The tragical history of Hamlet, prince of Denmark

One of the greatest plays of all time, the compelling tragedy of the tormented young prince of Denmark continues to capture the imaginations of modern audiences worldwide. Confronted with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, and with his mother’s infidelity, Hamlet must find a means of reconciling his longing for oblivion with his duty as avenger. The ghost, Hamlet’s feigned madness, Ophelia’s death and burial, the play within a play, the “closet scene” in which Hamlet accuses his mother of complicity in murder, and breathtaking swordplay are just some of the elements that make Hamlet an enduring masterpiece of the theater.Each Edition Includes:• Comprehensive explanatory notes • Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship • Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English• Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories • An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmographyFrom the Paperback edition. Shakespeare's classic tragedy of love, madness, and revenge was first enacted in London in 1602. Young Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is in mourning for his dead father, is visited by his father's ghost telling him that he was murdered by his own brother, Claudius, who then assumed the throne and married Hamlet's mother, Gertrude. Intent on revenge, Hamlet feigns madness and plots to kill Claudius. When he accidentally stabs Polonius, Claudius's counselor, Hamlet is sent into exile--and Polonius's daughter, Ophelia, who had been in love with Hamlet, goes mad from grief and drowns herself. In the climax of the play, old scores are settled at last, and Hamlet's speaks his famous last words: "The rest is silence." Considered one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, HAMLET is part of the well-established tradition of "revenge tragedies" that were popular at the end of the Elizabethan era, but the play transcends all its influences in its examination of justice and duty, and as a subtle portrait of a sensitive young man torn between righteous revenge and his duty as a moral man. In this quintessential Shakespeare tragedy, a young prince's halting pursuit of revenge for the murder of his father unfolds in a series of highly charged confrontations that have held audiences spellbound for nearly four centuries. Those fateful exchanges, and the anguished soliloquies that precede and follow them, probe depths of human feeling rarely sounded in any art. The title role of Hamlet, perhaps the most demanding in all of Western drama, has provided generations of leading actors their greatest challenge. Yet all the roles in this towering drama are superbly delineated, and each of the key scenes offers actors a rare opportunity to create theatrical magic. As if further evidence of Shakespeare's genius were needed, Hamlet is a unique pleasure to read as well as to see and hear performed. The full text of this extraordinary drama is reprinted here from an authoritative British edition complete with illuminating footnotes. (back cover) EDITORIAL REVIEW: "I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller who understand that these are plays for performance as well as great texts for contemplation." (Patrick Stewart) The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare series, which has sold more than four million copies, is now completely revised and repackaged. Each volume features: * Authoritative, reliable texts * High quality introductions and notes * New, more readable trade trim size * An essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare and essays on Shakespeare's life and the selection of texts The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare's incomparable tragic play. "To be, or not to be: that is the question" There is arguably no work of fiction quoted as often as William Shakespeare's Hamlet. This haunting tragedy of a troubled Danish prince devoted to avenging his father's death has captivated audiences for centuries. This title in the Signet Classics Shakespeare series includes: • An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater • A special introduction to the play by the editor, Sylvan Barnet • A note on the sources from which Shakespeare derived Hamlet • Dramatic criticism from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, A.C. Bradley, Maynard Mack, and others • A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions of Hamlet • Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable format • Recommended readings The general editors of the new series of forty volumes - the renowned Shakesperaeans Stephen Orgel of Stanford University and A. R. Braunmuller of UCLA - have assembled a team of eminent scholars who have, along with the general editors themselves, prepared new introductions and notes to all of Shakespeare's plays and poems. Redesigned in an easy-to-read format that preserves the favorite features of the original, including an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare, an introduction to the individual play, and a note on the text used. The new Pelican Shakespeare will be an excellent resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals well into the twenty-first century. (back cover) Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark Is Faced By A Ghost Bearing A Grim Message Of Murder And Revenge, Driving The Prince To The Edge Of Madness By His Struggle To Understand The Situation And To Do His Duty. William Shakespeare ; Edited With An Introduction By A.r. Braunmuller. Includes Bibliographical References. Prince Hamlet of Denmark is urged by his father's Ghost to avenge his murder at the hands of the dead king's brother, now King Claudius who Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude has married