    To be contracted in one brow of woe;

    Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature

    That we with wisest sorrow think on him,

    Together with remembrance of ourselves.

    Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,

    Th’imperial jointress to this warlike state,

    Have we, as ’twere with a defeated joy,

    With one auspicious and one dropping eye,

    With mirth in funeral, and with dirge

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