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The American actor Edwin Booth as Hamlet, seated in a curule chair c. 1870. (Photographer unknown)

William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a tragedy, believed written between 1599 and 1601. It tells the story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark—who takes revenge on the current king (Hamlet's uncle) for killing the previous king (Hamlet's father) and for marrying his father's widow (Hamlet's mother)—and it charts the course of his real or feigned madness.

Hamlet's sources include a Danish legend, preserved in a 13th-century book by Saxo Grammaticus and retold by François de Belleforest in Histoires Tragiques (1570); and a now-lost Elizabethan play known today as the Ur-Hamlet. Despite much literary detective work, the exact year that Hamlet was written remains in dispute. Three different early versions of the play survive: known as the First Quarto ("Q1"), Second Quarto ("Q2"), and First Folio ("F1"), each has lines—and even scenes—missing in the others. Hamlet is the longest play—and Hamlet is the largest part—in the entire Shakespeare canon.^[1]

Critics say that Hamlet "offers the greatest exhibition of Shakespeare's powers".^[2] Its depth of characterisation has enabled a wide range of analysis and interpretation. The play starts with Hamlet's desire for revenge and ends, more than three hours later, with its fulfilment. For centuries, commentators have studied the reasons behind this delay. Some see it as a plot device to prolong the action; others as an opportunity to explore the complex philosophical and ethical issues that surround revenge, intrigue, incest and desire. More recently, psychoanalytic critics probe Hamlet's unconscious desires and feminist critics explore Ophelia's and Gertrude's experiences.

During Shakespeare's lifetime, Hamlet was one of his most popular plays. It now ranks high among his most-performed, topping, for example, the Royal Shakespeare Company's list since 1879.^[3] It has provided inspiration for writers from Goethe to Charles Dickens and has been extensively adapted for cinema. The role was almost certainly created for Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeare's time.^[4] Since then, it has been played by the greatest actors of the successive ages.

Horatio, Hamlet, and the Ghost. (Artist: Henry Fuseli 1798)^[5]

The central character in Hamlet is Prince Hamlet, the son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and the nephew of King Claudius, his father's brother and successor. Claudius has married King Hamlet's widow, Gertrude, who is Hamlet's mother.

The play opens on a cold winter night at Elsinore, the royal castle. Two sentries—Marcellus and Barnardo—are trying to persuade Hamlet's friend Horatio that they have seen King Hamlet's ghost, when the Ghost appears again.

Claudius and Gertrude hold court, sending ambassadors to avert a possible attack by Prince Fortinbras. Hamlet seeks leave to continue his studies in Wittenburg but Claudius and Gertrude refuse and instead try to persuade Hamlet to end his mourning. Hamlet meets Horatio and the sentries, who tell him of their encounter with the Ghost. He resolves to join them on the platform, that night.

Laertes, the son of Denmark's chief counsellor Polonius, is leaving to resume his studies in France. Knowing Hamlet has courted his sister, Ophelia, Laertes warns her off him; Polonius forbids the courtship too. Later, Hamlet encounters the Ghost, who reveals that Claudius poisoned him, and urges Hamlet to avenge his death. Hamlet agrees and, to avert suspicion, decides to feign madness.

Ophelia—disturbed by Hamlet's "madness"—confides in Polonius, who blames an "ecstasy of love".^[6] Claudius and Gertrude send two student friends of Hamlet's—Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—to seek out the reason for his madness. Hamlet greets his friends warmly, but quickly guesses their purpose. When a group of players arrive, Hamlet resolves to stage a play—The Murder of Gonzago—in which he will re-enact a king's murder, and determine Claudius' guilt or innocence by watching his response.

The 'gravedigger scene'. ^[7](Artist: Eugène Delacroix 1839)

Polonius has revealed his theory to the King and Queen, and they arrange for Ophelia to meet Hamlet in the lobby, where Claudius and Polonius may eavesdrop. Hamlet berates Ophelia for her immodesty and dismisses her to a nunnery, causing her great distress.

Hamlet directs the actors' preparations. The court assembles and the play begins; Hamlet provides a running commentary throughout, renaming the play "The Mousetrap". Seeing the Player King poisoned, Claudius rises abruptly and leaves, proof positive for Hamlet of his uncle's guilt. Hamlet is summoned to his mother's bedchamber and, en route, discovers Claudius praying. Poised to strike, Hamlet hesitates, reasoning that to kill Claudius in prayer would send him to heaven.

Reaching his mother's chamber, Hamlet confronts Gertrude, who panics and cries out. Polonius, hidden behind a tapestry, reacts, prompting Hamlet to stab wildly at the tapestry. Hamlet hopes he stabbed the king but instead discovers Polonius' corpse. Hamlet accuses Gertrude of complicity in his father's death. The Ghost then appears, urging Hamlet to treat Gertrude gently but to avenge his death on Claudius. Unable to see or hear the Ghost herself, Gertrude takes Hamlet's conversation with it as further proof of madness. Hamlet drags Polonius' corpse away and hides it. Claudius sends Hamlet to England accompanied by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

At Elsinore, Ophelia wanders in grief-induced madness, singing snatches of bawdy songs. Laertes arrives at the castle with a mob, seeking revenge for his father's death. Seeing Ophelia mad further incenses him. Claudius persuades Laertes that Hamlet is solely to blame. Letters arrive, indicating that Hamlet is returning. Claudius proposes a rigged fencing-match, using poisoned rapiers, to achieve Laertes' revenge, with a cup of poisoned wine as back up if the first plan fails. Gertrude interrupts to report that Ophelia has drowned.

Two gravediggers discuss Ophelia's apparent suicide, while digging her grave. Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with a gravedigger, who unearths the skull of a jester from Hamlet's childhood, Yorick. Ophelia's funeral procession approaches; led by Laertes. He and Hamlet grapple but the brawl is broken up.

Back at Elsinore, Hamlet recounts to Horatio how pirates had attacked their ship and how he had escaped from Rozencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet had discovered that they were carrying a letter requesting his execution but he amended it so that they be executed in his place. Osric, a courtier, interrupts to invite Hamlet to the planned fencing match with Laertes. During the match, Gertrude accidentally drinks from the poisoned cup. Laertes succeeds in piercing Hamlet with a poisoned blade but is wounded by it himself. Gertrude dies and Laertes, in his dying moments, reveals Claudius' plot to Hamlet, and they are reconciled. Hamlet manages to kill Claudius and, just before dying himself, names Fortinbras as heir. When Fortinbras arrives, Horatio recounts the tale and Fortinbras orders Hamlet’s body borne off in honour.

Main articles: Hamlet (legend) and Ur-Hamlet

A facsimile of Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, which contains the legend of Amleth.

Several possible ultimate sources of the 'hero as fool' story that is central to Hamlet are known, but no definitive candidate has emerged. Hamlet-like legends come from many ancient sources (Roman, Spanish, Scandinavian and Arabic) and some surmise that the core theme may be Indo-European in origin.^[8] Several very early Hamlet-type stories can be identified. The first is the anonymous Scandinavian Saga of Hrolf Kraki. In this, the murdered king has two sons—Hroar and Helgi—who assume the names of Ham and Hráni for concealment. They spend most of the story in disguise, rather than feigning madness, and the sequence of events differs from Shakespeare's.^[9] The second is the Roman legend of Brutus, which is recorded in two separate Latin works. Its hero, Lucius ('shining, light'), changes his name and persona to Brutus ('dull, stupid'), playing the role of a fool to avoid the fate of his father and brothers, and eventually slaying his family's killer, King Tarquinus. A 17th-century Nordic scholar, Torfaeus, compared the Icelandic hero, Amloi, and the Spanish hero, Prince Ambales (from the Ambales Saga) to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Similarities include the prince's feigned madness, his accidental killing of the king's counsellor in his mother's bedroom, and the eventual slaying of his uncle.^[10]

Many of the earlier Hamlet story elements are interwoven in the 13th-century Vita Amlethi ("The Life of Amleth") by Saxo Grammaticus, part of Gesta Danorum.^[11] Written in Latin, it reflects classical Roman concepts of virtue and heroism, and was widely available in Shakespeare's day.^[12] Significant parallels include the prince feigning madness, his mother's hasty marriage to the usurper, the prince killing a hidden spy, and the prince substituting the execution of two retainers for his own. A reasonably faithful version of Saxo's story was translated into French in 1570 by François de Belleforest in his Histoires tragiques.^[13] Belleforest embellished Saxo's text substantially, almost doubling its length, and introduced the hero's melancholy.^[14]

Cover of The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd. This popular revenge tragedy may have influenced Hamlet. Its author may have also written the Ur-Hamlet.

Shakespeare's main source is believed to be an earlier play—now lost—known today as the Ur-Hamlet. Possibly written by Thomas Kyd, the Ur-Hamlet was in performance by 1589 and is the first version of the story known to incorporate a ghost.^[15] Shakespeare's company, the Chamberlain's Men, may have purchased that play and performed a version, which Shakespeare reworked, for some time.^[16] Since no copy of the Ur-Hamlet has survived, however, it is impossible to compare its language and style with the known works of any candidate for its authorship. Consequently, there is no direct evidence that Kyd wrote it, nor any evidence that the play was an early version of Hamlet by Shakespeare himself. This latter idea—placing Hamlet far earlier than the generally-accepted date, with a much longer period of development—has attracted some support, though others dismiss it as speculation.^[17]

The upshot is that scholars cannot assert with any confidence how much material Shakespeare took from the Ur-Hamlet, how much from Belleforest or Saxo, and how much from other contemporary sources (such as Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy). No clear evidence exists that Shakespeare made any direct references to Saxo's version. However, elements of Belleforest's version do appear in Shakespeare's play but are not in Saxo's story. Whether Shakespeare took these from Belleforest directly or through the Ur-Hamlet remains unclear.^[18]

Scholars have debunked the idea that Hamlet is in any way connected with Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet Shakespeare, who died at age eleven. Hamlet is too obviously connected to legend and the name Hamnet was quite popular at the time.^[19]

Frontispiece of the 1605 printing ("Q2") of Hamlet

Scholarly "dating of Hamlet must be tentative" cautions the New Cambridge editor, Phillip Edwards.^[20] The earliest date estimate relies on Hamlet's frequent allusions to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, itself dated to mid-1599.^[21] The latest date estimate is based on an entry, of July 26, 1602, in the Register of the Stationers' Company, indicating that Hamlet was "latelie Acted by the Lo: Chamberleyne his servantes".

In 1598, Francis Meres published in his Palladis Tamia a survey of English literature from Chaucer to its present day, within which a list of Shakespeare's plays appears. Twelve of these are named, but Hamlet is not among them, suggesting that Shakespeare's play had not yet been written by that time. Shakespeare's Hamlet was very popular, the New Swan series editor Bernard Lott explains, so "it is unlikely that he [Meres] would have overlooked [...] so significant a piece".^[22]

The "F1" phrase "little eyases"^[23] may allude to the Children of the Chapel, whose popularity in London forced the Globe company into provincial touring. This became known as the War of the Theatres, and supports a 1601 dating.^[22]

A contemporary of Shakespeare's, Gabriel Harvey wrote a marginal note in his copy of the 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, which some scholars use as dating evidence. Harvey's note says that "the wiser sort" enjoy Hamlet and implies that the Earl of Essex—executed in February 1601 for rebellion—was still alive. Other scholars consider this inconclusive. Edwards, for example, concludes that the "sense of time is so confused in Harvey's note that it is really of little use in trying to date Hamlet". This is because the same note also refers to Spenser and Watson as if they were still alive ("our flourishing metricians"), but also mentions "Owen's new epigrams", published in 1607.^[24]

Three early editions of the text have survived, making attempts to establish a single authentic text problematic.^[25] Each is different from the others:^[26]

• "Q1"—In 1603, the booksellers Nicholas Ling and John Trundell published—and Valentine Simmes printed—the so-called "bad" first quarto. "Q1" contains just over half of the text of the later second quarto.
• "Q2"—In 1604, Nicholas Ling published, and James Roberts printed, the second quarto. Some copies are dated 1605, which may indicate a second impression; consequently, "Q2" is often dated "1604/5". "Q2" is the longest early edition, although it omits 85 lines found in "F1" (most likely to avoid offending James I's queen, Anne of Denmark).^[27]
• "F1"—In 1623, Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard published the First Folio, the first edition of Shakespeare's Complete Works.^[28]

Other folios and quartos were subsequently published—including John Smethwick's "Q3", "Q4", and "Q5", 1611–37—but are regarded as derivatives of these first three editions.^[29]

The "Q1" rendering of the "To be or not to be" soliloquy

Early editors of Shakespeare's works, beginning with Nicholas Rowe (1709) and Lewis Theobald (1733), combined material from the two earliest sources of Hamlet then-known, "Q2" and "F1". Each text contains some material that the other lacks and there are many minor differences in wording—little more than 200 lines are identical in the two. Editors have tended to combine the two in an effort to create an "inclusive" text that reflects an imagined "ideal" of Shakespeare's original. Theobald's version became standard for a long time^[30] and his "full text" approach continues to influence editorial practice to the present day. Some contemporary scholarship, however, moves away from that approach towards a position that considers "an authentic Hamlet an unrealisable ideal.... there are texts of this play but no text".^[31] The Arden Shakespeare series' 2006 publication of the different texts of Hamlet in different volumes is perhaps the best evidence of this shifting focus and emphasis.^[32]

Traditionally, editors of Shakespeare's plays have divided them into five acts. In the case of Hamlet, however, none of the early texts was thus divided and the division of the play into acts and scenes derives from a quarto that was first published in 1676. Modern editors generally follow this traditional division, but consider it unsatisfactory; for example, there is an act-break at the point when Hamlet drags Polonius' body out of his mother's bedchamber between Act 3, scene 4 and Act 4, scene 1, after which the action appears to continue uninterrupted.^[33]

The discovery in 1823 of "Q1", whose existence had not even been suspected earlier, caused considerable interest and excitement and raised many questions of editorial practice and interpretation. Scholars identified apparent deficiencies of the text immediately—"Q1" was instrumental in the development of the concept of a Shakespearean "bad quarto".^[34] Yet "Q1" also has value: it contains stage directions that reveal actual stage practices in a way that "Q2" and "F1" do not; it contains an entire scene (usually labelled 4.6)^[35] that does not appear in either "Q2" or "F1"; and it is useful for comparison with the later editions.

"Q1" is considerably shorter than "Q2" or "F1". It may have been a memorial reconstruction of the play as Shakespeare's company performed it, with one of the actors who played a minor role (Marcellus, certainly, perhaps Voltemand as well) as the source.^[36] There is disagreement whether the reconstruction was pirated or authorised. Another theory, considered by New Cambridge editor Kathleen Irace, holds that "Q1" is an abridged version of the play intended especially for travelling productions.^[37] The idea that "Q1" is not riddled with error but is instead a viable version of the play has led to several recent "Q1" productions; perhaps most notably, Tim Sheridan and Andrew Borba's 2003 production at the Theatre of NOTE in Los Angeles, for which Kathleen Irace served as dramaturge.^[38] At least 28 different productions of the "Q1" text since 1881 have demonstrated that it is eminently fit for the stage.^[39]

Further information: Critical approaches to Hamlet

During the 17th century—when performances were more violent than in later periods—critics focused on Hamlet's supposed madness and melancholy more than anything else.^[40] During the Restoration period, critics disapproved of the play's lack of unity in time and space, as well as the perceived immodesty of Ophelia's madness in the flower scene.^[41][42] Views of the play improved, however, in the 18th century. Critics came to regard Hamlet as a hero—a pure, brilliant young man thrust into unfortunate circumstances.^[43] In this period too, psychological and mystical readings increased with the rise of Gothic literature, with Hamlet's madness and the Ghost both attracting significant attention.^[44] The Romantic period viewed Hamlet as an internal, individual play, seeing Hamlet himself as a hero despite his faults.^[45] The 19th century saw critics—including the German writer, Goethe—focused on Hamlet's individual drive and internal struggle; he came to be regarded as a political rebel and intellectual rather than an over-sensitive melancholic. Critics of this period also questioned why Hamlet delays in killing the king, which earlier critics had largely ignored as mere plot device.^[43] In the 20th century, criticism branched mainly in two new directions, discussed in the separate psychoanalytic and feminist sections below.

Hamlet departed from contemporary dramatic convention in several ways. Firstly, in Shakespeare's day, plays were usually expected to follow the advice of Aristotle in his Poetics, that a drama should focus on action not character. In Hamlet, Shakespeare reverses this so that it is through the soliloquies not the action that the audience learn Hamlet's motives and thoughts. Secondly—and unlike Shakespeare's other plays—there is no strong subplot; all plot forks directly connect to the main vein of Hamlet's struggle for revenge. The play is full of seeming discontinuities and irregularities of action. At one point, as in in the Gravedigger scene,^[46] Hamlet seems resolved to kill Claudius: in the next scene, however, when Claudius appears, he is suddenly tame. Scholars still debate whether these odd plot turns are mistakes or intentional additions to add to the play's theme of confusion and duality.^[47] Finally, in a period when most plays ran for two hours or so, the full text of Hamlet—Shakespeare's longest play, with 4,042 lines, totalling 29,551 words—takes over four hours to deliver.^[48]

Hamlet's statement that his dark clothing is merely an outward representation of his inward grief reflects his strong rhetorical skill.(Artist: Eugène Delacroix 1834)

Much of the play's language is courtly; elaborate, witty discourse, fully consistent with Baldassare Castiglione's 1528 work, The Courtier. This work outlines several courtly rules, specifically advising royal retainers to amuse their masters with inventive language. Osric and Polonius, especially, seem to respect this injunction. Claudius' speech is rich with rhetorical figures—as is Hamlet's and, at times, Ophelia's—while the language of Horatio, the guards, and the gravediggers is simpler. Claudius's high status is reinforced by using the royal first person plural ("we" or "us"), and anaphora mixed with metaphor to resonate with Greek political speeches.^[49]

Hamlet is the most skilled of all at rhetoric, using not only anaphora but also asyndeton—in fact, his lines "to die: to sleep - To sleep, perchance to dream"^[50] use both devices in just nine memorable words—and highly-developed metaphors. In contrast, when occasion demands, he is precise and straightforward, as when he explains his inward emotion to his mother, saying "But I have that within which passes show, / These but the trappings and the suits of woe".^[51] At other times, he relies heavily on puns to express his true thoughts while at the same time concealing them.^[52] His "nunnery" remarks^[53] to Ophelia are an example of a cruel double meaning as nunnery was Elizabethan slang for brothel.

An unusual rhetorical device, hendiadys, appears in several places in the play. Examples are found in Ophelia's speech at the end of the nunnery scene: "Th'expectation and rose of the fair state" and "And I, of ladies most deject and wretched".^[54] Many scholars have found it odd that Shakespeare would, seemingly arbitrarily, use this rhetorical form throughout the play. One explanation may be that Hamlet was written later in Shakespeare's life, when he was adept at matching rhetorical devices to characters and the plot. Linguist George T. Wright suggests that hendiadys was used deliberately to heighten the play's sense of duality and dislocation.^[55]

Hamlet's soliloquies have also captured the attention of scholars. Hamlet interrupts himself, vocalising either disgust or agreement with himself, and embellishing his own words. He has difficulty expressing himself directly and instead blunts the thrust of his thought with word play. It is not until late in the play, after his experience with the pirates, that Hamlet is able to freely articulate his feelings.^[56]

Ophelia depicts her mysterious death by drowning. The clowns' discussion of whether her death was a suicide and whether she merits a Christian burial is at heart a religious topic. (Artist: John Everett Millais 1852)

Written at a time of religious upheaval, and in the wake of the English Reformation, the play is, at one moment, Catholic and superstitiously medieval; and, at the next, Protestant and consciously modern. The Ghost describes himself as being in purgatory, and as dying without last rites. This, along with Ophelia's burial ceremony, which is uniquely Catholic, make up most of the play's Catholic connections. Some scholars have observed that revenge tragedies come from traditionally Catholic countries, such as Spain and Italy, and present a contradiction as, according to Catholic doctrine, the strongest duty is to God and family. Thus, Hamlet's conundrum is whether to avenge his father and kill Claudius, or to leave the vengeance to God, as his religion requires.^[57]

Much of the play's Protestantism derives from its location in Denmark, (then and now a predominantly Protestant country) though it is unclear whether the fictional Denmark of the play is intended to mirror this fact. The play does mention Wittenberg, where Hamlet, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern attend university, and where Martin Luther first nailed up his 95 theses.^[58] One of the more famous lines in the play related to Protestantism talks about the "special providence in the fall of a sparrow".^[59] This reflects Protestant belief in providence, the will of some divine power controlling even the smallest of events. In "Q1", the first sentence of the same section reads: "There's a predestinate providence in the fall of a sparrow,"^[60] which suggests an even stronger Protestant connection through John Calvin's theories of predestination. Scholars speculate that Hamlet may have been censored, as "predestined" appears only in this quarto.^[61]

Philosophical ideas in Hamlet are similar to those of the French writer Michel de Montaigne, a contemporary of Shakespeare's. (Artist: Thomas de Leu fl. 1580–1610))

Hamlet is often perceived as a philosophical character, expounding ideas that are now described as relativist, existentialist, and sceptical. For example, he expresses a relativistic idea when he says to Rosencrantz: "there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so".^[62] The idea that nothing is real except in the mind of the individual finds its roots in the Greek Sophists, who argued that since nothing can be perceived except through the senses—and since all individuals sense, and therefore perceive, things differently—there is no absolute truth, only relative truth.^[63] The clearest example of existentialism is found in the "To be, or not to be"^[64] speech, where Hamlet uses "being" to allude to both life and action, and "not being" to death and inaction. Hamlet's contemplation of suicide in this scene, however, is less philosophical than religious as he believes that he will continue to exist after death.^[65]

Hamlet clearly reflects the contemporary scepticism that prevailed in Renaissance humanism. Prior to Shakespeare's time, humanists had argued that man was God's greatest creation, made in his image and capable of anything. Scepticism about this belief is expressed in Hamlet's "What a piece of work is a man" speech:^[66] Scholars have detected similarities between this speech and Michel de Montaigne's sceptical Essais (1580): Montaigne and Shakespeare may simply have reacted similarly to the prevailing atmosphere of the time.^[67]

In the early 17th century, political satire was discouraged and many notable playwrights were punished for "offensive" works. Ben Jonson was jailed for his participation in the play The Isle of Dogs and it is thought that Thomas Middleton was banned from writing for the stage after the Privy Council closed his A Game of Chess after nine performances.^[68]

Some scholars suggest that Hamlet's Polonius pokes fun at the safely-deceased William Cecil (Lord Burghley)—Lord High Treasurer and chief counsellor to Queen Elizabeth I^[69]—as numerous parallels can be found. Polonius's role as elder statesman is similar to that Burghley enjoyed;^[70] Polonius' advice to Laertes may echo Burghley's to his son Robert Cecil;^[71] and Polonius's tedious verbosity may resemble Burghley's.^[72] Also, "Corambis", (the name given to Polonius in "Q1") resembles the Latin for "double-hearted"—which may satirise Lord Burghley's Latin motto Cor unum, via una ("One heart, one way").^[73] Lastly, the relationship of Polonius's daughter Ophelia with Hamlet may be compared to the relationship of Burghley's daughter Anne Cecil with the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere.^[74] These arguments are also offered in support of the authorship claims for the Earl of Oxford, which remain unproved.^[75]

Shakespeare escaped censure and far from being suppressed, Hamlet was given the royal imprimatur, as the king's coat of arms on the frontispiece of the 1604 Hamlet attests.^[76]

Freud suggested that an unconscious oedipal conflict caused Hamlet's hesitations. {Artist: Eugène Delacroix 1844)

Since the birth of psychoanalysis in the late 19th century, Hamlet has been the source of such studies, notably by Sigmund Freud, Ernest Jones, and Jacques Lacan, which have influenced theatrical productions.

In his The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Freud's analysis starts from the premise that "the play is built up on Hamlet's hesitations over fulfilling the task of revenge that is assigned to him; but its text offers no reasons or motives for these hesitations".^[77] After reviewing various literary theories, Freud concludes that Hamlet has an "Oedipal desire for his mother and the subsequent guilt [is] preventing him from murdering the man [Claudius] who has done what he unconsciously wanted to do".^[78] Confronted with his repressed desires, Hamlet realises that "he himself is literally no better than the sinner whom he is to punish".^[77] Freud suggests that Hamlet's apparent "distaste for sexuality"—articulated in his 'nunnery' conversation with Ophelia—accords with this interpretation.^[79][80] John Barrymore introduced Freudian overtones into his landmark 1922 production in New York, which ran for a record-breaking 101 nights.

In the 1940s, Ernest Jones—psychoanalyst and Freud's biographer—developed Freud's ideas into a series of essays that culminated in his book Hamlet and Oedipus (1949). Influenced by Jones' psychoanalytic approach, several productions have portrayed the 'closet scene',^[81] where Hamlet confronts his mother in her private quarters, in a sexual light. In this reading, Hamlet is disgusted by his mother's incestuous relationship with Claudius while simultaneously fearful of killing him, as this would clear Hamlet's path to his mother's bed. Ophelia's madness after her father's death may be read too through the Freudian lens as a reaction to the death of her hoped-for lover, her father. She is overwhelmed by having her unrequited love for him so abruptly terminated and drifts into the oblivion of insanity.^[82] In 1937, Tyrone Guthrie directed Laurence Olivier in a Jones'-inspired Hamlet at the Old Vic.^[83]

In the 1950s, Lacan's structuralist theories about "Hamlet" were first presented in a series of seminars given in Paris and later published in "Desire and the Interpretation of Desire in Hamlet". Lacan postulated that the human psyche is determined by structures of language and that the linguistic structures of "Hamlet" shed light on human desire.^[78] His departure point is Freud's oedipal theories and the central theme of mourning that runs through "Hamlet" and he re-presents them.^[78] In Lacan's analysis, Hamlet unconsciously assumes the role of phallus—the cause of his inaction—and is increasingly distanced from reality "by mourning, fantasy, narcissism and psychosis", which create holes (or 'lacks') in the Real, Imaginary and Symbolic aspects of his psyche.^[78] Lacan's theories have been influential in literary criticism of Hamlet because of the alternative vision of the play he presents and because of his use of semantics to explore the play's psychological landscape.^[78]

Ophelia, distracted by grief.^[84] Feminist critics have explored her descent into madness. (Artist: Henrietta Rae 1890)

In the 20th century, feminist critics introduced new points of view towards Gertrude and Ophelia. New Historicist and cultural materialist critics have examined the play in its historical context, attempting to piece together its original cultural environment.^[43] They focused on the gender system of early modern England, pointing to the common trinity of maid, wife or widow, with whores alone outside the stereotype. In this analysis, the essence of Hamlet is the central character's changed perception of his mother as a whore because of her failure to remain faithful to Old Hamlet. In consequence, Hamlet loses his faith in all women, treating Ophelia as if she too were a whore.^[85]

Carolyn Heilbrun's 1957 essay "Hamlet's Mother" defends Gertrude, arguing that the text never hints that Gertrude knew of Claudius poisoning King Hamlet. This view has been championed by many feminist critics. Heilbrun argued that men have, for centuries, completely misinterpreted Gertrude, accepting at face value Hamlet's view of her instead of following the actual text of the play. In this view, no clear evidence suggests that Gertrude is an adulteress. She is merely adapting to the circumstances of her husband's death for the good of the kingdom.^[86]

Ophelia has also been defended by feminist critics, most notably Elaine Showalter.^[87] Ophelia is surrounded by powerful men: her father, brother, and Hamlet. All three disappear: Laertes leaves, Hamlet abandons her, and Polonius dies. Conventional theories had argued that without these three powerful men making decisions for her, Ophelia was driven into madness.^[88] Feminist theorists argue that she goes mad with guilt because, when Hamlet kills her father, he has fulfilled her sexual desire to have Hamlet kill her father so they can be together. Showalter points out that Ophelia has become the symbol of the distraught and hysterical woman in modern culture, a symbol which may not be entirely accurate nor healthy for women.^[89]

See also Stage and screen adaptations below and Literary influence of Hamlet

Hamlet is one of the most-quoted works in the English language, and is often included on lists of the world's greatest literature.^[90] As such, it has proved a pervasive influence in literature. Academic Laurie Osborne identifies the direct influence of Hamlet in numerous modern narratives, and divides them into four main categories: fictional accounts of the play's composition, simplifications of the story for young readers, stories expanding the role of one or more characters, and narratives featuring performances of the play.^[91]

Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, published about 1749, describes a visit to Hamlet by Tom Jones and Mr Partridge, with similarities to the play-within-a-play.^[92] In contrast, Goethe's Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, written between 1776–1796 not only has a production of Hamlet at its core but also creates parallels between the Ghost and Wilhelm Meister's dead father.^[92] In the early 1850s, in Pierre, Hermann Melville focuses on a Hamlet-like character's long development as a writer.^[92]

Ten years later, Dickens' Great Expectations contains many Hamlet-like plot elements: it is driven by revenge actions, contains ghost-like characters (Abel Magwich and Miss Havisham), and focuses on the hero's guilt.^[92] Academic Alexander Welsh notes that Great Expectations is an "autobiographical novel" and "anticipates psychoanalytic readings of Hamlet itself".^[93] About the same time, George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss was published, introducing Maggie Tulliver "who is explicitly compared with Hamlet"^[94] though "with a reputation for sanity".^[95]

In the 1920s, James Joyce managed "a more upbeat version"—stripped of obsession and revenge—of Hamlet in Ulysses, though its main parallels are with Homer's Odyssey.^[92] In the 1990s, two women novelists were explicitly influenced by and referenced Hamlet. In Angela Carter's Wise Children, To be or not to be^[96] is reworked as a song and dance routine, and Iris Murdoch's The Black Prince has Oedipal themes and murder intertwined with a love affair between a Hamlet-obsessed writer, Bradley Pearson, and the daughter of his rival.^[94]

Thomas Betterton as Hamlet during the Restoration (Artist: unknown. Nicholas Rowe edition. 1709)

Further information: Hamlet in performance and Shakespeare in performance

Shakespeare wrote the role of Hamlet for Richard Burbage. He was the chief tragedian of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, with a capacious memory for lines and a wide emotional range.^[4] Judging by the number of reprints, Hamlet appears to have been Shakespeare's fourth most popular play during his lifetime—only Henry VI Part 1, Richard III and Pericles eclipsed it.^[97] Shakespeare provides no clear indication of when his play is set; however, as Elizabethan actors performed at the Globe in contemporary dress on minimal sets, this would not have affected the staging.^[98]

Firm evidence for specific performances of the play is scant. The crew of the ship Red Dragon, anchored off Sierra Leone, performed Hamlet in September 1607.^[99] Hamlet had toured in Germany within five years of Shakespeare's death.^[100] Shakespeare's company performed the play before James I in 1619 and Charles I in 1637, the latter on January 24 at Hampton Court Palace.^[101] Hibbard argues that as the contemporary literature contains many allusions and references to Hamlet—of all Shakespeare's characters, only Falstaff is mentioned more—the play must have been performed with a frequency that the historical record misses.^[102]

All theatres were closed down by the Puritan government during the Interregnum.^[103] However, even during this time playlets known as drolls were often performed illegally, including one called The Grave-Makers based on Act 5, Scene 1 of Hamlet.^[104]

The play was revived early in the Restoration. When the existing stock of pre-civil war plays was divided between the two newly-created patent theatre companies, Hamlet was the only Shakespearean favourite that Sir William Davenant's Duke's Company secured.^[105] It became the first of Shakespeare's plays to be presented with movable flats painted with generic scenery behind the proscenium arch of Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre.^[106] This new stage convention highlighted the frequency with which Shakespeare shifts dramatic location, encouraging the recurrent criticisms of his violation of the neoclassical principle of maintaining a unity of place.^[107] Davenant cast Thomas Betterton in the eponymous role, and he continued to play the Dane until he was 74.^[108] David Garrick at Drury Lane produced a version that adapted Shakespeare heavily; he declared: "I had sworn I would not leave the stage till I had rescued that noble play from all the rubbish of the fifth act. I have brought it forth without the grave-digger's trick, Osrick, & the fencing match".^[109] The first actor known to have played Hamlet in North America is Lewis Hallam, Jr. in the American Company's production in Philadelphia in 1759.^[110]

David Garrick as Hamlet in 1769. The iconic hand gesture expresses his shock at the first sight of the Ghost. (Artist: unknown)

John Philip Kemble made his Drury Lane debut as Hamlet in 1783.^[111] His performance was said to be twenty minutes longer than anyone else's and his lengthy pauses provoked the suggestion that "music should be played between the words".^[112] Sarah Siddons was the first actress known to play Hamlet; many women have since played him as a breeches role, to great acclaim.^[113] In 1748, Alexander Sumarokov wrote a Russian adaptation that focused on Prince Hamlet as the embodiment of an opposition to Claudius' tyranny—a recurring treatment that would pervade Eastern European versions into the 20th century.^[114] In the years following America's independence, Thomas Abthorpe Cooper, the young nation's leading tragedian, performed Hamlet (among other plays) at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia and the Park Theatre in New York. Although chided for "acknowledging acquaintances in the audience" and "inadequate memorisation of his lines", he became a national celebrity.^[115]

In the Romantic and early Victorian eras, the United States was toured by leading London actors—including George Frederick Cooke, Junius Brutus Booth, Edmund Kean, William Charles Macready and Charles Kemble—providing the highest-quality Shakespearean performances. Of these, Booth remained to make his career in the States, fathering the nation's most notorious actor, John Wilkes Booth (who later assassinated Abraham Lincoln) and its most famous Hamlet, Edwin Booth.^[116] Edwin Booth's Hamlet was described as "like the dark, mad, dreamy, mysterious hero of a poem... [acted] in an ideal manner, as far removed as possible from the plane of actual life."^[117] Booth played Hamlet for 100 nights in the 1864/5 season at the Winter Garden Theatre, inaugurating the era of long-run Shakespeare in America.^[118]

In the United Kingdom, the actor-managers of the Victorian era (including Kean, Samuel Phelps, Macready and Henry Irving) staged Shakespeare in a grand manner, with elaborate scenery and costumes.^[119] The tendency of actor-managers to emphasise the importance of their own central character did not always meet with the critics' approval. George Bernard Shaw's praise for Johnston Forbes-Robertson's performance ends with a sideswipe at Irving: "The story of the play was perfectly intelligible, and quite took the attention of the audience off the principal actor at moments. What is the Lyceum coming to?"^[120]

In London, Edmund Kean was the first Hamlet to abandon the regal finery usually associated with the role in favour of a plain costume, and is said to have surprised his audience by playing Hamlet as serious and introspective.^[121] In stark contrast to earlier opulence, William Poel's 1881 production of the "Q1" text was an early attempt at reconstructing the Elizabethan theatre's austerity; his only backdrop was a set of red curtains.^[122] Sarah Bernhardt played the prince in her popular 1899 London production. In contrast to the "effeminate" view of the central character that usually accompanied a female casting, she described her character as "manly and resolute, but nonetheless thoughtful... [he] thinks before he acts, a trait indicative of great strength and great spiritual power".^[123]

In France, Charles Kemble initiated an enthusiasm for Shakespeare and leading members of the Romantic movement, such as Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas, saw his 1827 Paris performance of Hamlet, particularly admiring the madness of Harriet Smithson's Ophelia.^[124] In Germany, Hamlet had become so assimilated by the mid-19th century that Ferdinand Freiligrath declared that "Germany is Hamlet"^[125] From the 1850s, in India, the Parsi theatre tradition transformed Hamlet into folk performances, with dozens of songs added.^[126]

Apart from some western troupes' 19th-century visits, the first professional performance of Hamlet in Japan was Otojiro Kawakami's 1903 Shimpa ("new school theatre") adaptation.^[127] Shoyo Tsubouchi translated Hamlet and produced a performance in 1911 that blended Shingeki ("new drama") and Kabuki styles.^[127] This hybrid-genre reached its peak in Fukuda Tsuneari's 1955 Hamlet.^[127] In 1998, Yukio Ninagawa produced an acclaimed version of Hamlet in the style of Nō theatre, which he took to London.^[128]

Edward Gordon Craig's 1908 design for the MAT production of Hamlet (1911–12). The isolated figure of Hamlet reclines in the dark foreground, while behind a gauze the rest of the court are absorbed in a bright, unified golden pyramid emanating from Claudius. Craig's famous screens are flat against the back in this scene.

Constantin Stanislavski and Edward Gordon Craig—two of the 20th century's most influential theatre practitioners—collaborated on the Moscow Art Theatre's seminal production of 1911–12.^[129] While Craig favoured stylised abstraction, Stanislavski, armed with his 'system', explored psychological motivation.^[130] Craig conceived of the play as a symbolist monodrama, offering a dream-like vision as seen through Hamlet's eyes alone.^[131] This was most evident in the staging of the first court scene.^[132][133] The most famous aspect of the production is Craig's use of large, abstract screens that altered the size and shape of the acting area for each scene, representing the character's state of mind spatially or visualising a dramaturgical progression.^[134] The production attracted enthusiastic and unprecedented worldwide attention for the theatre and placed it "on the cultural map for Western Europe".^[135]

Hamlet is often played with contemporary political overtones. Leopold Jessner's 1926 production at the Berlin Staatstheater portrayed Claudius' court as a parody of the corrupt and fawning court of Kaiser Wilhelm.^[136] In Poland, the number of productions of Hamlet has tended to increase at times of political unrest, since its political themes (suspected crimes, coups, surveillance) can be used to comment on a contemporary situation.^[137] Similarly, Czech directors have used the play at times of occupation: a 1941 Vinohrady Theatre production "emphasised, with due caution, the helpless situation of an intellectual attempting to endure in a ruthless environment".^[138] In China, performances of Hamlet often have political significance: Gu Wuwei's 1916 The Usurper of State Power, an amalgam of Hamlet and Macbeth, was an attack on Yuan Shikai's attempt to overthrow the republic.^[139] In 1942, Jiao Juyin directed the play in a Confucian temple in Sichuan Province, to which the government had retreated from the advancing Japanese.^[139] In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the protests at Tiananmen Square, Lin Zhaohua staged a 1990 Hamlet in which the prince was an ordinary individual tortured by a loss of meaning. In this production, the actors playing Hamlet, Claudius and Polonius exchanged roles at crucial moments in the performance, including the moment of Claudius' death, at which point the actor mainly associated with Hamlet fell to the ground.^[139]

Notable London stagings include Barrymore's 1925 production at the Haymarket; it greatly influenced subsequent performances by John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier.^[140] Gielgud played the central role many times: his 1936 New York production ran for 136 performances, leading to the accolade that he was "the finest interpreter of the role since Barrymore".^[141] Although "posterity has treated Maurice Evans less kindly", throughout the 1930s and 1940s it was he, not Gielgud or Olivier, who was regarded as the leading interpreter of Shakespeare in the United States and in the 1938/9 season he presented Broadway's first uncut Hamlet, running four and a half hours.^[142] In 1963, Olivier directed Peter O'Toole as Hamlet in the landmark inaugural performance of the newly-formed National Theatre; critics found resonance between O'Toole's Hamlet and John Osborne's hero, Jimmy Porter, from Look Back in Anger.^[143]

DVD cover for Michael Almereyda's 2000 version of Hamlet, with Ethan Hawke as Hamlet

Main article: Hamlet on screen

The earliest screen success for Hamlet was Sarah Bernhardt's five-minute film of the fencing scene,^[144] produced in 1900. The film was a crude talkie, in that music and words were recorded on phonograph records, to be played along with the film.^[145] Silent versions were released in 1907, 1908, 1910, 1913 and 1917.^[145] In 1920, Asta Nielsen played Hamlet as a woman who spends her life disguised as a man.^[145] Laurence Olivier's 1948 film noir feature won best picture and best actor Oscars. His interpretation stressed the Oedipal overtones of the play, to the extent of casting the 28-year-old Eileen Herlie as Hamlet's mother, opposite himself, at 41, as Hamlet.^[146] Gamlet (Russian: Гамлет) is a 1964 film adaptation in Russian, based on a translation by Boris Pasternak and directed by Grigori Kozintsev, with a score by Dmitri Shostakovich.^[147] John Gielgud directed Richard Burton at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in 1964–5, and a film of a live performance was produced, in ELECTRONOVISION.^[148] Franco Zeffirelli's Shakespeare films have been described as "sensual rather than cerebral": his aim to make Shakespeare "even more popular".^[149] To this end, he cast the Australian actor Mel Gibson—then famous as Mad Max—in the title role of his 1990 version, and Glenn Close—then famous as the psychotic other woman in Fatal Attraction—as Gertrude.^[150]

In contrast to Zeffirelli, whose Hamlet was heavily cut, Kenneth Branagh adapted, directed and starred in a 1996 version containing every word of Shakespeare's play, combining the material from the "F1" and "Q2" texts. Branagh's Hamlet runs for around four hours.^[151] Branagh set the film with late 19th-century costuming and furnishings;^[152] and Blenheim Palace, built in the early 18th century, became Elsinore Castle in the external scenes. The film is structured as an epic and makes frequent use of flashbacks to highlight elements not made explicit in the play: Hamlet's sexual relationship with Kate Winslet's Ophelia, for example, or his childhood affection for Yorick (played by Ken Dodd).^[153] In 2000, Michael Almereyda set the story in contemporary Manhattan, with Ethan Hawke playing Hamlet as a film student. Claudius became the CEO of "Denmark Corporation", having taken over the company by killing his brother.^[154]

Further information: References to Hamlet

Hamlet has been adapted into stories that deal with civil corruption by the West German director Helmut Käutner in Der Rest ist Schweigen (The Rest is Silence) and by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa in Warui Yatsu Hodo Yoku Nemeru (The Bad Sleep Well).^[155] In Claude Chabrol's Ophélia (France, 1962) the central character, Yvan, watches Olivier's Hamlet and convinces himself—wrongly and with tragic results—that he is in Hamlet's situation.^[156] Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (which has a 1990 film version) portrays the events of Hamlet from the perspective of Hamlet's two school friends, recasting it as the tragedy of two minor characters who must die to fulfill their role in a drama that they do not understand. In 1977, East German playwright Heiner Müller wrote Die Hamletmaschine (Hamletmachine) a postmodernist, condensed version of Hamlet; this adaptation was subsequently incorporated into his translation of Shakespeare's play in his 1989/1990 production Hamlet/Maschine (Hamlet/Machine).^[157] The highest-grossing Hamlet adaptation to-date is Disney's Academy Award-winning animated feature The Lion King, which enacts a loose version of the plot among a pride of African lions.^[158]

All references to Hamlet, unless otherwise specified, are taken from the Arden Shakespeare "Q2" (Thompson and Taylor, 2006a). Under their referencing system, 3.1.55 means act 3, scene 1, line 55. References to the First Quarto and First Folio are marked Hamlet "Q1" and Hamlet "F1", respectively, and are taken from the Arden Shakespeare "Hamlet: the texts of 1603 and 1623" (Thompson and Taylor, 2006b). Their referencing system for "Q1" has no act breaks, so 7.115 means scene 7, line 115.

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• Open Source Shakespeare - Hamlet
• Hamlet on the Ramparts — from MIT's Shakespeare Electronic Archive
• Hamletworks.org A highly-respected scholarly resource with multiple versions of Hamlet, numerous commentaries, concordances, facsimiles, and more.
• ISE — Internet Shakespeare Editions provides authentic transcripts and facsimilies of the First Quarto, Second Quarto, and First Folio versions of the play.
• Hamlet (Regained) — provides the full text of the play, side by side with a modern English translation, and extensive notes.
• Hamlet — plain vanilla text at Project Gutenberg.
• "Nine Hamlets" — An analysis of the play and 9 film versions, at the Bright Lights Film Journal
• "The Hamlet Weblog" — a weblog about the play.
• "HyperHamlet" — A project at the University of Basel

v • d • e A series on Shakespeare's Hamlet
Characters	Hamlet • Claudius • Gertrude • Ghost • Polonius • Laertes • Ophelia • Horatio • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern • Fortinbras • Yorick • Full character list
Speeches	"To be, or not to be" • "What a piece of work is a man" • "Speak the speech"
Sources & Criticism	Legend of Hamlet • The Spanish Tragedy • Ur-Hamlet • Critical approaches to Hamlet • Literary influence of Hamlet
References	Phrases from Hamlet in common English • References to Hamlet • References to Ophelia
Performances	Hamlet in performance • Moscow Arts Theatre (1911)
Adaptations	The Lion King • Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead • Hamletmachine • Hamlet (opera) • Strange Brew
Hamlet on screen	Hamlet (1920 film) • Hamlet (1948 film) • Hamlet (1964 film) • Hamlet (1969 film) • Hamlet (1990 film) • Hamlet (1996 film) • Hamlet (2000 film)

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