Other editions of book Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Prince Hamlet returns to Denmark upon learning of his father’s death to find his uncle seated on the throne and married to his own mother. When the ghost of Hamlet’s father reveals to him that he was murdered and asks his son to avenge him, Hamlet must decide whether he is capable of betraying his conscience to honour his father. It is a dilemma which sets in motion a chain of tragic events, the result of attempting to maintain moral integrity in a world that is dark and corrupt.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet. Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brother's widow. Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play, and is considered among the most powerful and influential works of world literature, with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others".[1] It was probably one of Shakespeare's most popular works during his lifetime,[2] and still ranks among his most performed, topping the performance list of the Royal Shakespeare Company and its predecessors in Stratford-upon-Avon since 1879.[3] It has inspired many other writers—from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and Iris Murdoch—and has been described as "the world's most filmed story after Cinderella".[4] The story of Shakespeare's Hamlet was derived from the legend of Amleth, preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum, as subsequently retold by the 16th-century scholar François de Belleforest. Shakespeare may also have drawn on an earlier Elizabethan play known today as the Ur-Hamlet, though some scholars believe he himself wrote the Ur-Hamlet, later revising it to create the version of Hamlet we now have. He almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor, Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeare's time. In the 400 years since its inception, the role has been performed by numerous highly acclaimed actors in each successive century. Three different early versions of the play are extant: the First Quarto (Q1, 1603); the Second Quarto (Q2, 1604); and the First Folio (F1, 1623). Each version includes lines and entire scenes missing from the others. The play's structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny. One such example is the centuries-old debate about Hamlet's hesitation to kill his uncle, which some see as merely a plot device to prolong the action, but which others argue is a dramatisation of the complex philosophical and ethical issues that surround cold-blooded murder, calculated revenge, and thwarted desire. More recently, psychoanalytic critics have examined Hamlet's unconscious desires, while feminist critics have re-evaluated and attempted to rehabilitate the often maligned characters of Ophelia and Gertrude.

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare. Worldwide literature classic, among top 100 literary novels of all time. A must read for everybody.In the 1980s, Italo Calvino (the most-translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death) said in his essay "Why Read the Classics?" that "a classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say", without any doubt this book can be considered a Classic This book is also a Bestseller because as Steinberg defined: "a bestseller as a book for which demand, within a short time of that book's initial publication, vastly exceeds what is then considered to be big sales".

An uncluttered presentation of Hamlet, typeset as poetry to bring the Bard's immortal voice to the fore (much as it would have been in the original manuscript) and free of distracting extrania and over-busy layout. Scholarly versions are available elsewhere; this edition will appeal to lovers of the pure. A free pdf copy of the complete book interior is available via the publisher's website.

HAMLETTo be, or not to be, that is the question,Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--No more--and by a sleep to say we endThe heartache and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummationDevoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep;To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,For in that sleep of death what dreams may comeWhen we have shuffled off this mortal coilMust give us pause. There's the respectThat makes calamity of so long life.For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,The insolence of office, and the spurnsThat patient merit of th'unworthy takes,When he himself might his quietus makeWith a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,To grunt and sweat under a weary life,But that the dread of something after death,The undiscovered country from whose bournNo traveler returns, puzzles the will,And makes us rather bear those ills we haveThan fly to others that we know not of.Thus conscience does make cowards,And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sickl[i]ed o'er with the pale cast of thought,And enterprises of great pitch and momentWith this regard their currents turn awryAnd lose the name of action. Soft you now,The fair Ophelia!--Nymph, in thy orisonsBe all my sins remembered.

HAMLETTo be, or not to be, that is the question,Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--No more--and by a sleep to say we endThe heartache and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummationDevoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep;To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,For in that sleep of death what dreams may comeWhen we have shuffled off this mortal coilMust give us pause. There's the respectThat makes calamity of so long life.For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,The insolence of office, and the spurnsThat patient merit of th'unworthy takes,When he himself might his quietus makeWith a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,To grunt and sweat under a weary life,But that the dread of something after death,The undiscovered country from whose bournNo traveler returns, puzzles the will,And makes us rather bear those ills we haveThan fly to others that we know not of.Thus conscience does make cowards,And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sickl[i]ed o'er with the pale cast of thought,And enterprises of great pitch and momentWith this regard their currents turn awryAnd lose the name of action. Soft you now,The fair Ophelia!--Nymph, in thy orisonsBe all my sins remembered.