Hamlet

Written by William Shakespeare

Narrated by Anton Lesser, Edward de Souza, Emma Fielding and 2 more

Hamlet, which dates from 1600-1601, is the first in Shakespeare’s great series of four tragedies, the others being Othello (1603), King Lear (1605) and Macbeth (1606). In writing this extraordinary play Shakespeare effectively reinvented tragedy after an interval of roughly two thousand years – we have to go back to the Greek dramatists of fifth-century Athens to find anything of comparable depth and maturity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: Jun 7, 1997
• ISBN: 9789629546861

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

Reviews for Hamlet

[therebelprince · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Penguin edition remains the best edition for highschool students, undergrad students and actors. Not as dense as the Arden nor as casual as the RSC, but the perfect in-between for people in those categories.

[allisonmarie-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Who am I to review Shakespeare?!

[funfunyay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Who wants to read Hamlet? Ew. Ew Hamlet.But I enjoyed it. Despite being long long long and so thick, the pase was acutally quite brisk, and the language gorgeous, and I have fond memories of Hamlet. Compare Hamlet to Phaedra - Phaedra is a much shorter play, but the titular heroine spends the entirety of the play basically in the throes of the same emotion. Hamlet's issues, although they drag out through the whole play, keep changing and morphing, and corresponding to the action in the play.All in all, I am happy I read it.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There: you can all stop nagging me, I've finally read it. The plot was mostly as expected, though I think whatever version I read as a child was less kind to Ophelia, as I had a rather different image of her in mind. I had a whole book of Shakespeare retellings, now I think about it: I can't really remember many of them, but I suppose they haunt me a little in my vague ideas of what the plays are like before I read them...

Anyway, Hamlet: justly famous, and full of phrases and quotations that even people who've never read a Shakespeare play can quote. It's always interesting coming to those in situ at last.

Still terribly glad I don't have to study Shakespeare now. If I end up somehow forced to read Shakespeare in my MA, I may scream. Much happier to come to his plays now, in my own good time.

[katy89williams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was the first work by Shakespeare that I had every read, and it was definitely not the last. Hamlet was so captivating and thought provoking that I had to read more of Shakespeare. This was an author that I had not been looking forward to reading, but after reading this I was hooked. I highly recommend it to everyone out there.

[391_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hamlet is a phenomenal play. Just spectacular.

[msnikki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read it in Sixth Form and it spoiled me for Julius Ceaser.It is a wonderful complex read. And trying to discover all the layers is part of the fun.At its base, Hamlet is a prince called to avenge his late father the murdered King of Denmark. Yet it's not as simple as that. Hamlet's birthright has him in turmoil with himself, and then there is the issue of his mother and her new husband, the King's brother.A modern version would be tacky and full of soap opera bachannal...but Shakesphere's play is a serious psychological study of a young man who should be King.

[kdebros · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Classic work, full of relevant themes. Hamlet's father dies and his uncle usurps the throne. Hamlet sees his father's ghost and believes that he was told to kill his uncle.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Last time I read Hamlet, I was in school and I remember having some difficulty with the language... This time I found the language easier (although still hard to follow in places -- "The canker galls the infants of the spring
Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd,
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent." Laertes to Ophelia; I have read this over & over and still don't understand it).

[mbmackay · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It feels odd to be giving Shakespeare a rating in stars - who am I to judge?After many many years, I re-read Hamlet in a fine edition by Signature Shakespeare. This is a beautifully produced book and has a helpful layout with the original text supplemented with meanings of obscure words and suggested explanations for passages. It was a treat to read, and improved my appreciation of the text.I can't see it making it big in prime time - all the lead characters end up dead, but it is a tragedy!Read February 2015.

[birdie.newborn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a mature play of Shakespeare's, blending all the elements of drama, psychology, gutter humor, passion, ambition, doubt. The Playbook version is unique, but valuable. I haven't seen anything approaching it.

[ysabeau_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Tormented Boy who spawned an entire genus of Tormented Boys. My Ur-story.

[xleptodactylous · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hamlet was the original diva, mmhhmm.

[tadad_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This continues to remain my second-least-favorite of the seven Tragedies I've read so far. This preference isn't based upon the quality of the play qua play; it boils down to the fact that I simply don't enjoy Mr. Prince Hamlet, Jr. Despite some arguments to the contrary, he still comes across to me as a bipolar obsessive with impulse control problems, a distinct lack of responsibility, a poor attitude toward girlfriends and who, if we read only what is written, appears to make monumental judgments about his mother on little or no evidence. In other words, I don't like him. Of course, I don't particularly like fellows such as Mr. Macbeth either, but it's a different lack of esteem: a dislike for the bad guy (which is a sneaking regard) rather than a disdain for the self-absorbed.I find the characters of Polonius, Ophelia and Gertrude much more intriguing in this play and I do enjoy it for them. So, while I love the language of this play, and the supporting cast, and acknowledge the structure and plot, I still don't enjoy it as much as a romp through Birnham Wood or, better yet, Lear's Britain.

[meandmybooks-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite of Shakespeare's plays. It just gets better with every reading, and this time I started with Marjorie Garber's excellent chapter on the play (in her Shakespeare After All), which helped me appreciate the themes of “playing” – of dramas within dramas, “staged” events, audiences being observed, etc. – and of borders...”In suggesting that these three worlds – the world of Hamlet's mind and the imagination; the physical, political, and “historical” world of Denmark; and the world of dramatic fiction and play – are parallel to and superimposed upon one another, I am suggesting, also, that the play is about the whole question of boundaries, thresholds, and liminality or border crossing; boundary disputes between Norway and Denmark, boundaries between youth and age, boundaries between reality and imagination, between audience and actor. And these boundaries seem to be constantly shifting.”Also, of course, fathers and sons, words and meanings, just so much in this one, which, I suppose, is why I enjoy new things about it each time I read it. And I do love Hamlet. He treats Ophelia terribly, and Laertes at her grave, but his indecision, his anxiety, his sincerity, his hopefulness are all so... relatable! Really, I love it all. The relationships, the humor, the wordplay, the poetry. Happy sigh.

[cyndavaz · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Forced reading from high school - I hated every moment of this.

[pluckybamboo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The crazy, classic story about the prince of Denmark, in which everyone dies but Horatio... really delves into the idea of death, insanity, and the line between fantasy and reality. A must read (or see!).

[michael_rose-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Forcing myself into reading Shakespeare as an adult, I started here. I'm not sorry. Excellent poetry. "What a piece of work is man" is one of my favorite bits of writing period, not just within Shakespeare's works. I believe this is also the longest of his plays? Partly my reason for tackling it first. If you only read one of his works, read Hamlet.

[the1butterfly · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've had this hanging around since I think senior year of high school when I started to read it and never finished, but I was inspired to pick it up and re-do it because Crash Course on YouTube covered it and I wanted to know the play before watching the video. This is kind of a must-read because there are so many quotes (beyond just "To be or not to be"), and it's one of those things you need to read to be culturally literate (admittedly, I now feel bad waiting so long). It wasn't the most exciting story to me- Hamlet is upset from the start with his uncle marrying his mother, but he kind of bides his time and bides it some more and some more... I get that he wants to verify what his uncle has done, but he dithers and even when he is certain goes to England rather than take action. Meanwhile I remembered that Ophelia committed suicide, so I was curious about her role. Was she completely freaked out by her father's death or was she upset about Hamlet being kind of obnoxious (he blames his mother, but then he takes it out on Ophelia) and he's very back and forth with her. I can understand why he has to go emo and muse about life and death constantly, but he dragged everyone else in it with him. Horatio's about the only guy who can get away with knowing Hamlet and living. I don't feel like I get to appreciate justice being served with Claudius dying when every other character dies with him and Denmark is given over to some foreign prince. The ambiguity is part of what makes this play famous and studied (What's Queen Gertrude's role? Was she beguiled by Claudius or a partner in his crimes?), but it's also a bit unsettling. It is not a very restful play.

[takeitorleaveit_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

the dark prince of Denmark. so emotional. an absolute classic as important as Oedipus Rex.

[jessicadelellis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was a very interesting story. It wasn't boring as I thought it would be.

[loufreshwater · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What didn't I learn from this book? ;-)

[floratina · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

READ IN ENGLISH

To be or not to be; that is the question

That's probably one of the best known parts of Western literature.
I never really like Shakespeare (okay, I only read Romeo and Juliet and my school forced me to do so), but things have changed a bit lately after I went to see a theatre production of The Tempest in London's Globe Theatre.
So, why not try and read Hamlet? (The Tempest will be read as well, as soon as I have the time to do so)
Indeed, and I liked the play. It was still a relatively easy read and great for some winter evenings.

[orix_bluewave · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the tragedy of Shakespeare.But this story don't contain love.This story is a man whose father was killed.So he tried to revenge.Can he accomplish it?

[terpsichoreus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Shakespeare is an adept poet and master of the language. He layers on jokes, puns, and references everywhere. He has a massive output of work, and a number of different plots. When we compare him to other authors, it is difficult to find anyone who stacks up. This is usually because we compare him to the wrong people.Shakespeare didn't write books or pamphlets or epics, he wrote plays. Short pieces of drama that were meant to be fast-paced and exciting. That they are mainly experienced today as bound books and not theatrical productions does not change their origins. If one wants to look at the achievements of Shakespeare, he should be compared to someone of a similar bent.He should be compared with prolific writers known for catchy jokes and phrases. Writers who reuse old plots, making fun of their traditions. Writers of work meant to be performed. Writers who aim for the lowest common denominator, while still including the occasional political commentary. He should be compared to the writers of South Park; or Family Guy; or the Simpsons.Shakespeare was meant to be lowbrow and political, but now it only reads that way to those who are well-educated enough to understand his language, reference, and the political scene of the time. He referenced mythology because that was the popular thing to do. Family Guy references 1980's pop culture. Is that any less esoteric? How esoteric would it be after 400 years?Additionally, all of Shakespeare's magnificent plots were lifted, sometimes whole cloth, from other books and histories, just like how sit coms have 'episode types' or how the Simpsons steals the plots of popular movies.Shakespeare was not as visionary or deep as he is often given credit for. Rather, he was always so vague with the motives and thoughts of his characters that two critics could give his characters two different and conflicting motives, but find both equally well-supported.Is Shylock evil because he's a Jew, evil despite the fact, or evil because of the effects of racism on him? You can make a case for all three, while Marlowe (the more practised writer) never left it to chance, and where has it gotten him?Shakespeare was an inspired and prolific author, and his effect on writing and talent for aphorism cannot be overstated. I think he probably wrote the King James version because it is so pretty. However, he is not the be-all and end-all of writing.His popularity and central position in the canon comes mainly from the fact that you can write anything you like about his plays. Critics and professors don't have to scramble, or even leave their comfort zone. Shakespeare's work is vague enough that it rejects no interpretations. No matter your opinions, you can find them reflected in Shakespeare, or at least, not outright refuted.His is a grey world, and his lack of agenda leaves us pondering what he could possibly have been like. His vague and endless interpretation makes his writing the perfect representation of an unsure, unjust world. No one is really right or wrong, and if they were, there would be no way to know it.I don't know whether this makes him the most or least poignant of writers. Is the author's absence from the stories the most rarefied example of the craft, or is it just lighthearted pandering? I'm still not sure.

[knotbox · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed, and could relate to the performance done on DVD in 1996, and that is what recommended the play to me. Really interesting and moving.... it's hard to review something so integral to the classics, but as with all of shakespeare, it is best read simultaneous (the dreaded, read-and-pause) with a good adaption.

Kenneth Branagh helped me appreciate Hamlet. Despite it's leangth, it is lush and fantastical in the most bearable way. A great play.

[writercity · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I finally read this tale for the first time and I wasn't disappointed. Hamlet wasn't a character to read about lightly, giving a perplexing feeling every time he spoke. The emotions of most of characters are what carry the story, and what will be the effects of their actions. In the beginning of the book, the Ghost's words were the most interesting to read. Near the end of the play, Hamlet's hilarious comments to Ophelia were so funny because they were out of nowhere, before the tragic ending of the play.

[26kathryn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was the first time that I've read Hamlet, I've heard it quoted so many times and I thought it was about time I read it.Hamlet's mother is married to her dead husband's brother. And after seeing his father's ghost Hamlet decides to take revenge on his uncle/step-dad who apparently murdered his father. It's a kind of crazy story with lots of death, and there were some places where I didn't really understand what was going on, but I still got the overall jist of the story.I enjoyed reading this but when reading a play as a book I find it a bit hard to keep track of the characters and the settings, I think I would like to see it performed so that I can really get a feel for the story.

[kswanteck · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Shakespeare is good to teach in any classroom, because it is so timeless. The struggles Hamlet faces throughout this play, wondering who he is and what he should do, are things that everyone goes through at some point in their life. Students could really see character development and inner struggles within a character while reading Hamlet. It could also be a good way to get students to interact with a text, because it is a play and they could act it out.

[nules_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was a reasonably enjoyable Shakespearean play. It's kind of wild. It's not long, but not the shortest of his plays, either.