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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 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.
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.
this feels hotly blasphemous, but i must confess i didn't appreciate hamlet at all. i think the conditions in which it was read, the course, the teacher, certainly soured me on it, and perhaps i'll revisit it in a decade and find a new appreciation, but for the moment i found it particularly disappointing. hamlet and ophelia were fascinating figures, but there was something about the structure of the play i found supremely lacking, and which perturbed me the whole way through. i didn't particularly like the book, but i like my rating even less. ( )
I really enjoyed this one when I had to study this in high school. Everything about this is perfect, from the plot to the characters to the atmosphere. I loved Hamlet himself, such a fascinating character! He is brooding, he is amusing, he is clever. He has to deal with the revelation of his father's "foul and unnatural" murder, that his uncle is to blame - who has now very conveniently married his mother Gertrude. There of course is always the debate about his madness: how much is he faking it, how much is he genuinely mad? He pushes and pulls poor Ophelia around which brings about her own madness and subsequent death. The ending is as one expects from Shakesphere, moving and tragic but very beautiful. ( )
The book was hard to understand but with the modern version beside me, it made much more sense. Hamlet was a good book with many suspense and global issues such as health problems during the time. ( )
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]
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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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)