Shakespeare's Hamlet: The Manga Edition

by Tintin Pantoja (Illustrator), William Shakespeare

A new way for readers to appreciate one of Shakespeare's most-quoted plays

Adapted for the cinema many times and performed regularly on stages around the globe, Hamlet is Shakespeare's most enduringly popular play, with sales regularly topping 50,000 copies a year. This manga edition retells the story of Hamlet using one of today's hottest book formats, making the play's action and meaning more accessible and enjoyable than ever.

Tintin Pantoja (Indonesia) is a graphic artist.

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Comics, Shakespeare, Classics, Plays, Fiction

185 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1992

About the author

Tintin Pantoja is an artist based in the Philippines. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a BFA in Illustration/Cartooning.

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The thing that I appreciate about this manga adaptation of Hamlet is that it uses Shakespeare's original words. It is abridged for length, but the richness of the language has not changed. The art itself is fine, but at times it is a bit difficult to follow the action as it is drawn.

[Scott Hayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've picked up Shakespeare works off my shelf at home and always set them down again because they are so hard to understand, even with footnotes or side-by-side "translations." This Manga edition however brings you closer even to the action than a theater seat would. Using only Shakespeares original words, and offering no footnotes, I found the story easy to follow and a downright page turner. Where before, I would have taken days perhaps to struggle through, I finished this one with delight in a single day.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read Hamlet a few times, but this manga edition was the wildest ride I've been through. Between Hamlet getting his eye gouged out to all the very obvious Hamlet/Horatio shipping, this was a riot the entire way through. I appreciate how Hamlet and Horatio were portrayed as younger, but the edition with Hamlet being thirty was still used in the text, although this Hamlet didn't look much older than 16. However, I am still impressed by the efforts made to turn this into a manga, and I will definitely read this again.

[Bardha]

This has to be one of my favorite works of literature of all time. Not only for the fact that it is written by such an authoritative figure as Shakespeare is, a towering figure, and in my opinion ,like many's, among the greatest geniuses of literature. But also because it fits with all of us at all times. One might not be the Dane prince who had his father treacherously murdered, but one is always called to be vigilant and not be afraid to do the right thing-always believe in one's goal and not give it up-.
Of course it makes me sad and it makes me cry cause Hamlet deserved only the best -that is in my opinion-. And I shall never cease talking about it to every single soul ,not really but you know, because it is such a great work.
It is my second time reading it, once in it's drama format and secondly in the manga edition, and most probably one of the first rereads to more to come. As there are only but a few books that stay forever with you. And Hamlet really did it for me.

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art was good but I felt the story a little bit slower compared to Shakespeare’s original. Good tho

[bakanekonomama · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terjemahannya kacau dan nggak runut. Nggak selesai bacanya karena bingung dengan pemilihan katanya. Belum lagi pemenggalan kata dalam balon-balon dialog yang nggak terlalu oke, bikin kening saya berkerut-kerut.

Akhirnya, saya nggak mampu menyelesaikan manga ini karena dialog yang luar biasa banyak. Jadi saya hanya lihat gambarnya saja, yang yah.. cukup lumayan lah. Buat orang yang terbiasa membaca manga dengan kualitas gambar yang luar biasa (ala komikus Jepang yang rata-rata perfeksionis), ilustrasinya menurut saya sangat ramai dan kurang 'bersih'. Tapi tampaknya yang paling mengganggu saya memang di dialognya yang terlalu padat.

Ah, bilang saja saya memang malas.. ;p

[Mohamed Alwakeel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I have to say that I seriously liked "Hamlet, the manga edition"! It was like a great epic of Grief, Sorrow, Revenge, Psychology and some bits of supernaturals.. "Merchant of Venice" was the first thing I read for Shakespeare and it wasn't that great so I thought "Hamlet" would be the same, but I was completely wrong! It was such a great work that I will not get enough by just reading it, but by researching it more and more to get every single thing Shakespeare wanted to say through the lines of it! ^^

[Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this manga version of Shakespeare's Hamlet is good to read because it shows a lot of what the scene would look like if it were being performed. One of my favorite parts is when Ophelia cuts Hamlet's eye with a necklace when he's not being fair. Reading this made me want to read the entire play.

[Shawn Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the way the Shakespearean text is carefully chosen to clearly tell the story, and the pictures clarify meaning. It's an effective way to consider Shakespeare, particularly as it is visual, like a play. Shakespeare isn't meant to be read, it's meant to be watched. This is a nice way to compromise the need for print. I like it a lot, and will use it in my class room.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a really good book

[Tanairis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so good , i loved it i could read like a million times.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may assign this book to my students in the fall, so I can not really comment now except to say this is one of the better comic book adaptations of Hamlet.

[Samra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really helped me understand the story better. Shakespeare can be confusing and this provided some clarification via manga.

[Kyra Boisseree · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I totally didn't need to read this again, but I did. (I actually think that this is the book I've read the most, because it's really easy to reread....but that's something to contemplate another time.) My professor wanted us to read Hamlet twice, and I do not have time to do that (our edition is Q2, the longest version), and I think I'm familiar enough with Hamlet to not need to read it in its totality twice? I've read it enough before. So I reread this instead because it's like sparknotes Hamlet, but better, and with a lot of cool lines that don't appear in Q2 ("Denmark's a prison," "Thus conscience does make cowards OF US ALL"). It has been cut down LOT, obviously, but I still think it's great (obviously). It has influenced the way I read Hamlet more than any other version of Hamlet I've seen or read. I adore the art. The design of these characters is how I imagine the Hamlet characters when I read the complete Hamlet (or any retelling of Hamlet, no matter the descriptions). I love the "staging" decisions they made, like Hamlet breaking Horatio's glasses, Ophelia taking out Hamlet's eye, Hamlet holding Horatio's hand to his cheek when Horatio is worried about Hamlet losing against Laertes....I just love this so much. I could just stare at it forever.

[Lupe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me encantó la idea de una adaptación a Manga de una tragedia como lo es Hamlet! La forma de interpretar los actos, las intenciones de los personajes y sus acciones, trasmutarlas al arte que se ve en este manga es hermoso de ver.
Disfrute mucho las ilustraciones pero al estar en un inglés que no es actual, sino adaptado de la época, me costó enganchar al comienzo, definitivamente el conocer la historia me ayudó a comprender mejor. Así que si lo leen, recomiendo tener presente la tragedia en español para poder comprender mejor.
Dato/pregunta curiosa: ¿Por qué tenían que estar sin remera en reiteradas escenas sin ningún tipo de contexto? 😂😂 Libre interpretación, i guess

[electronic machine management associate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely one of the best interpretations of Shakespeare's masterpiece I have encountered yet. Pantoja's illustrations bring the text to life in their own unique way, perfectly adapting the play, while the text preserve the original language, cutting very little content. This text also includes one of my favorite presentations of Hamlet, portraying him in a way that feels very human, especially in his interactions with the other characters. He is no longer the harsh, brooding, and cruel caricature of a person that some adaptions portray him as, but a realistic, relatable, and even endearing character. All though creative choices made in this adaption may not be for everyone, such as amendments made to character ages or the interpretations of certain scenes, this is still a very worthwhile adaption to read.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on Hamlet, but not one I found worth revisiting or recommending. It perhaps serves a very particular purpose of giving someone, like a student, an assisting text to read Hamlet with while not using modern English. However, the book is forced to stay short, so scenes and lines were cut. I would find it more useful if it was the full text, acted out on the page in manga art instead of acted on stage. Furthermore, the lack of color (and likely my lack of manga experience) made it difficult to know who was who and who was saying what at times.

[Robert Hultman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I’m not in the mood for the language of Shakespeare, but I can’t get into this book. The artwork is overall good (not great) and the writing stays true to the original (perhaps too true), but there is nothing here that makes me want to read this rather than watch a performance (as Bill intended).

[Fatema · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first ever manga. beautiful drawings <3
Also the first time i finished reading a Shakespeare. i love how the manga looks so manga while the dialogues are 100% shakespeare. appreciated his writing for the first time, was very easy for my to follow through in this medium.

[Nada · Rating 3 out of 5]

أردت قراءة شكسبير بالإنجليزية دون أن أدخل في متاهة تأويل وتفسير الكلمات على أكثر من نحو، أردت أن أفهم وفي الحقيقة كان هذا الكتاب المصور معين جيد، تجد الحوار مقتبسة عن شعر شكسبير بتصرف وتجد الرسم مؤازرا للأحداث واللفظ وعامة كانت تجربة جيدة، علّي أكررها :)

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this version! I haven't read Shakespeare in years, and the manga style makes it really accessible, enjoyable, and more understandable. At times it's hard to tell what's happening in the images or who is speaking, but it's totally worth the read.

[Divya Kishore · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great book to read along with the original play especially because of the artwork and some slight changes (the eye, iykyk) . apart from making the play easy to visualise, the manga also humanises and breathes life into the characters, strengthening the impact of an already very well written, multifaceted play.

and of course, i loved the depiction of hamlet and horatio in this.

[Krista Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately out of print! Loved the manga drawings. Very clear distinction between characters. Original language.

[francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

ggrnekke was here.

[Sophie Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

La façon de parler du manga est propre a celle du theatre, j’ai pas vraiment accroché

[Tamzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super fun way to read Hamlet! The last act was a bit of a mess.

[Jea Yan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the manga version, I've read Hamlet before and I can say that everything was kept as it was in the book and the illustrations were beautifully made as well. It was very good.

[Marcel · Rating 5 out of 5]

the norton shakespeare 3E international student edition found dead in a ditch

[Natasha Cowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A revised retelling of Hamlet through the medium of manga.


Loved this. I thought they did a great job of deciding what to include and this form makes it accessible to such a large audience.

[Zander Jeinthanuttkanont · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am a hater to my core, and this book brought out the worst in me.