Hamlet
The authoritative edition of Hamlet from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most popular, and most puzzling, play. It follows the form of a “revenge tragedy,” in which the hero, Hamlet, seeks vengeance against his father’s murderer, his uncle Claudius, now the king of Denmark. Much of its fascination, however, lies in its uncertainties.
Among them: What is the Ghost—Hamlet’s father demanding justice, a tempting demon, an angelic messenger? Does Hamlet go mad, or merely pretend to? Once he is sure that Claudius is a murderer, why does he not act? Was his mother, Gertrude, unfaithful to her husband or complicit in his murder?
This edition includes:
-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play
-Newly revised explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play
-Scene-by-scene plot summaries
-A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases
-An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language
-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books
-An up-to-date annotated guide to further reading
Essay by Michael Neill
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most popular, and most puzzling, play. It follows the form of a “revenge tragedy,” in which the hero, Hamlet, seeks vengeance against his father’s murderer, his uncle Claudius, now the king of Denmark. Much of its fascination, however, lies in its uncertainties.
Among them: What is the Ghost—Hamlet’s father demanding justice, a tempting demon, an angelic messenger? Does Hamlet go mad, or merely pretend to? Once he is sure that Claudius is a murderer, why does he not act? Was his mother, Gertrude, unfaithful to her husband or complicit in his murder?
This edition includes:
-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play
-Newly revised explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play
-Scene-by-scene plot summaries
-A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases
-An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language
-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books
-An up-to-date annotated guide to further reading
Essay by Michael Neill
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.
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Community Reviews
The inescapable questions, the ones that give insight into the human experience, reside and unfold within this play. Hamlet is the one for the job. In a sense, we all are. Made up of the endless fragments that define the human condition, Hamlet achingly embodies internal conflict. He struggles to know himself and trust those who appear authentic, always proving a facade. He is driven to madness, pushed to a point of no return. Whether we are appalled by his actions or his inaction, we can sympathize with what he's lost and recognize how he has been destined and crafted for this tragic and timeless ending. There is life after the silence. Hamlet is living proof of that.
"Let be."
"And in this harsh world, draw thy breath in pain to tell the story."
"The rest is silence."
The beginning of this play, as the ghos of the king appears, is intriguing and really gorgeous. I struggled a little bit with the middle part, when it seems Hamlet is so depressed that he doesn't really know what to do, and then he wonders "to be, or not to be", as he preferred not to continue living, but finally decides to take revenge upon his father's death. This is a REAL tragedy, as nobody remains alive at the end of the play.
I heard a Shakespearean actor explaining why, does Hamlet take so long for the vengeance, and I finally understood the key of the question: He had been abroad, at University, and as he had come back "home" to discover everything he loved vanished (his father dead and his mother married to his uncle), he needed time to process and discover what exactly had happened in his absence and how was his father killed, before going to action. An excellent play, and one of the most popular of all time... but poor Ophelia, a real muse, and a broken-heart lady. I do think Hamlet really loved her, but couldn't tell... A sad love story too.
While I'm not a HUGE fan of Shakespeare I have read several of his plays. While Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar were popular picks for all of my high school and college professors, I wish we would have reached a bit further and did Hamlet at least once in those 4 to 8 years of English requirements. I'll definitely be rereading Hamlet in a less busy season of life so I can better pick it apart and analyze it better. For now it'll get a 3 star rating as a lot of it twisted in my brain like a dull sword.
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