Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Hamlet is the most often read, and most often studied of Shakespeare's plays. It is very much a play of ideas; thus many of the issues the play raises relate to the sections of the stack on the intellectual and political backgrounds.

• A modern text of Hamlet.
• Old-spelling texts of Folio 1, Quarto 1, and Quarto 2.
• A list of book facsimiles texts, and information about performances of Hamlet.
• The essential facts about the play*

Topics covered in this section:

• The opening scenes: the Ghost
• The opening scenes: the Court
• The opening scenes: staging
• Revenge
• "Incestuous sheets"
• Hamlet and the women in his life
• Hamlet as university student
• Hamlet as actor
• Madness: Hamlet
• Madness: Ophelia
• Hamlet and Laertes: the duel
• Claudius: divine right?
• Claudius: politician
• Ordinary people
• The ending: Fortinbras
• The ending: order restored
• What kind of tragedy is Hamlet?
• The sources of Hamlet
• The text: solid or sullied?