Hamlet

by Alistair McCallum (Adapter), William Shakespeare

Classics, modern fiction, non-fiction and more. Written for secondary and adult students the Oxford Bookworms Library has seven reading levels from A1-C1 of the CEFR. This famous play by William Shakespeare is one of the finest in the English language. Why does Hamlet, the young Prince of Denmark, look so sad? Why does he often say strange things? His family and friends are worried about him. Perhaps he is mad! But Hamlet thinks that he has discovered a terrible secret about a recent crime in his family. Now he has no time for Ophelia, the sweet girl who loves him, or his friends, who were at school with him. He sits alone, and thinks, and plans. What will he decide to do? Will he ever be happy again? CEFR A2/B1 Word count 5,945

Genres: Classics, Plays

64 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2005

Reviews

[adayglmt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Se trata de una versión muy corta de Hamlet. Está escrita en un inglés muy básico además. Me encantó. Me encantó. Es mi "Casablanca" literario. Me encantó.

[Osvaldo Palma · Rating 4 out of 5]

4* No es la edición que leí
Es que este clásico me encanta y aunque es una tragedia me pone de buen humor, debe ser por la forma en que se narra.

[Miyuki Kato]

1.Hamlet/oxford/level2
2.80 minutes
3.prince, ghost, king, sentry, poison, blade, grave
4.Have you been to Denmark?-No, I haven't.
5.There are a royal castle on Denmark's cost. Nervous sentries keep watch at their post. For the past two nights, they've seen a strange sight, a phantom ghost who stalks the night and..........
I was shocked at the ending. I don't want Hamlet to die.........

[rod · Rating 4 out of 5]

mid

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

definitely my favorite shakespeare text. when i read this in 2021 i wasn't in the right headspace because of the pandemic. i really loved it this time around. hamlet is such a sharp and fun protagonist.

[Hussain J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice

[Milagros · Rating 2 out of 5]

mi primera lectura en inglés y fue obligatoria 😭

[Vyy L]

It was an easy read. I finished it in 1 sitting. Recommend to English learners.

[Halya Cia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been so curious about Hamlet's story. I've ever read the real, classic version for some pages but it was so difficult to be understood. Thankfully, this book exists; a simplified version.

[lama · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shakespeare is just throwing words

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy basiquito pero estuvo padre

[Marwan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's ok but not interesting

[Nanami · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. Oxford lv2
2. 5/18 20min, 5/22 20min, 5/24 30min
3. King, ghost, truth, murder, mad, revenge, fight
4. a.I like the scene that ghost speaks to Hamlet.
b. This scene is that the ghost tell Hamlet truth. Actually, the ghost is Hamlet's father, and he was king. Hamlet didn't know truth why he dead. Then, the ghost speak with only Hamlet, and told him truth that King was killed by his brother. And Hamlet promise the revenge for father. I read this scene in the first part of this book, so I was very excited what happened now on this story.
5. Ghost part of this book is very interesting, so I feel easy to read. However, the story toward the sad deployment. I think it is heavy story because Hamlet change his personality in order to his promise with the ghost, and they fight with relatives. Finally, they killed each other. After I read this book, I feel sad.

[Himawari Ogawa]

1. Publisher: Willam Shakespeare
Company: Oxford
Level: 2

2. Time: 10/4 45mins

3. die, revenge, play, ghost, love, battle, wine

4. Have you seen ghosts??
→No I haven't. And also I don't want to do. lol
If you knew who killed your parents, what would you do??
→If I knew it, I would think that I also want to kill. But I guess that I can't do that if I hate the person a lot. I would talk to the person and give the revenge with something ideas.

5. Now I took a class, English literature. The I found this book and tried to read it. This story is so strange but I didn't stop reading. It's a easy story but sad story. Now I also want to read English literature!!

[Takuma Kusagawa · Rating 5 out of 5]

1.OXFORD,Level2

2.6/23=30minutes,6/25=55minutes

3.king,murder,friends,ghost,sword,love,Denmark

4.Ghost(Hamlet's farther)"While I was sleeping in the garden, he(Claudius) put poison in my ear. He took my life, my crown, and my wife. Don't hurt your mother, Hamlet. But you must take revenge on Claudius!
Hamlet's farther was killed by Claudius and I thought Hamlet has to take revenge and tell the trouth to everyone.

5. In the end, Hamlet take revenge and Claudius was killed. Hamlet did his work but many people around him were killed, for example his mother, his girlfriend and so on, so my feeling was complicated.

[Rikako Onogi · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. OXFORD, level2
2. 5/8=30minutes; 5/10=50minutes; 5/16=minutes
3. Prince, Denmark, King, murder, ghost, family, tragedy
4. a. Hamlet is Prince of Denmark. One day, his father was killed by Claudius who is Hamlet's uncle. Sometimes his father appeared in front of Hamlet. He decided to revenge on his uncle. He play the role such as representing the death of King.
b. The scene that ghost appeared is a little scared. I do not like ghost story, so I was surprised. Also, there are many character in this story, so I was careful not to be confused.
5. The book I read until now is most interesting, because I read the tragedy was the first time.

[Miyuki Koga · Rating 3 out of 5]

-OXFORD university press, level2
-Time: 10/3 = 30 minutes; 10/4 = 20minutes.
- 7-word summary: meet - truth - revenge - die - leave - grave - fight.
-Discussion questions:
1. Have you ever seen ghosts?
No, I haven't. I don't believe the existence.
2. If your mother or father is killed by someone, do you revenge to the person?
I'm not sure that. I want the person to be arrested. But I cannot kill people like Hamlet.

I enjoyed reading this book. In this book, there are a lot of people, but it was easy for me to understand this story. I want to read another book about Shakespeare.

[Takahiko Masuda · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Alistair McCallum, oxford, level2
2. 90 minutes
3. prince, ghost, king, sentry, poison, blade, grave
4. Do you know other Shake Spears' stories? What?
- Yes, I do. It is "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Actually, I took a role in this play when I was a elementary school student.
5. Sorry...I haven't finished this story yet. This is very interesting for me but also too heavy for me to read it at one sitting. I believe I can write s great goodreader’s view next week.
If I have a chance, I would try to watch the movie of Hamlet after I finish reading it.

[Misaki Ohata · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. oxford, William Shakespeare
2.4/28 90min.
3.poison heart mad funeral lord ghost kill
4.a【Hamlet is the young prince of Denmark. Oneday, his father dead, but he came back as ghost after few days. Ghost said that Claudius killed me. So Hamlet revenge on Claudius.】b【You must take revenge on Claudius!!】
5.I knew the story's name before I read this book. In the last scene, Hamlet revenged on Claudius, he dead. But Hamlet dead too, so I was sad. Nevertheless, everyone know the truth after Hamlet dead, so Hamlet's death was not waste I think.

[Shiho Kawai · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Oxford, level 2.
-Time: 80min.
-7 words: poison, father, king, play, revenge, love, kill
-Discussion Questions:
1. Have you ever read stories written by William Shakespeare?
I learned about some stories weitten by him in a class.
2. If you were Hamlet, what do you do to Claudius, the new king?
I don't kill him as same as Hamlet, but I'll tell the people that he is a murder and send him to prison.

[Keiichi Yamamoto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oxford active reading level 2
Time Octover third 90 minutes
7words summary father killed ghost sun poisen revenge dead
1 Do you have a person who you want to kill?
No, I do not. lol I hope my friends think like that for me.lol
2 If your father do not have his wife because of divorce or something, do you want your father to re-marry with someone?
Yes, I do. My father can be happy becasue of remarry, I think he should!

[Kentaro Iijima · Rating 4 out of 5]

- Oxford reading, level 2.
- Time 10/17 = 100 minutes.
= 7-word summary: king - mother - kill - man - best friend - battle - death.
- Discussion questions:
1, Can you believe in ghost?
I don't believe in ghost. I haven't seen ghost so I don't watch that in my life.
2, What do you do if your father was killed by someone?
I must against with someone who killed my father. But it is not meaning to kill.

I liked this graded reader. It's easy for me to read book. Hamlet is interesting story.

[Hiroki Yasui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hamlet (Oxford Level.2)

04/30 about 120 minutes

king, ghost, death, revenge poison, lord, murder

I have known Hamlet is written by Shakespeare and it is loved all over the world. This is the first time for me to read this story. I think Hamlet is worth reading at least once. Hamlet is known as the most tragic story of Shakespeare. The main theme of this story is “revenge”. In the of the story, I felt big sadness.

[Nanase Hayashi · Rating 4 out of 5]

OXFORD / Level 2
June 1st 2nd=80mins

prince, ghost, king, sentry, poison, blade, grave

"To be, or not to be: that is the question: to go on living, fighting against this sea of troubles, or to die and end everything?

I know the name of this book but it was my first time to read it. One of the reasons why this book was easy to read is all story was conversations. So I understand who is talking. I want to watch this movie.

[Kayo Nakagaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. Oxford stage2

2. 6/17 40minutes 6/18 50minutes

3. ghost, king, murder, strange, god, kill, secret

4. a The ghost said ”The snake that killed me now wears my crown.”
b I thought people who murdered Hamlet's father is other people, not Cldudius. It was surprising.

5.There are so many characters in this story. So I was confused. But fighting between Hamlet and Claudius is so excitedfor me.

[Akihiro Miyanishi · Rating 4 out of 5]

1.Oxford Level 2

2.07/09=80 minutes

3.die,murder,friends,ghost,sword,love,battle

4.a)"Hamlet, I am the ghost of your dead father."
b)This is unreal things, so it's so interesting for me. If the person who died appear in front of me, I will be surprised!

5.These days, I like to read the book of Shakespeare. I read Romeo and juliet, but this book was more intereting than it.

[Kayo Nakagaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. oxford level 2
2. 11/24 60min 11/26 20min
3. ghost, father, kill, murder, friend, love, poison
4. a ”Hamlet, I am the ghost of your dead father."
b I couldn't understand this phrase. It looks like a hook for Hamlet.
5. I like works of Shakespeare. The reason is that it is written about not only one topic. For example, in Hamlet, friend, family(especially father), love and so on.

[Rio Shimizu · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. William Shakespeare / Level2
2. 04/12=80 minuites
3. prince, ghost, king, sentry, poison, blade, grave
4. a.Why be afraid of death?
b.I like this passage because the strength of Hamlet appeares in this passage.
5. I thought that this story is tragedy. Hamlet was proud of his father very much, so he envies his uncle. I found that he is a strong person.

[Mako · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Oxford level2
2. 07/13=85
3. king, death, ghost, strange, murder, terrible, revenge

4a. To be, or not to be.
4b. It is the most famous phrase. I've never read this book, but I've heard it before.

5. Because this book is very famous, I know the name of it. But I've never read before. It was easy to understand who is talking because all story was conversation.

[Ryota Kato]

1. oxford / level2
2. 80min
3. prince, ghost, king, sentry, poison, blade, grave
4. a. Why be afraid of death?
b. This sentence express his strength, so I like it.
5. I thought that this story is tragedy. Hamlet was proud of his father very much, so he envies his uncle. I found that he is a strong person.