the tragedy of hamlet prince of denmark by william shakespeare

His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. He is often called England's national poet and the 'Bard of Avon' (or simply 'The Bard'). William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. There is no other way to get at the heart of English-language culture than through careful reading of the Bard’s most famous work. Hamlet wavers on his decision to kill his uncle the king, and through his indecision causes his own, as well as many other tragic deaths.Īlthough many scholars today find other Shakespeare works to be superior, in particular King Lear or The Tempest, Hamlet remains the Shakespeare to read and to know. Hamlet feels the need to avenge his father, but he has no proof of the intrigue, relying on hearsay and the words of a ghost that may or may not have been real. Hamlet has a suspicion that his uncle has killed his father and married his mother in order to become king. It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the most important piece of English language literature ever written.įor Shakespearean tragedy, the language and plot are fairly easy to follow. The plot itself has been copied and reused hundreds of times since Shakespeare first wrote the play at the turn of the 17th century. Lines from this play continue to be used in everyday speech, from Hamlet’s own soliloquy about death («To be or not to be…”), to affirmations of life («To thine own self be true”), to the skeptical (“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”). It is certainly the best-known tragedy today. Hamlet may be the greatest tragedy ever written.

The tragedy of hamlet prince of denmark by william shakespeare