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Dive into the tragedy that many critics regard not only as Shakespeare's finest play, but also as one of the best literary works ever produced. Set in Denmark, Hamlet recounts the events that transpire after the King is murdered by his brother Claudius, who then marries his brother's widow. Prince Hamlet uncovers the true nature of his father's death and feigns madness to create a trap. A must-read for fans of classic literature.
Voracious_Reader: Existentialist, tragicomedy based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Very different from Shakespeare's Hamlet and yet there's a definite, deep connection between the two.
alanteder: A novel from Ophelia's point of view constructed using only the 481 words used by Ophelia in the play (from all Quartos and First Folio editions). The technique is called Oulipo, creating a literature work using constricted, limited resources.
Anonymous user: The modern text of Hamlet and the First Quarto make an interesting and thought-provoking comparison. Little is known about the foundations of Q1, but it opens the door of endless speculation about Elizabethan authorship, publishing, piracy and what not.
Anonymous user: The music by Shostakovich is ideally experienced in Kozintsev's movie for which it was composed, but it stands well on its own as a symphonic poem and makes a fine soundtrack to the play as well.
The fact I went through 21 years of life without actually knowing the full plot of Hamlet stands as possibly the greatest possible testimony of how worthless the English educational system is. ( )
You cannot give Hamlet, as written, a bad review. Starting out as a simple revenge tragedy, it just stretches out to a study of our attitude to life itself. The characters are well drawn, and while the conflict is clear, "Is Hamlet going to exact revenge for his father's death? And on Whom?" We readers soon are drawn to examining our own conflicts, and the solutions we have, or will have tried for them. At the end, after " ...carnal,Bloody and unnatural acts, of accidental judgements,casual slaughters,of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause...and purposes mistook fall'n on the inventor's heads"...the stage is filled with corpses, and only a messager character Horatio is left to explain to the eventual heir of the country what happened. As with almost all of the plays, you will find yourself reading aloud. The play was presented to the Lord Chamberlain in 1602. I seem to have read it nine times. ( )
This was an OK production. An all American cast that at times feels like they are uncomfortably reading the lines. Some of the actors/actresses do very good jobs, others make the listening to and the flow of the story choppy and tough. Good enough for fans of the Bard, but I wouldn't use this for a classroom or early students of Shakespeare. Probably would turn them away... ( )
Act 1, Scene 1 EnterBarnardoandFrancisco, two sentinels.
Barnardo Who's there?
Bernardo. Who’s there? Francisco. No, answer me: Stand and reveal yourself. Bernardo. Long live the King. Francisco. Bernardo? Bernardo. He. Francisco. You come most promptly on your hour.
Quotations
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads. And recks not his own rede.
Alas, poor Yorick!—I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infi nite jest, of most excellent fancy:
This above all — to thine ownself be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.
(Claudius) O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven; It has the primal eldest curse upon it— A brother’s murder!—
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
To be, or not to be—that is the question— Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?—To die—to sleep—
Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.
The time is out of joint—O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right!—
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
(Polonius) And these few precepts in your memory Look you character. Give your thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act. Be you familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends you have, and their adoption tried, Grapple them unto your soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull your palm with entertainment Of each new-hatched, unfl edged comrade. Beware Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, Bear it that the opposed may beware of you. Give every man your ear, but few your voice. Take each man’s censure, but reserve your judgment. 18 Costly your habit as your purse can buy, But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy: For the apparel oft proclaims the man; And they in France of the best rank and station Are most select and generous chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend; And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all—to your own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, You can not then be false to any man. Farewell: my blessing season this in you!
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not me; no, nor woman neither, though, by your smiling, you seem to say so.
To be, or not to be, — that is the question: — Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The 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 end The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, — 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; — To sleep, perchance to dream: — ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, — The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn No traveller returns, — puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know naught of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; And enterprises of great pith and moment, With this regard, their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Fortinbras. Let four captains Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage; For he was likely, had he been put on, To have proved most royally: and, for his passage, The soldiers’ music and the rites of war Speak loudly for him— Take up the bodies—Such a sight as this Becomes the fi eld, but here shows much amiss. Go, bid the soldiers shoot. [A dead march]
Please do not combine with this work the First Quarto (Q1) from 1603. This really is a different play. The Second Quarto (Q2), First Folio (F1), and modern texts based on them belong here. Please distinguish between this Work, which is Shakespeare's original play, from any of its many adaptations (audio, video, reworking, etc.). Thank you.
3458320644 1980 softcover German insel taschenbuch 364 transl. Schlegel ed. Norbert Kohl
The 1917 and 1933 editions were edited by Jack Randall Crawford.
Dive into the tragedy that many critics regard not only as Shakespeare's finest play, but also as one of the best literary works ever produced. Set in Denmark, Hamlet recounts the events that transpire after the King is murdered by his brother Claudius, who then marries his brother's widow. Prince Hamlet uncovers the true nature of his father's death and feigns madness to create a trap. A must-read for fans of classic literature.
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Book description
Shakespeare's telling of a man who struggles with the death of his father and the re-marriage of his mother. Hamlet knows his uncle killed his father but must determine how to act. He struggles with anger an depression and kills the father of the woman who loves him. it is a tragedy.
This was just really hard to understand in fourth grade. There were a couple funny parts, but mostly it was just dark and there was a lot of killing. I thought it was dumb that everyone died.
One of the most intriguing characters in theater, Hamlet has been played by more than two dozen actresses over the years. The story begins with the visitation of Hamlet's dead father, telling him that he was murdered by his own brother, who has taken the throne. Only Hamlet hears the story, and he does not share it with his companions. Is it true? Hamlet dithers as to what to do. He brings a play that has a similar plot to the assassination to see King Claudius's reaction. He confronts Queen Gertrude, his mother, and kills Polonius by mistake. The King sends him away to be murdered, but Hamlet foils the attempt. His love, Ophelia, goes mad and commits suicide. He and her brother challenge each other over her. In a fixed bout of fencing, King Claudius gives a poisoned blade to Laertes, the brother, but in the scuffle, the blades are switched. Queen Gertrude drinks the poison cup prepared for Hamlet, Hamlet skewers Claudius, Laertes and Hamlet both die.
Haiku summary
Etre ou ne pas être... Un chef-d'oeuvre intemporel? Telle est la question.
Dithering Hamlet can't decide to do the deed. Finally, all die. (Sasha Newborn)
Kill him already! Your father's ghost told you to! All die thanks to you! (hillaryrose7)