It has a number of plot elements and major characters in common with Shakespeare's Hamlet, and lacks others that are found in Shakespeare. The Amleth story was subsequently adapted and then published in French in 1570 by the 16th-century scholar François de Belleforest. This would include the story of the ancient Roman, Lucius Junius Brutus, which Shakespeare apparently knew, as well as the story of Amleth, which was preserved in Latin by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum, and printed in Paris in 1514. When Shakespeare wrote, there were many stories about sons avenging the murder of their fathers, and many about clever avenging sons pretending to be foolish in order to outsmart their foes. The editors of the Arden Shakespeare question the idea of 'source hunting', pointing out that it presupposes that authors always require ideas from other works for their own, and suggests that no author can have an original idea or be an originator. There are many works that have been pointed to as possible sources for Shakespeare's play-from ancient Greek tragedies to Elizabethan plays. Hamlet is considered among the 'most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language', with a story capable of 'seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others'. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother.

It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words.

Hamlet sets a trap for Claudius and once he knows that the new king is definitely guilty plans to get revenge.Īt the same time, the young Hamlet undergoes stresses and strains in his relationships with both his mother and his girlfriend Ophelia, who is the daughter of Claudius’s minister Polonius.īoth Ophelia and Polonius die in tragic circumstances, realising that Hamlet is becoming increasingly dangerous, Claudius plots with Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, to do away with Hamlet once and for all.īy the end of the story most of the key characters have been killed it is a tragedy of epic proportions.The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet ( / ˈ h æ m l ɪ t/), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 15. The old king has been murdered by his own brother, Claudius, who has then seized the throne and married Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. When the ghost of the older Hamlet appears to tell his son that he was murdered, the shock waves set in a motion a deadly chain of events. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is distraught when his father dies. An animated version of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” in a retelling of the classic play set to modern music.

Hamlet by william shakespeare play