The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and one of his best-known and most oft-quoted plays. It was written at an uncertain date between 1600 and the summer of 1602. Hamlet may be the most frequently produced work in almost every western country, and it is considered a crucial test for mature actors. Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy (Act Three, Scene One), the most popular passage in the play, is so well known that it has bec ...

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• Hamlet - Texts
• Hamlet - Main characters
• Hamlet - Plot summary
• Hamlet - Sources
• Hamlet - Hamlet as a Problem Play
• Hamlet - Hamlet as a character
• Hamlet - Hamlet in cinema and TV
• Hamlet - Straight adaptations
• Hamlet - Films that reference Hamlet
• Hamlet - Hamlet in music

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There are three extant texts of Hamlet from the early 1600's in both Quarto and Folio format. The play first appeared in print in 1603 in a version now known as the 'Bad Quarto'. This edition follows essentially the same plot as the play we know as Hamlet but it is much shorter and its language is often very different; for example, where the accepted version reads "To be or not to be, that is the question", the Bad Quarto reads "To be or not to be, aye there's the point". These differences, which usually seem aesthetical ...

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Hamlet, Hamlet - Texts, Hamlet - Main characters, Hamlet - Plot summary, Hamlet - Sources, Hamlet - Hamlet as a Problem Play, Hamlet - Hamlet as a character, Hamlet - Hamlet in cinema and TV, Hamlet - Straight adaptations, Hamlet - Films that reference Hamlet, Hamlet - Hamlet in music

Read more here: » Hamlet: Encyclopedia II - Hamlet - Texts

The play concerns the dilemma of Prince Hamlet, whose father, the late King of Denmark, victor over the sled-riding Polish army, died suddenly while Hamlet was away at university. Prior to the opening of the play, the King's brother Claudius had himself proclaimed king, and cemented his claim to the throne by marrying Hamlet's mother Gertrude, the widowed Queen. The play opens on the battlements of Elsinore Castle, seat of the Danish monarchy, where a group of sentries is terrified by the apparition of the recently deceased King Hamle ...

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Hamlet, Hamlet - Texts, Hamlet - Main characters, Hamlet - Plot summary, Hamlet - Sources, Hamlet - Hamlet as a Problem Play, Hamlet - Hamlet as a character, Hamlet - Hamlet in cinema and TV, Hamlet - Straight adaptations, Hamlet - Films that reference Hamlet, Hamlet - Hamlet in music

Read more here: » Hamlet: Encyclopedia II - Hamlet - Plot summary

Prince Hamlet, the title character, is the son of the late King of Denmark, who was also named Hamlet. He is a student at a school in Wittenburg. He is charged by the ghost of his father to avenge his murder, which he finally succeeds in doing, but only after the rest of the royal house has been wiped out and he himself has been mortally wounded with a poisoned rapier by Laertes. Claudius is the current King of Denmark, Hamlet's uncle, who succeeded to the throne upon the death of his brother. The ghost of King Hamlet te ...

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Hamlet, Hamlet - Texts, Hamlet - Main characters, Hamlet - Plot summary, Hamlet - Sources, Hamlet - Hamlet as a Problem Play, Hamlet - Hamlet as a character, Hamlet - Hamlet in cinema and TV, Hamlet - Straight adaptations, Hamlet - Films that reference Hamlet, Hamlet - Hamlet in music

Read more here: » Hamlet: Encyclopedia II - Hamlet - Main characters

According to the Internet Movie Database there have been 22 theatrically released movies entitled Hamlet, plus another 16 made for TV. Another 50 productions have included this name as part of the title or have used a foreign language variation of the name. Hamlet - Straight adaptations. The first Hamlet film was Le Duel d'Hamlet, produced and directed by Clément Maurice in France in 1900, and starring Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet (reprising her stage role). Pierre Magnier played L ...

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Hamlet, Hamlet - Texts, Hamlet - Main characters, Hamlet - Plot summary, Hamlet - Sources, Hamlet - Hamlet as a Problem Play, Hamlet - Hamlet as a character, Hamlet - Hamlet in cinema and TV, Hamlet - Straight adaptations, Hamlet - Films that reference Hamlet, Hamlet - Hamlet in music

Read more here: » Hamlet: Encyclopedia II - Hamlet - Hamlet in cinema and TV

Hamlet as a play is without doubt the most discussed play in the whole of Shakespeare's oeuevre, or, to quote from Harry Levin, "the most problematic play ever written by Shakespeare or any other playwright". Few will dispute that the body of criticism of the play is the most extensive in the history of world literature, and that almost every critic of note has had their say on the work. See also:

Hamlet, Hamlet - Texts, Hamlet - Main characters, Hamlet - Plot summary, Hamlet - Sources, Hamlet - Hamlet as a Problem Play, Hamlet - Hamlet as a character, Hamlet - Hamlet in cinema and TV, Hamlet - Straight adaptations, Hamlet - Films that reference Hamlet, Hamlet - Hamlet in music

Read more here: » Hamlet: Encyclopedia II - Hamlet - Hamlet as a Problem Play