A Beginner's Guide to Shakespeare's Hamlet

Written between 1599 and 1601, Hamlet is Shakespeare’s first masterpiece, arguably the greatest tragedy in the English language. It is a tale of betrayal, revenge, madness, and the search for truth. 

A Brief Summary and Key Characters 

Hamlet, the son of the recently murdered King is the heir to the throne.

He has had the crown stolen from him by his father’s villainous brother, Claudius whom the late king’s widow, Gertrude – Hamlet’s mother – has married. Hamlet’s father’s ghost tells him on the battlements that Claudius murdered him. Hamlet is continuously spied on by Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain. His eavesdropping results in his being accidentally killed by Hamlet. Ophelia is Polonius’ daughter. Led on to a possible relationship by Hamlet, then rejected, she commits suicide by drowning. Her brother, Laertes seeks revenge by plotting with Claudius to kill Hamlet.

Other characters are Hamlet’s friend, Horatio, in whom he confides, Rosencranz and Guildenstern, Hamlet’s fellow university students who spy on Hamlet for Claudius, Fortinbras, the Prince of Norway and a troupe of strolling actors and a pair of gravediggers. 

Main Themes

 

The play falls into the genre of the revenge tragedy, also known as “the tragedy of blood,” which were popular in the Jacobean era, along with the Elizabethan period.

Although explorations of the idea of appearance and reality are present in all of Shakespeare’s plays, it’s more fully developed in Hamlet, with all its plotting, intrigues, deceit, and hypocrisy. 

Other themes are melancholy, madness and memory, death, mortality, and the afterlife. 

Why is Hamlet considered a ”masterpiece?”

Hamlet is considered a masterpiece by many for a number of reasons, including its complex plot, memorable characters, and philosophical questions: 

• Psychological complexity: Hamlet’s soliloquies, where he talks to himself on stage, reveal the complexity of the human mind. 
• Revenge plot: The play’s plot line is powerful, with the idea of your father being killed by your uncle and your mother being compromised. 
• Philosophical questions: The play asks questions about the nature of human beings. 
• Iconic characters: The play is memorable for its iconic characters. 
• Timeless literature: The play is considered a cornerstone of Western literature. 
• Adaptability: The play’s boldness allows it to adapt itself to the preconceptions of almost any audience. 
• Exciting story: The play, one of Shakespeare’s longest, carries out five acts filled with murder, a play within a play, love, and plenty of betrayal. 

Famous quotes from Hamlet

 

Hamlet is quite possibly Shakespeare’s most quoted play. Many of Shakespeare’s cutting lines, including perhaps Shakespeare’s most famous line spoken by Hamlet himself, have found their way into our modern lexicon. How many do you recognize?   

”Neither a borrower nor a lender be” (Polonius, Act 1 Scene 3)

”This above all: to thine own self be true” (Polonius, Act 1 Scene 3)

”Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (Marcellus, Act 1 Scene 4)

“Brevity is the soul of wit” (Polonius, Act 2 Scene 2)

”O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” (Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2)

”To be, or not to be, that is the question” (Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1)

”The lady protests too much, methinks” (Gertrude, Act 3 Scene 2)

”Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: A fellow of infinite jest”
(Hamlet, Act 5 Scene 1) This is often misquoted as: ”Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well”

Beyond the play

The performance history of Hamlet is the richest of any of Shakespeare’s plays. Hamlet is a notoriously challenging role for actors, requiring them to skillfully portray the full range of emotions of a deeply complex character, not to mention memorizing all those soliloquies. As a result, the role has become a defining moment in the careers of actors throughout history including, from David Garrick (1742) and Henry Irving (1864) to John Gielgud (who played the role five times from 1929-44) and Laurence Olivier. 

In more recent years there have been many more notable Hamlets including Sir Ian McKellen, Daniel Day Lewis, Jonathan Pryce, Derek Jacobi, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Ralph Fiennes, David Tennant, Adrian Lester, and Paapa Essiedu, who triumphed as The Royal Shakespeare Company’s first black Hamlet. 

Hamlet has moved audiences in foreign tongues and even in silent movies.  It’s also inspired the visually stunning ballet, Sea of Troubles, by Yorke Dance Project.

Fun facts 

• Hamlet has one of the most unusual of earliest recorded performances. It was performed in 1607 on board the East India Company’s ship, The Dragon, lying off the coast of Sierra Leone. The captain notes in his journal that the acting of it kept ”my people from idleness and unlawful games, or sleep.”
• Hamlet is Shakespeare’s ultimate man of words. The actor who plays him has to learn over 340 speeches: the role has a higher proportion of its play’s words (nearly 40 percent) than any other in Shakespeare. 
• Sir Ian McKellen first played the title role in 1971 when he was 31- the same age as Hamlet by the end of the play. 53 years later, he reprised the role adding a fascinating twist to the already complex character- age and wisdom.
• The creators of the original animated Disney film The Lion King have made no secret of their plot’s debt to Hamlet. The characters, themes, and relationships have unmistakable echoes of Shakespeare’s great tragedy, which the film’s creators decided to lean into. Simba, like Hamlet, is a prince, whose father, the King, is murdered by his uncle. Simba’s father appears to him as a ghost. Simba struggles with indecision. Simba is sent away by his uncle. Finally, Simba, like Hamlet, returns to the kingdom and kills his uncle, avenging his father’s death.

Hamlet productions mentioned in this article

• Ian McKellen’s 2024 film production of Hamlet
• Bristol Old Vic’s production of Hamlet
• The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet starring Paapa Essiedu
• Sea of Troubles
• Glyndebourne’s Hamlet

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