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H
amlet is Shakespeare’s
longest play, with perhaps
the most challenging lead
role. It is also his most enduringly
popular tragedy. The play is a story
of kingship, war, madness, and
revenge. It is also a story that
centers on a troubled man whose
responsibilities to his father and
to his kingdom are diametrically
opposed to his instincts and
temperament. Unlike its source
text about the legendary Danish
king Amleth, which is described
as a romance, Hamlet is undeniably
a tragedy—The Tragedy of
Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark,
as it is listed in the First Folio.
Shakespeare retains the details
about Amleth’s feigned madness
and need for revenge, but adds new
information, such as naming the
ghost—also called Hamlet—and
adding a companion for the hero in
the form of Horatio. Shakespeare
also adds two other sons seeking
revenge for their fathers’ deaths:
Laertes and Fortinbras.HAMLET
Hamlet has been read as the
story of an ill-fated hero, a victim
of fate and “outrageous fortune,”
as well as one about a mentally
unstable, indecisive young man.
In both readings, the character
and the world he inhabits are
overwhelmed by melancholy
and corruption.Prince of Denmark
Hamlet is a man of 30; he is a
son, a nephew, a lover, a courtier,
and a university student of
Wittenberg. As the only male
heir to the former king, Hamlet
should have ascended immediately
to the throne. That his uncle,
Claudius, takes the crown is largely
because of Gertrude’s “o’er-hasty”
(2.2.57) marriage, as the character
herself describes it. The result is
that, when the audience first meets
Hamlet, he has been robbed of his
father, all trust in his mother, and
the throne to which he is entitled.
It is not surprising, therefore, that
he should be quiet, resentful, and
moody in his first appearance.
Claudius calls his subjects
together to discuss Fortinbras,
Laertes, and Hamlet, respectively.
His priorities, in order of
significance, are relations political,IN CONTEXT
THEMES
Revenge, betrayal, honor,
mortalitySETTING
Elsinore in DenmarkSOURCES
c.1185 “Amleth,” by Danish
historian Saxo Grammaticus is
the story of a legendary Danish
prince whose uncle killed the
king and married the queen.1580 French poet François
de Belleforest retells the story
in his Histories Tragiques,
translated into English in 1608.LEGACY
1602 The first recorded
performance is on July 26.1742 English actor David
Garrick becomes the most
famous Hamlet of his day.1827 Irish actress Harriet
Smithson plays Ophelia at
the Odéon, Paris; the play is
a great success in France.1919 Poet T. S. Eliot argues
that the character Hamlet
is an artistic failure.
1948 English actor Laurence
Olivier’s screen adaptation has
dark, Freudian undertones.1964 Grigori Kozintsev directs
a Soviet film of the play.1996 British actor Kenneth
Branagh directs a film version
that runs for over four hours.2001 Director Peter Brook
directs a multilingual Hamlet
in Paris with actors speaking
Japanese and Swahili.But I have that within
which passeth show—
These but the trappings and
the suits of woe.
Hamlet
Act 1, Scene 2A 2000 film adaptation starring Ethan
Hawke sets Hamlet in New York City.
The ghost is an apparition on CCTV,
and the play-within-the-play takes the
form of a video game.