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Hamlet
Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Published by Arden Shakespeare,2006, Paperback 3rd Edition
688 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2006
About the author
William Shakespeare
18.6k books48.4k followersWilliam Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 3, 2026
Hamlet by William Shakespeare is one of Bokklubben World Library’s Top 100 Best Books of All Time, it is also ranked 68th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, it is evidently a chef d’oeuvre, though it can have some adaptations that are not so overwhelming, like the one I have seen (in part, it was not my cup of tea) yesterday – you have thousands of reviews on magnum opera from the aforementioned and other web pages on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and YouTube channel
8 out of 10 as seen on April 28 2026
Hamlet is nec plus ultra, the crème de la crème https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... notwithstanding that, the version that I have seen – at least for the fifteen minutes or so while I could stand it – was a major disappointment, largely due to Ian McKellen, I do not like him
Which means this is biased, since it is not just Hamlet, but also in other parts he is not a preferred thespian, indeed, I think I could only go along with him in The Lord of The Rings, and that is a film that is not even in my top 5,000, I liked it in the early two thousands, but because it was spectacular on some levels.
I am getting fussy, Hamnet, one of the most admired motion pictures of the last year, winner of The Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Jesse Buckley – here is proof that this is so subjective and ultimately irrelevant, I do not like this other actor – was yet another feature where I wondered what is so wonderful here?
In Hamnet https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... we have the wife taking the center stage, and I understand it is not credible: William Shakespeare has left a will in which the spouse is left with almost nothing, so where is all that passion that we see in the motion picture
It is very likely that the above is wrong, both the story of the will, which I have probably misremembered, and the rest – however, this is a personal note, we are on my blog, or Goodreads, and these are places where you do not get expert reviews, well, maybe there are a few critics that put on that site some material
The story of Hamlet is so well known- the father is killed by his brother, so that he can get the power, he marries the widow – here I am reminded of Richard III https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... where Richard marries the widow of the man he had killed
Ian McKellen might have worked – if not for me – in the role of the usurper, the father, but they have him as Hamlet at the age of…whatever his advanced age would be, and yes, I am 62, this would be called ageism, or some such thing, but he is too old for the role of a quite young man, let us push it to middle age, but still…
Jack Lemmon https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... talked about this in a documentary called American Cinema, you could not take on King Lear when you are a teenager, or words to that effect, anyway, this is not the style I like, he seems artificial to me, and I could be, or I am surely wrong
8 out of 10 as seen on April 28 2026
Hamlet is nec plus ultra, the crème de la crème https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... notwithstanding that, the version that I have seen – at least for the fifteen minutes or so while I could stand it – was a major disappointment, largely due to Ian McKellen, I do not like him
Which means this is biased, since it is not just Hamlet, but also in other parts he is not a preferred thespian, indeed, I think I could only go along with him in The Lord of The Rings, and that is a film that is not even in my top 5,000, I liked it in the early two thousands, but because it was spectacular on some levels.
I am getting fussy, Hamnet, one of the most admired motion pictures of the last year, winner of The Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Jesse Buckley – here is proof that this is so subjective and ultimately irrelevant, I do not like this other actor – was yet another feature where I wondered what is so wonderful here?
In Hamnet https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... we have the wife taking the center stage, and I understand it is not credible: William Shakespeare has left a will in which the spouse is left with almost nothing, so where is all that passion that we see in the motion picture
It is very likely that the above is wrong, both the story of the will, which I have probably misremembered, and the rest – however, this is a personal note, we are on my blog, or Goodreads, and these are places where you do not get expert reviews, well, maybe there are a few critics that put on that site some material
The story of Hamlet is so well known- the father is killed by his brother, so that he can get the power, he marries the widow – here I am reminded of Richard III https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... where Richard marries the widow of the man he had killed
Ian McKellen might have worked – if not for me – in the role of the usurper, the father, but they have him as Hamlet at the age of…whatever his advanced age would be, and yes, I am 62, this would be called ageism, or some such thing, but he is too old for the role of a quite young man, let us push it to middle age, but still…
Jack Lemmon https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... talked about this in a documentary called American Cinema, you could not take on King Lear when you are a teenager, or words to that effect, anyway, this is not the style I like, he seems artificial to me, and I could be, or I am surely wrong
January 21, 2026
Re-read thanks to the movie Hamnet. Shakespeare will always be satisfying because of the new artists that put their own palimpsest on his works. And if you're interested in marveling at the layers, like the strata in the side of a cliff, read an Arden edition of a Shakespeare play.
It was surprising to remember that my favorite line from Hamlet wasn't in the version I just read (Quarto 2). That's in the Folio copy. Don't know what that is? Go read the Arden!
Not sure if the novel Hamnet is going to be picked up any time soon. My noble heart might crack from the damage already done by the film.
May 19, 2026
No es la mejor tragedia que he leído -perdón-
September 7, 2026
“A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.”
“This shows you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.”
We are all one. A beggar may eat a fish that had eaten a worm that had fed on a king.
Here we are introduced to the court at Elsinore. King Hamlet has been murdered and his mother has married Claudius, the King’s brother, rather quickly after his death. Young Hamlet returns from school in existential crisis. He is visited by the ghost of his father, who tells him what happened and asks for revenge. Hamlet’s hesitation about revenge widens into something larger — a crisis about existence itself — and in that state we are gifted some of the most profound words of literature ever penned:
“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”
One of my favorites:
“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”
By the end, the play has measured every kind of death against the same fact it opens with — king and beggar, worm and fish, all reduced to the same substance.
Goodnight, sweet Prince.
“This shows you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.”
We are all one. A beggar may eat a fish that had eaten a worm that had fed on a king.
Here we are introduced to the court at Elsinore. King Hamlet has been murdered and his mother has married Claudius, the King’s brother, rather quickly after his death. Young Hamlet returns from school in existential crisis. He is visited by the ghost of his father, who tells him what happened and asks for revenge. Hamlet’s hesitation about revenge widens into something larger — a crisis about existence itself — and in that state we are gifted some of the most profound words of literature ever penned:
“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”
One of my favorites:
“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”
By the end, the play has measured every kind of death against the same fact it opens with — king and beggar, worm and fish, all reduced to the same substance.
Goodnight, sweet Prince.
November 24, 2025
Girl, whatever
January 1, 2026
I have re-read this book for the millionth time! I still love it and think it is an amazing play! I love Hamlet and his indecision, and the portrayal of madness in the text. This is a very clever play with memorable themes and quotes!
February 25, 2025
After the umpteenth time of reading I am left with the feeling that I should spend a great deal more time studying it so that I am as familiar with it as I am with Lear, Macbeth, Much Ado, the Tempest etc.
So I've put it on my Deep Study list to currently join Milton.
So I've put it on my Deep Study list to currently join Milton.
December 11, 2025
It's Hamlet.
Not only that, it's the Arden edition, which means I got to nerd out on figuring out Q1, Q2, and F.
Not only that, it's the Arden edition, which means I got to nerd out on figuring out Q1, Q2, and F.
December 14, 2025
The Great Play and the Great Arden Shakespeare Edition. The Bard's timeless words. 'Nuff said, right? Read it over and over, again and again.
April 9, 2026
likeeee what can i even say. get thee to a nunnery
April 13, 2026
To be or not to be...
August 20, 2026
Favourite lines:
"You shall nose him as you go up the stairs"
"He is fat and out of breath." (Hamlet's mother, about Hamlet)
"You shall nose him as you go up the stairs"
"He is fat and out of breath." (Hamlet's mother, about Hamlet)
April 20, 2025
That so much of a language and a culture can be traced back to one work by one person is almost incredible.
August 19, 2024
Mi favorito de Shakespeare, encontré todo en Hamlet. Es una obra excelsa.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews