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{{short description|Tragedy by William Shakespeare}}
{{About|the play by William Shakespeare|its protagonist|Prince Hamlet|the type of settlement|Hamlet (place)|other uses}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox play
| name       = Hamlet
| image      = Edwin Booth Hamlet 1870.jpg
| alt        =
| caption    = [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]] portrayed by [[Edwin Booth]] ({{circa|1870}})
| writer     = [[William Shakespeare]]
| chorus     =
| characters = {{plainlist}}
* [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]]
* [[King Claudius|Claudius]]
* [[Gertrude (Hamlet)|Gertrude]]
* [[Polonius]]
* [[Ophelia]]
* [[Laertes (Hamlet)|Laertes]]
* [[Horatio (Hamlet)|Horatio]]
{{endplainlist}}
| mute       =
| based_on      ={{ublist|[[Amleth|Legend of Amleth]] (''[[Gesta Danorum]]'')|''[[The Spanish Tragedy]]''|''[[Ur-Hamlet]]''|See: [[Sources of Hamlet|Sources of ''Hamlet'']]}}

| setting    = [[Elsinore]], other parts of [[Denmark]]
| premiere   = {{circa|1599–1601}}
| place      =
| orig_lang  = [[Early Modern English]]
| series    =
| subject    =
| genre      = [[Shakespearean tragedy]]
| web        =
}}
'''''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark''''', often shortened to '''''Hamlet''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|æ|m|l|ᵻ|t}}), is a [[Shakespearean tragedy|tragedy]] written by [[William Shakespeare]] sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in [[Denmark]], the [[play (theatre)|play]] depicts [[Prince Hamlet]] and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, [[King Claudius|Claudius]], who has murdered [[Ghost (Hamlet)|Hamlet's father]] in order to seize his throne and marry [[Gertrude (Hamlet)|Hamlet's mother]]. 

''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."{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|p=74}} It is widely considered one of the greatest plays of all time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Propst |first=Andy |date=2022-11-28 |title=50 Best Plays of All Time: Comedies, Tragedies and Dramas Ranked |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/best-plays-of-all-time |access-date=2024-01-06 |website=Time Out New York |language=en-US}}</ref> Three different early versions of the play are extant: the [[Hamlet Q1|First Quarto]] (Q1, 1603); the Second [[Quarto]] (Q2, 1604); and the [[First Folio]] (F1, 1623). Each version includes lines and passages missing from the others.{{sfn|Weiner|1962|pp=1–3}} Many works have been pointed to as possible sources for Shakespeare's play, from ancient [[Greek tragedies]] to [[Elizabethan drama]]s. 
==Characters==
{{main|Characters in Hamlet}}

{{div col|colwidth=40em|rules=yes}}
* [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]]{{snd}}son of the late king and nephew of the present king, Claudius
* [[King Claudius|Claudius]]{{snd}}King of Denmark, Hamlet's uncle and brother to the former king
* [[Gertrude (Hamlet)|Gertrude]]{{snd}}Queen of Denmark and Hamlet's mother
* [[Polonius]]{{snd}}chief counsellor to the king
* [[Ophelia]]{{snd}}Polonius's daughter
* [[Horatio (Hamlet)|Horatio]]{{snd}}friend of Hamlet
* [[Laertes (Hamlet)|Laertes]]{{snd}}Polonius's son
* Voltemand and Cornelius{{snd}}[[courtier]]s
* [[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]]{{snd}}courtiers, friends of Hamlet
* Osric{{snd}}a courtier
* Marcellus{{snd}}an officer
* Bernardo{{snd}}an officer (spelled Barnardo or Barnard in [[Early texts of Shakespeare's works|quarto versions]])
* Francisco{{snd}}a soldier
* Reynaldo{{snd}}Polonius's servant
* [[Ghost (Hamlet)|Ghost]]{{snd}}the ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet
* [[Fortinbras]]{{snd}}prince of Norway
* [[The Gravediggers|Gravediggers]]{{snd}}a pair of [[Sexton (office)|sextons]]
* Player King, Player Queen, Lucianus, etc.{{snd}}players
{{div col end}}

==Plot==
[[Image:KronborgCastleDenmarkOct152022 06.jpg|thumb|[[Kronborg|Kronborg Castle]] is immortalized as Elsinore in the play Hamlet]]

===Act I===
[[Prince Hamlet]] of Denmark is the son of the recently deceased [[King Hamlet]], and nephew of [[King Claudius]], his father's brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King Hamlet's widow, Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, and took the throne for himself. Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighbouring [[Norway]], in which King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle some years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbras's infirm brother, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian king's son, Prince [[Fortinbras]], is imminent.

On a cold night on the ramparts of [[Kronborg Slot|Elsinore]], the Danish royal castle, the [[Characters in Hamlet#Elsinore sentries|sentries]] Bernardo and Marcellus discuss a [[Ghost (Hamlet)|ghost]] resembling the late King Hamlet which they have recently seen, and bring Prince Hamlet's friend [[Horatio (Hamlet)|Horatio]] as a witness. After the ghost appears again, the three vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed.

The court gathers the next day, and King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser [[Polonius]]. Claudius grants permission for Polonius's son Laertes to return to school in France, and he sends envoys to inform the King of Norway about Fortinbras. Claudius also questions Hamlet regarding his continuing to grieve for his father, and forbids him to return to his university in [[Wittenberg]]. After the court exits, Hamlet despairs of his father's death and his mother's hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself.

[[Image:File-Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Act I Scene IV.png|thumb|Horatio, Hamlet, and the ghost (Artist: [[Henry Fuseli]], 1789){{refn|''Hamlet'' 1.4.}}]]
As Polonius's son Laertes prepares to depart for France, Polonius offers him advice that culminates in the maxim "to thine own self be true."{{sfn|Trilling|2009|p=8}} Polonius's daughter, [[Ophelia (character)|Ophelia]], admits her interest in Hamlet, but Laertes warns her against seeking the prince's attention, and Polonius orders her to reject his advances. That night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Hamlet, tells the prince that he was  murdered by Claudius (by pouring poison into his ear as he slept), and demands that Hamlet avenge the murder. Hamlet agrees, and the ghost vanishes. The prince confides to Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to "put an antic disposition on", or act as though he has gone mad. Hamlet forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge secret; however, he remains uncertain of the ghost's reliability.

===Act II===
Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving erratically. Polonius blames love for Hamlet's madness and resolves to inform Claudius and Gertrude. As he enters to do so, the king and queen are welcoming [[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]], two student acquaintances of Hamlet, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the two students investigate the cause of Hamlet's mood and behaviour. Additional news requires that Polonius wait to be heard: messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the king of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to re-fight his father's battles. The forces that Fortinbras had conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against [[Poland]], though they will pass through Danish territory to get there.

Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlet's behaviour, and then speaks to Hamlet in a hall of the castle to try to learn more. Hamlet feigns madness and subtly insults Polonius all the while. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his "friends" warmly but quickly discerns that they are there to spy on him for Claudius. Hamlet admits that he is upset at his situation but refuses to give the true reason, instead remarking "[[What a piece of work is a man]]". Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Hamlet that they have brought along a troupe of actors that they met while travelling to Elsinore. Hamlet, after welcoming the actors and dismissing his friends-turned-spies, asks them to deliver a soliloquy about the death of [[Priam|King Priam]], as witnessed by [[Hecuba|Queen Hecuba]], at the climax of the [[Trojan War]]. Hamlet then asks the actors to stage ''The Murder of Gonzago'', a play featuring a death in the style of his father's murder. Hamlet intends to study Claudius's reaction to the play, and thereby determine the truth of the ghost's story of Claudius's guilt.

===Act III===
Polonius forces Ophelia to return Hamlet's love letters to the prince while he and Claudius secretly watch in order to evaluate Hamlet's reaction. Hamlet is walking alone in the hall as the King and Polonius await Ophelia's entrance. Hamlet muses on thoughts of [[To be, or not to be|life versus death]]. When Ophelia enters and tries to return Hamlet's things, Hamlet accuses her of immodesty and cries "get thee to a nunnery", though it is unclear whether this, too, is a show of madness or genuine distress. His reaction convinces Claudius that Hamlet is not mad for love. Shortly thereafter, the court assembles to watch the play Hamlet has commissioned. After seeing the [[Characters in Hamlet#The Players|Player King]] murdered by his rival pouring poison in his ear, Claudius abruptly rises and runs from the room; for Hamlet, this is proof of his uncle's guilt.

[[File:Hamlet stabs Polonius.jpg|thumb|Hamlet mistakenly stabs Polonius (Artist: Coke Smyth, 19th century).]]
Gertrude summons Hamlet to her chamber to demand an explanation. Meanwhile, Claudius talks to himself about the impossibility of repenting, since he still has possession of his ill-gotten goods: his brother's crown and wife. He sinks to his knees. Hamlet, on his way to visit his mother, sneaks up behind him but does not kill him, reasoning that killing Claudius while he is praying will send him straight to heaven while his father's ghost is stuck in purgatory. In the queen's bedchamber, Hamlet and Gertrude fight bitterly. Polonius, spying on the conversation from behind a [[tapestry]], calls for help as Gertrude, believing Hamlet wants to kill her, calls out for help herself.

Hamlet, believing it is Claudius, stabs wildly, killing Polonius, but he pulls aside the curtain and sees his mistake. In a rage, Hamlet brutally insults his mother for her apparent ignorance of Claudius's villainy, but the ghost enters and reprimands Hamlet for his inaction and harsh words. Unable to see or hear the ghost herself, Gertrude takes Hamlet's conversation with it as further evidence of madness. After begging the queen to stop sleeping with Claudius, Hamlet leaves, dragging Polonius's corpse away.

===Act IV===
Hamlet jokes with Claudius about where he has hidden Polonius's body, and the king, fearing for his life, sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to accompany Hamlet to England with a sealed letter to the English king requesting that Hamlet be executed immediately.

Unhinged by grief at Polonius's death, Ophelia wanders Elsinore. Laertes arrives back from France, enraged by his father's death and his sister's madness. Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet is solely responsible, but a letter soon arrives indicating that Hamlet has returned to Denmark, foiling Claudius's plan. Claudius switches tactics, proposing a fencing match between Laertes and Hamlet to settle their differences. Laertes will be given a poison-tipped foil, and, if that fails, Claudius will offer Hamlet poisoned wine as a congratulation. Gertrude interrupts to report that Ophelia has drowned, though it is unclear whether it was suicide or an accident caused by her madness.

===Act V===
[[File:Hamlet et Horatio au cimetière - Eugène Delacroix - Musée du Louvre Peintures RF 1942 - photo 2.jpg|thumb|left|The gravedigger scene.{{refn |''Hamlet'' 5.1.1–205}} (Artist: [[Eugène Delacroix]], 1839)]]

Horatio has received a letter from Hamlet, explaining that the prince escaped by negotiating with pirates who attempted to attack his England-bound ship, and the friends reunite offstage. Two [[Characters in Hamlet#Ophelia's funeral|gravediggers]] discuss Ophelia's apparent suicide while digging her grave. Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with one of the gravediggers, who unearths the skull of a [[jester]] from Hamlet's childhood, [[Yorick]]. Hamlet picks up the skull, saying "Alas, poor Yorick" as he contemplates mortality. Ophelia's [[funeral procession]] approaches, led by Laertes. Hamlet and Horatio initially hide, but when Hamlet realizes that Ophelia is the one being buried, he reveals himself, proclaiming his love for her. Laertes and Hamlet fight by Ophelia's graveside, but the brawl is broken up.

Back at Elsinore, Hamlet explains to Horatio that he had discovered Claudius's letter among Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's belongings and replaced it with a forged copy indicating that his former friends should be killed instead. A foppish courtier, [[Characters in Hamlet#Osric|Osric]], interrupts the conversation to deliver the fencing challenge to Hamlet from Laertes. Hamlet, despite Horatio's pleas, accepts it. Hamlet does well at first, leading the match by two hits to none, and Gertrude raises a toast to him using the poisoned glass of wine Claudius had set aside for Hamlet. Claudius tries to stop her but is too late: she drinks, and Laertes realizes the plot will be revealed. Laertes slashes Hamlet with his poisoned blade. In the ensuing scuffle, they switch weapons, and Hamlet wounds Laertes with his own poisoned sword. Gertrude collapses and, claiming she has been poisoned, dies. In his dying moments, Laertes reconciles with Hamlet and reveals Claudius's plan. Hamlet rushes at Claudius and kills him. As the poison takes effect, Hamlet, hearing that Fortinbras is marching through the area, names the Norwegian prince as his successor. Horatio, distraught at the thought of being the last survivor and living whilst Hamlet does not, says he will commit suicide by drinking the dregs of Gertrude's poisoned wine, but Hamlet begs him to live on and tell his story. Hamlet dies in Horatio's arms, proclaiming "the rest is silence". Fortinbras, who was ostensibly marching towards Poland with his army, arrives at the palace, along with an English ambassador bringing news of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's deaths. Horatio promises to recount the full story of what happened, and Fortinbras, seeing the entire Danish royal family dead, takes the crown for himself and orders a military funeral to honour Hamlet.

==Sources==
{{Main|Sources of Hamlet {{!}} Sources of ''Hamlet''}}
[[File:Saxo original 001.jpg|thumb|upright|A facsimile of ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'' by [[Saxo Grammaticus]], which contains the legend of Amleth]]

''Hamlet''-like legends are so widely found (for example in Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Byzantium, and Arabia) that the core "hero-as-fool" theme is possibly [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] in origin.{{sfn|Saxo|Hansen|1983|pp=36–37}} Several ancient written precursors to ''Hamlet'' can be identified. The first is the anonymous Scandinavian ''[[Hrólfs saga kraka|Saga of Hrolf Kraki]]''. In this, the murdered king has two sons—[[Hroðgar|Hroar]] and [[Halga|Helgi]]—who spend most of the story in disguise, under false names, rather than feigning madness, in a sequence of events that differs from Shakespeare's.{{sfn|Saxo|Hansen|1983|pp=16–25}} The second is the Roman legend of [[Lucius Junius Brutus#Biography|Brutus]], 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, [[Lucius Tarquinius Superbus|King Tarquinius]]. A 17th-century Nordic scholar, [[Torfaeus]], compared the Icelandic hero [[Amlóði]] (Amlodi) and the 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.{{sfn|Saxo|Hansen|1983|pp=5–15}}

Many of the earlier legendary elements are interwoven in the 13th-century "Life of Amleth" ({{langx|la|Vita Amlethi|link=no}}) by [[Saxo Grammaticus]], part of ''[[Gesta Danorum]]''.{{sfn|Saxo|Hansen|1983|pp=1–5}} Written in Latin, it reflects classical Roman concepts of virtue and heroism, and was widely available in Shakespeare's day.{{sfn|Saxo|Hansen|1983|pp=25–37}} 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''.{{sfn|Edwards|1985|pp=1–2}} Belleforest embellished Saxo's text substantially, almost doubling its length, and introduced the hero's [[melancholia|melancholy]].{{sfn|Saxo|Hansen|1983|pp=66–67}}

[[File:The Spanish Tragedy.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Title page of ''[[The Spanish Tragedy]]'' by Thomas Kyd]]

According to one theory, Shakespeare's main source may be an earlier play—now lost—known today as the ''[[Ur-Hamlet]]''. Possibly written by [[Thomas Kyd]] or by Shakespeare, the ''Ur-Hamlet'' would have existed by 1589, and would have incorporated a ghost.{{sfn|Jenkins|1982|pp=82–85}} Shakespeare's company, [[Lord Chamberlain's Men|the Chamberlain's Men]], may have purchased that play and performed a version for some time, which Shakespeare reworked.{{sfn|Saxo|Hansen|1983|p=67}} However, no copy of the ''Ur-Hamlet'' has survived, and it is impossible to compare its language and style with the known works of any of its putative authors. In 1936 [[Andrew Cairncross]] suggested that, until more becomes known, it may be assumed that Shakespeare wrote the ''Ur-Hamlet''.{{sfn|Cairncross|1975}} [[Eric Sams]] lists reasons for supporting Shakespeare's authorship.{{sfn|Sams|1995|p=121–124}} [[Harold Jenkins (Shakespeare scholar)|Harold Jenkins]] considers that there are no grounds for thinking that the ''Ur-Hamlet'' is an early work by Shakespeare, which he then rewrote.{{sfn|Jenkins|1982|p=84 n4}} Professor Terri Bourus in 2016, one of three general editors of the New Oxford Shakespeare,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://english.fsu.edu/faculty/terri-bourus|title = Terri Bourus (Theresa Mategrano) &#124; the English Department}}</ref> in her paper "Enter Shakespeare's Young Hamlet, 1589" suggests that Shakespeare was "interested in sixteenth-century French literature, from the very beginning of his career" and therefore "did not need Thomas Kyd to pre-digest Belleforest's histoire of Amleth and spoon-feed it to him". She considers that the hypothesized ''Ur-Hamlet'' is Shakespeare's Q1 text, and that this derived directly from Belleforest's French version.<ref>Terri Bourus in Actes des Congrès de la Société française Shakespeare 34 (2016): pp.2-5.</ref>

The precise combination of Shakespeare's use of the ''Ur-Hamlet'', Belleforest, Saxo, or Kyd's ''[[The Spanish Tragedy]]'' as sources for ''Hamlet'' is not known. However, elements of Belleforest's version which are not in Saxo's story do appear in Shakespeare's play.{{sfn|Saxo|Hansen|1983|pp=66–68}}

Most scholars reject the idea that ''Hamlet'' is in any way connected with Shakespeare's only son, [[Hamnet Shakespeare]], who died in 1596 at age eleven. Conventional wisdom holds that ''Hamlet'' is strongly connected to legend, and the name Hamnet was quite popular at the time.{{sfn|Saxo|Hansen|1983|p=6}} However, [[Stephen Greenblatt]] has argued that the [[coincidence]] of the names and Shakespeare's grief for the loss of his son may lie at the heart of the tragedy. He notes that the name of Hamnet Sadler, the Stratford neighbour after whom Hamnet was named, was often written as Hamlet Sadler and that, in the loose orthography of the time, the names were virtually interchangeable.{{sfn|Greenblatt|2004a|p=311}}{{sfn|Greenblatt|2004b}}

Scholars have often speculated that ''Hamlet''{{'}}s [[Polonius]] might have been inspired by [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]] (Lord Burghley)—Lord High Treasurer and chief counsellor to Queen [[Elizabeth&nbsp;I]]. [[E. K. Chambers]] suggested Polonius's advice to Laertes may have echoed Burghley's to his son [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury|Robert Cecil]].{{sfn|Chambers|1930|p=418}} [[John Dover Wilson]] thought it almost certain that the figure of Polonius caricatured Burghley.{{sfn|Wilson|1932|p=104}} [[A. L. Rowse]] speculated that Polonius's tedious verbosity might have resembled Burghley's.{{sfn|Rowse|1963|p=323}} Lilian Winstanley thought the name Corambis (in the First Quarto) did suggest Cecil and Burghley.{{sfn|Winstanley|1977|p=114}} [[Harold Jenkins (Shakespeare scholar)|Harold Jenkins]] considers the idea of Polonius as a caricature of Burghley to be conjecture, perhaps based on the similar role they each played at court, and perhaps also based on the similarity between Burghley addressing his ''Ten Precepts'' to his son, and Polonius offering "precepts" to his son, Laertes.{{sfn|Cecil|2012}} Jenkins suggests that any personal satire may be found in the name "Polonius", which might point to a Polish or Polonian connection.{{sfn|Jenkins|1982|p=35}} G. R. Hibbard hypothesised that differences in names (Corambis/Polonius:Montano/Raynoldo) between the First Quarto and other editions might reflect a desire not to offend scholars at [[University of Oxford|Oxford University]]. ([[Robert Pullen]], was the founder of Oxford University, and [[John Rainolds]], was the President of [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford|Corpus Christi College]].){{sfn|Hibbard|1987|pp=74–75}}

==Date==
[[File:John Barrymore Hamlet 1922.jpg|right|thumb|[[John Barrymore]] as Hamlet (1922)]]
"Any dating of ''Hamlet'' must be tentative", states the ''New Cambridge'' editor, [[Philip Edwards (academic)|Phillip Edwards]]. MacCary suggests 1599 or 1600;{{sfn|MacCary|1998|p=13}} James Shapiro offers late 1600 or early 1601;{{sfn|Shapiro|2005|p=341}} [[Stanley Wells|Wells]] and [[Gary Taylor (scholar)|Taylor]] suggest that the play was written in 1600 and revised later;{{sfn|Wells|Taylor|1988|p=653}} the New Cambridge editor settles on mid-1601;{{sfn|Edwards|1985|p=8}} the New Swan Shakespeare Advanced Series editor agrees with 1601;{{sfn|Lott|1970|p=xlvi}} Thompson and Taylor, tentatively ("according to whether one is the more persuaded by Jenkins or by Honigmann") suggest a ''[[Terminus post quem|terminus ad quem]]'' of either Spring 1601 or sometime in 1600.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=58–59}}

The [[Terminus post quem|earliest date estimate]] relies on ''Hamlet''{{'}}s frequent allusions to Shakespeare's ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', itself dated to mid-1599.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=12–13}}{{sfn|Edwards|1985|pp=5–6}} The [[Terminus post quem|latest date estimate]] is based on an entry, of 26 July 1602, in the [[Stationers' Register|Register]] of the [[Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers|Stationers' Company]], indicating that ''Hamlet'' was "latelie Acted by the [[Lord Chamberlain's Men|Lo: Chamberleyne his servantes]]".

In 1598, [[Francis Meres]] published his ''Palladis Tamia'', a survey of English literature from Chaucer to its present day, within which twelve of Shakespeare's plays are named. ''Hamlet'' is not among them, suggesting that it had not yet been written. As ''Hamlet'' was very popular, Bernard Lott, the series editor of ''New Swan'', believes it "unlikely that he [Meres] would have overlooked ... so significant a piece".{{sfn|Lott|1970|p=xlvi}}

The phrase "little eyases"{{refn|''Hamlet F1'' 2.2.337.}} in the [[First Folio]] (F1) may allude to the [[Children of the Chapel]], whose popularity in London forced the Globe company into provincial touring.{{refn|''Hamlet F1'' 2.2.324–360}} This became known as the [[War of the Theatres]], and supports a 1601 dating.{{sfn|Lott|1970|p=xlvi}} [[Katherine Duncan-Jones]] accepts a 1600–01 attribution for the date ''Hamlet'' was written, but notes that the [[Lord Chamberlain's Men]], playing ''Hamlet'' in the 3000-capacity [[Globe Theatre|Globe]], were unlikely to be put to any disadvantage by an audience of "barely one hundred" for the Children of the chapel's equivalent play, ''[[Antonio's Revenge]]''; she believes that Shakespeare, confident in the superiority of his own work, was making a playful and charitable allusion to his friend [[John Marston (playwright)|John Marston's]] very similar piece.{{sfn|Duncan-Jones|2001|pp=143–149}}

A contemporary of Shakespeare's, [[Gabriel Harvey]], wrote a marginal note in his copy of the 1598 edition of [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer's]] works, which some scholars use as dating evidence. Harvey's note says that "the wiser sort" enjoy ''Hamlet'', and implies that [[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex|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 {{italics correction|''Hamlet''}}". This is because the same note also refers to [[Edmund Spenser|Spenser]] and [[Thomas Watson (poet)|Watson]] as if they were still alive ("our flourishing [[Meter (poetry)|metricians]]"), but also mentions "[[John Owen (epigrammatist)|Owen's]] new epigrams", published in 1607.{{sfn|Edwards|1985|p=5}}

==Texts==

Three early editions of the text, each different, have survived, making attempts to establish a single "authentic" text problematic.{{sfn|Hattaway|1987|pp=13–20}}{{sfn|Chambers|1923b|pp=486–487}}{{sfn|Halliday|1964|pp=204–205}}
* [[Hamlet Q1|First Quarto]] ('''Q1'''): In 1603 the booksellers [[Nicholas Ling]] and John Trundell published, and [[Valentine Simmes]] printed, the so-called "[[Bad quarto|bad]]" first quarto, under the name ''The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke''. Q1 contains just over half of the text of the later second quarto.
* Second Quarto ('''Q2'''): In 1604 Nicholas Ling published, and James Roberts printed, the second quarto, under the same name as the first. 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 about 77 lines found in F1{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|p=465}} (most likely to avoid offending [[James I of England|James I's]] queen, [[Anne of Denmark]]).{{sfn|Halliday|1964|p=204}}
* [[First Folio]] ('''F1'''): In 1623 [[Edward Blount]] and [[William Jaggard|William and Isaac Jaggard]] published ''The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke'' in the First Folio, the first edition of Shakespeare's ''Complete Works''.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|p=78}}

This list does not include three additional early texts, [[John Smethwick]]'s Q3, Q4, and Q5 (1611–37), which are regarded as reprints of Q2 with some alterations.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|p=78}}

[[File:Hamlet.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Title page]] of the 1605 printing (Q2) of ''Hamlet'']]
[[File:First-page-first-folio-Hamlet.jpg|thumb|The first page of the [[First Folio]] printing of ''Hamlet'', 1623]]
Early [[Shakespeare's editors|editors of Shakespeare's works]], beginning with [[Nicholas Rowe (writer)|Nicholas Rowe]] (1709) and [[Lewis Theobald]] (1733), combined material from the two earliest sources of ''Hamlet'' available at the time, Q2 and F1. Each text contains material that the other lacks, with many minor differences in wording: scarcely 200 lines are identical in the two. Editors have combined them in an effort to create one "inclusive" text that reflects an imagined "ideal" of Shakespeare's original. Theobald's version became standard for a long time,{{sfn|Hibbard|1987|pp=22–23}} and his "full text" approach continues to influence editorial practice to the present day. Some contemporary scholarship, however, discounts this approach, instead considering "an authentic ''Hamlet'' an unrealisable ideal. ... there are ''texts'' of this play but no ''text''".{{sfn|Hattaway|1987|p=16}} The 2006 publication by Arden Shakespeare of different ''Hamlet'' texts in different volumes is perhaps evidence of this shifting focus and emphasis.{{efn|The [[Arden Shakespeare]] third series published Q2, with appendices, in their first volume,{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a}} and the F1 and Q1 texts in their second volume.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006b}} The [[RSC Shakespeare]] is the F1 text with additional Q2 passages in an appendix.{{sfn|Bate|Rasmussen|2007|p=1923}} The [[New Cambridge Shakespeare]] series has begun to publish separate volumes for the separate quarto versions that exist of Shakespeare's plays.{{sfn|Irace|1998}}}} Other editors have continued to argue the need for well-edited editions taking material from all versions of the play. Colin Burrow has argued that <blockquote>most of us should read a text that is made up by conflating all three versions ... it's about as likely that Shakespeare wrote: "To be or not to be, ay, there's the point" [in Q1], as that he wrote the works of [[Francis Bacon]]. I suspect most people just won't want to read a three-text play ... [multi-text editions are] a version of the play that is out of touch with the needs of a wider public.{{sfn|Burrow|2002}}</blockquote>

Traditionally, editors of Shakespeare's plays have divided them into five acts. None of the early texts of ''Hamlet'', however, were arranged this way, and the play's division into acts and scenes derives from a 1676 quarto. Modern editors generally follow this traditional division but consider it unsatisfactory; for example, after Hamlet drags Polonius's body out of Gertrude's bedchamber, there is an act-break{{refn|''Hamlet'' ''Hamlet'' 3.4 and 4.1.}} after which the action appears to continue uninterrupted.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=543–552}}

[[File:Bad quarto, good quarto, first folio.png|thumb|Comparison of the 'To be, or not to be' soliloquy in the first three editions of Hamlet, showing the varying quality of the text in the [[Bad Quarto]], the Good Quarto and the [[First Folio]]]]

Q1 was discovered in 1823. Only two copies are extant. According to Jenkins, "The unauthorized nature of this quarto is matched by the corruption of its text."{{sfn|Jenkins|1982|p=14}} Yet Q1 has value: it contains stage directions (such as Ophelia entering with a lute and her hair down) that reveal actual stage practices in a way that Q2 and F1 do not; it contains an entire scene (usually labelled 4.6){{refn|''Hamlet Q1'' 14.}} that does not appear in either Q2 or F1; and it is useful for comparison with the later editions. The major deficiency of Q1 is in the language: particularly noticeable in the opening lines of the famous "[[To be, or not to be]]" soliloquy: "To be, or not to be, aye there's the point. / To die, to sleep, is that all? Aye all: / No, to sleep, to dream, aye marry there it goes." However, the scene order is more coherent, without the problems of Q2 and F1 of Hamlet seeming to resolve something in one scene and enter the next drowning in indecision. New Cambridge editor Kathleen Irace has noted that "Q1's more linear plot design is certainly easier [...] to follow [...] but the simplicity of the Q1 plot arrangement eliminates the alternating plot elements that correspond to Hamlet's shifts in mood."{{sfn|Irace|1998|pp=1–34}}

Q1 is considerably shorter than Q2 or F1 and may be a [[memorial reconstruction]] of the play as Shakespeare's company performed it, by an actor who played a minor role (most likely Marcellus).{{sfn|Jackson|1986|p=171}} Scholars disagree whether the reconstruction was pirated or authorised. It is suggested by Irace that Q1 is an abridged version intended especially for travelling productions, thus the question of length may be considered as separate from issues of poor textual quality.{{sfn|Irace|1998}}{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=85–86}} Editing Q1 thus poses problems in whether or not to "correct" differences from Q2 and F. Irace, in her introduction to Q1, wrote that "I have avoided as many other alterations as possible, because the differences...are especially intriguing...I have recorded a selection of Q2/F readings in the collation." The idea that Q1 is not riddled with error but is instead eminently fit for the stage has led to at least 28 different Q1 productions since 1881.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006b|pp=36–39}} Other productions have used the Q2 and Folio texts, but used Q1's running order, in particular moving the ''to be or not to be'' soliloquy earlier.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=18–19}} Developing this, some editors such as [[Jonathan Bate]] have argued that Q2 may represent "a 'reading' text as opposed to a 'performance' one" of ''Hamlet'': an edition containing all of Shakespeare's material for the play for the pleasure of readers, so not representing the play as it would have been staged.{{sfn|Bate|Rasmussen|2008|p=11}}{{sfn|Crowl|2014|pp=5–6}}

==Analysis and criticism==
{{Main|Critical approaches to Hamlet}}

===Critical history===
From the early 17th century, the play was famous for its ghost and vivid dramatisation of [[Melancholia|melancholy]] and [[insanity]], leading to a procession of mad courtiers and ladies in [[Jacobean era|Jacobean]] and [[Caroline era|Caroline]] drama.{{sfn|Wofford|1994}}{{sfn|Kirsch|1969}} Though it remained popular with mass audiences, late 17th-century [[English Restoration|Restoration]] critics saw ''Hamlet'' as primitive and disapproved of its lack of [[Classical unities|unity]] and [[decorum]].{{sfn|Vickers|1995a|p=447}}{{sfn|Vickers|1995b|p=92}} This view changed drastically in the 18th century, when critics regarded Hamlet as a hero—a pure, brilliant young man thrust into unfortunate circumstances.{{sfn|Wofford|1994|pp=184–185}}

By the mid-18th century, however, the advent of [[Gothic fiction|Gothic literature]] brought [[Psychology|psychological]] and [[Mysticism|mystical]] readings, returning madness and the ghost to the forefront.{{sfn|Vickers|1995c|p=5}} Not until the late 18th century did critics and performers begin to view Hamlet as confusing and inconsistent. Before then, he was either mad, or not; either a hero, or not; with no in-betweens.{{sfn|Wofford|1994|p=185}} These developments represented a fundamental change in literary criticism, which came to focus more on character and less on plot.{{sfn|Wofford|1994|p=186}}  In the 18th century, one negative French review of Hamlet would be widely discussed for centuries, in particular in publications throughout the 19th and 20th century.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 October 1877 |title=Literary Matters |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/boston-evening-transcript/139377896/ |access-date=23 January 2024 |website=Boston Evening Transcript |page=6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Article clipped from The Birmingham Post|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-post/139377955/|access-date=23 January 2024 |website=[[Newspapers]]|date=25 April 1898 |page=5 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Article clipped from Evening Standard|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-standard/139377986/|access-date=23 January 2024 |website=[[Newspapers]]|date=25 May 1948 |page=6 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Article clipped from Wisconsin State Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/wisconsin-state-journal/139377784/ |access-date=23 January 2024 |website=[[Newspapers]]|date=29 May 1988 |page=86 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Article clipped from Tucson Citizen|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tucson-citizen/139377775/ |access-date=23 January 2024 |website=[[Newspapers]]|date=8 October 1988 |page=9 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Article clipped from The Kansas City Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times/139346346/ |access-date=23 January 2024 |website=[[Newspapers]]|date=8 May 1987 |page=25 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Article clipped from The Day|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-day/139377873/ |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=[[Newspapers]]|date=3 December 1986 |page=31 }}</ref> In 1768, [[Voltaire]] wrote a negative review of ''Hamlet'', stating that "it is vulgar and barbarous drama, which would not be tolerated by the vilest populace of France or Italy... one would imagine this piece to be a work of a drunken savage",<ref>{{Cite news |title=Article clipped from The Kansas City Times
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times/139346346/ |access-date=23 January 2024 |website=[[Newspapers]]|date=8 May 1987 |page=25 }}</ref> while acknowledging that it contains "some sublime strokes worthy of the greatest genius".<ref>{{Cite web |others=Translated by D. Nichol Smith |title=Voltaire, Excerpt from the Preface to Sémiramis (1748) |url=https://sites.broadviewpress.com/lessons/DramaAnthology/VoltaireReactionToHamlet/VoltaireReactionToHamlet_print.html |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=Sites.BroadviewPress.com}}</ref>

By the 19th century, [[Romanticism|Romantic]] critics valued ''Hamlet'' for its internal, individual conflict reflecting the strong contemporary emphasis on internal struggles and inner character in general.{{sfn|Rosenberg|1992|p=179}} Then too, critics started to focus on Hamlet's delay as a character trait, rather than a plot device.{{sfn|Wofford|1994|p=186}} This focus on character and internal struggle continued into the 20th century, when criticism branched in several directions, discussed in [[#Context and interpretation|context and interpretation]] below.

===Dramatic structure===
Modern editors have divided the play into five acts, and each act into scenes. The First Folio marks the first two acts only. The quartos do not have such divisions. The division into five acts follows [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], who in his plays, regularized the way ancient Greek tragedies contain five episodes, which are separated by four choral odes. In ''Hamlet'' the development of the plot or the action are determined by the unfolding of Hamlet's character. The soliloquies do not interrupt the plot, instead they are highlights of each block of action. The plot is the developing revelation of Hamlet's view of what is "rotten in the state of Denmark." The action of the play is driven forward in dialogue; but in the soliloquies time and action stop, the meaning of action is questioned, fog of illusion is broached, and truths are exposed.

The contrast between appearance and reality is a significant theme. Hamlet is presented with an image, and then interprets its deeper or darker meaning. Examples begin with Hamlet questioning the reality of the ghost. It continues with Hamlet's taking on an "antic disposition" in order to appear mad, though he is not. The contrast (appearance and reality) is also expressed in several "spying scenes": Act two begins with Polonius sending Reynaldo to spy on his son, Laertes. Claudius and Polonius spy on Ophelia as she meets with Hamlet. In act two, Claudius asks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet. Similarly, the play-within-a-play is used by Hamlet to reveal his step-father's hidden nature.

There is no subplot, but the play presents the affairs of the courtier Polonius, his daughter, Ophelia, and his son, Laertes—who variously deal with madness, love and the death of a father in ways that contrast with Hamlet's. The graveyard scene eases tension prior to the catastrophe, and, as Hamlet holds the skull, it is shown that Hamlet no longer fears damnation in the afterlife, and accepts that there is a "divinity that shapes our ends".{{refn |''Hamlet'' 5.1.1–205}}

Hamlet's enquiring mind has been open to all kinds of ideas, but in act five he has decided on a plan, and in a dialogue with Horatio he seems to answer his two earlier soliloquies on suicide: "We defy augury. There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all. Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows aught, what is't to leave betimes."{{refn|''Hamlet''. 5.2.215–220.}}{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=65–72, 84, 96}}

===Length===
The First Quarto (1603) text of ''Hamlet'' contains 15,983 words, the Second Quarto (1604) contains 28,628 words, and the First Folio (1623) contains 27,602 words. Counting the number of lines varies between editions, partly because prose sections in the play may be formatted with varied lengths.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=80-81}} Editions of ''Hamlet'' that are created by conflating the texts of the Second Quarto and the Folio are said to have approximately 3,900 lines;{{sfn|Barnet|1998|p=lxiv}} the number of lines varies between those editions based on formatting the prose sections, counting methods, and how the editors have joined the texts together.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=92-93}} ''Hamlet'' is by far the longest play that Shakespeare wrote, and one of the longest plays in the [[Western canon]]. It might require more than four hours to stage;{{sfn|Evans|1974}} a typical Elizabethan play would need two to three hours.{{sfn|Hirrel|2010}} It is speculated that because of the considerable length of Q2 and F1, there was an expectation that those texts would be abridged for performance, or that Q2 and F1 may have been aimed at a reading audience.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|p=84}}

That Q1 is so much shorter than Q2 has spurred speculation that Q1 is an early draft, or perhaps an adaptation, a bootleg copy, or a stage adaptation. On the title page of Q2, its text is described as "newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much again as it was." That is probably a comparison to Q1.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=80-81}}

===Language===
[[File:Delacroix-1834-I2-QueenConsolesHamlet.JPG|thumb|Hamlet's statement that his dark clothes are the outer sign of his inner grief demonstrates strong rhetorical skill (artist: [[Eugène Delacroix]] 1834).]]

Much of ''Hamlet''{{'}}s language is courtly: elaborate, witty discourse, as recommended by [[Baldassare Castiglione]]'s 1528 etiquette guide, ''The Courtier''. This work specifically advises royal retainers to amuse their masters with inventive language. Osric and Polonius, especially, seem to respect this injunction. Claudius's 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 [[Majestic plural|royal first person plural]] ("we" or "us"), and [[Anaphora (rhetoric)|anaphora]] mixed with [[metaphor]] to resonate with Greek political speeches.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=84–85}}

Of all the characters, Hamlet has the greatest rhetorical skill. He uses highly developed metaphors, [[stichomythia]], and in nine memorable words deploys both anaphora and [[asyndeton]]: "to die: to sleep—&nbsp;/ To sleep, perchance to dream".{{refn|''Hamlet'' 3.1.63–64.}} In contrast, when occasion demands, he is precise and straightforward, as when he explains his inward emotion to his mother: "But I have that within which passes show,&nbsp;/ These but the trappings and the suits of woe".{{refn|''Hamlet'' 1.2.85–86.}} At times, he relies heavily on [[pun]]s to express his true thoughts while simultaneously concealing them.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=89–90}} Pauline Kiernan argues that Shakespeare changed English drama forever in ''Hamlet'' because he "showed how a character's language can often be saying several things at once, and contradictory meanings at that, to reflect fragmented thoughts and disturbed feelings". She gives the example of Hamlet's advice to Ophelia, "get thee to a nunnery",{{refn|''Hamlet'' 3.1.87–160.}} which, she claims, is simultaneously a reference to a place of chastity and a slang term for a brothel, reflecting Hamlet's confused feelings about female sexuality.{{sfn|Kiernan|2007|p=34}} However Harold Jenkins does not agree, having studied the few examples that are used to support that idea, and finds that there is no support for the assumption that "nunnery" was used that way in slang, or that Hamlet intended such a meaning. The context of the scene suggests that a nunnery would not be a brothel, but instead a place of renunciation and a "sanctuary from marriage and from the world's contamination".{{sfn|Jenkins|1982|pp=493–495}} Thompson and Taylor consider the brothel idea incorrect considering that "Hamlet is trying to deter Ophelia from ''breeding''".{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|p=290}}

Hamlet's first words in the play are a pun; when Claudius addresses him as "my cousin Hamlet, and my son", Hamlet says as an aside: "A little more than kin, and less than kind."{{refn|''Hamlet'' 1.2.63–65.}}

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'''expectancy and rose'' of the fair state"{{refn|''Hamlet'' 3.1.151.}} and "And I, of ladies most ''deject and wretched''".{{refn|''Hamlet'' 3.1.154.}} 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 had been used deliberately to heighten the play's sense of duality and dislocation.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=87–88}}

Hamlet's [[Soliloquy|soliloquies]] have 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 wordplay. It is not until late in the play, after his experience with the pirates, that Hamlet is able to articulate his feelings freely.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=91–93}}

==Context and interpretation==

===Religious===
[[File:John Everett Millais - Ophelia - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[John Everett Millais]]' ''[[Ophelia (painting)|Ophelia]]'' (1852) depicts Lady Ophelia's mysterious death by drowning. In the play, the gravediggers discuss whether Ophelia's death was a suicide and whether she merits a Christian burial.]]

Written at a time of religious upheaval and in the wake of the [[English Reformation]], the play is alternately [[Catholicism|Catholic]] (or piously medieval) and [[Protestantism|Protestant]] (or consciously modern). The ghost describes himself as being in [[purgatory]] and as dying without [[last rites]]. This and Ophelia's burial ceremony, which is characteristically Catholic, make up most of the play's Catholic connections. Some scholars have observed that [[Revenge play|revenge tragedies]] come from Catholic countries such as Italy and Spain, where the revenge tragedies present contradictions of motives, since according to Catholic doctrine the duty to God and family precedes civil justice.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=37–38}}

Much of the play's Protestant tones derive from its setting in Denmark—both then and now a predominantly Protestant country,{{efn|See the articles on the [[Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein]] and [[Church of Denmark]] for details.}} though it is unclear whether the fictional Denmark of the play is intended to portray this implicit fact. Dialogue refers explicitly to the German city of [[Wittenberg]] where Hamlet, Horatio, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern attend university, implying where the Protestant [[Reformation|reformer]] [[Martin Luther]] nailed the ''[[Ninety-five Theses]]'' to the church door in 1517.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|p=38}}

===Philosophical===
[[File:Michel de Montaigne 1.jpg|thumb|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.&nbsp;1560–1612).]]

Hamlet is often perceived as a philosophical character, expounding ideas that are now described as [[relativism|relativist]], [[existentialism|existentialist]], and [[scepticism|sceptical]]. For example, he expresses a subjectivistic idea when he says to Rosencrantz: "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so".{{refn|''Hamlet'' 2.2.247–248.}} The idea that nothing is real except in the mind of the individual finds its roots in the Greek [[Sophism|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, but rather only relative truth.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=47–48}} The clearest alleged instance of existentialism is in the "[[to be, or not to be]]"{{refn|''Hamlet'' 3.1.55–87.}} speech, where Hamlet is thought by some to use "being" to allude to life and action, and "not being" to death and inaction.

''Hamlet'' reflects the contemporary [[Philosophical scepticism|scepticism]] promoted by the French [[Renaissance humanism|Renaissance humanist]] [[Michel de Montaigne]].{{sfn|MacCary|1998|p=49}} Prior to Montaigne's time, humanists such as [[Pico della Mirandola]] had argued that man was God's greatest creation, made in God's image and able to choose his own nature, but this view was subsequently challenged in Montaigne's ''[[Essays (Montaigne)|Essais]]'' of 1580. Hamlet's "[[What a piece of work is a man]]" seems to echo many of Montaigne's ideas, and many scholars have discussed whether Shakespeare drew directly from Montaigne or whether both men were simply reacting similarly to the spirit of the times.{{sfn|Knowles|1999|pp=1049, 1052–1053}}{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=73–74}}{{sfn|MacCary|1998|p=49}}

===Psychoanalytic===
[[File:Claudius at Prayer Hamlet 3-3 Delacroix 1844.JPG|thumb|upright|left|[[Sigmund Freud|Freud]] suggested that an [[Unconscious mind|unconscious]] [[Oedipus complex|Oedipal conflict]] caused Hamlet's hesitations (artist: [[Eugène Delacroix]] 1844).]]

====Sigmund Freud====
[[Sigmund Freud]]’s thoughts regarding ''Hamlet'' were first published in his book ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'' (1899), as a footnote to a discussion of [[Sophocles]]’ tragedy, ''[[Oedipus Rex]],'' all of which is part of his consideration of the causes of neurosis. Freud does not offer over-all interpretations of the plays, but uses the two tragedies to illustrate and corroborate his psychological theories, which are based on his treatments of his patients and on his studies. Productions of ''Hamlet'' have used Freud's ideas to support their own interpretations.{{sfn|Bloom|1994|p=381}}{{sfn|Freud|1900|pp=367–368}} In ''The Interpretation of Dreams'', Freud says that according to his experience "parents play a leading part in the infantile psychology of all persons who subsequently become psychoneurotics," and that "falling in love with one parent and hating the other" is a common impulse in early childhood, and is important source material of "subsequent neurosis". He says that "in their amorous or hostile attitude toward their parents" neurotics reveal something that occurs with less intensity "in the minds of the majority of children". Freud considered that Sophocles’ tragedy, ''Oedipus Rex'', with its story that involves crimes of parricide and incest, "has furnished us with legendary matter which corroborates" these ideas, and that the "profound and universal validity of the old legends" is understandable only by recognizing the validity of these theories of "infantile psychology".{{sfn|Freud|1995|pp=274–279}}

Freud explores the reason "''Oedipus Rex'' is capable of moving a modern reader or playgoer no less powerfully than it moved the contemporary Greeks". He suggests that "It may be that we were all destined to direct our first sexual impulses toward our mothers, and our first impulses of hatred and violence toward our fathers." Freud suggests that we "recoil from the person for whom this primitive wish of our childhood has been fulfilled with all the force of the repression which these wishes have undergone in our minds since childhood."{{sfn|Freud|1995|pp=274–279}}

These ideas, which became a cornerstone of Freud's psychological theories, he named the "[[Oedipus complex]]", and, at one point, he considered calling it the "Hamlet complex".{{sfn|Budd|2005|p=112}} Freud considered that ''Hamlet'' "is rooted in the same soil as ''Oedipus Rex''." But the difference in the "psychic life" of the two civilizations that produced each play, and the progress made over time of "repression in the emotional life of humanity" can be seen in the way the same material is handled by the two playwrights: In ''Oedipus Rex'' incest and murder are brought into the light as might occur in a dream, but in ''Hamlet'' these impulses "remain repressed" and we learn of their existence through Hamlet's inhibitions to act out the revenge, while he is shown to be capable of acting decisively and boldly in other contexts. Freud asserts, "The play is based on Hamlet’s hesitation in accomplishing the task of revenge assigned to him; the text does not give the cause or the motive of this." The conflict is "deeply hidden".{{sfn|Freud|1995|pp=274–79}}

Hamlet is able to perform any kind of action except taking revenge on the man who murdered his father and has taken his father's place with his mother—Claudius has led Hamlet to realize the repressed desires of his own childhood. The loathing which was supposed to drive him to revenge is replaced by "self-reproach, by conscientious scruples" which tell him "he himself is no better than the murderer whom he is required to punish".{{sfn|Freud|1995|p=278}} Freud suggests that Hamlet's sexual aversion expressed in his "nunnery" conversation with Ophelia supports the idea that Hamlet is "an hysterical subject".{{sfn|Freud|1995|p=278}}{{refn|''Hamlet'' 3.1.87–160.}}

Freud suggests that the character Hamlet goes through an experience that has three characteristics, which he numbered: 1) "the hero is not psychopathic, but becomes so" during the course of the play. 2) "the repressed desire is one of those that are similarly repressed in all of us." It is a repression that "belongs to an early stage of our individual development". The audience identifies with the character of Hamlet, because "we are victims of the same conflict." 3) It is the nature of theatre that "the struggle of the repressed impulse to become conscious" occurs in both the hero onstage and the spectator, when they are in the grip of their emotions, "in the manner seen in psychoanalytic treatment".{{sfn|Freud|Bunker|1960|p=147}}

Freud points out that ''Hamlet'' is an exception in that psychopathic characters are usually ineffective in stage plays; they "become as useless for the stage as they are for life itself", because they do not inspire insight or empathy, unless the audience is familiar with the character's inner conflict. Freud says, "It is thus the task of the dramatist to transport us into the same illness."{{sfn|Freud|Bunker|1960|pp=147–148}}

[[John Barrymore]]'s long-running 1922 performance in [[New York City|New York]], directed by Thomas Hopkins, "broke new ground in its Freudian approach to character", in keeping with the post-World War I rebellion against everything Victorian.{{sfn|Morrison|1997|pp=4, 129–130}} He had a "blunter intention" than presenting the genteel, sweet prince of 19th-century tradition, imbuing his character with virility and lust.{{sfn|Cotsell|2005|p=191}}

Beginning in 1910, with the publication of "The Œdipus-Complex as an Explanation of Hamlet's Mystery: A Study in Motive"{{sfn|Jones|1910}} [[Ernest Jones]]—a 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's psychoanalytic approach, several productions have portrayed the "closet scene", where Hamlet confronts his mother in her private quarters, in a sexual light.{{refn|''Hamlet'' 3.4.}} 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 also be read through the Freudian lens: as a reaction to the death of her hoped-for lover, her father. Ophelia is overwhelmed by having her unfulfilled love for him so abruptly terminated and drifts into the oblivion of insanity.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=104–107, 113–116}}{{sfn|de Grazia|2007|pp=168–170}} In 1937, [[Tyrone Guthrie]] directed [[Laurence Olivier]] in a Jones-inspired ''Hamlet'' at [[The Old Vic]].{{sfn|Smallwood|2002|p=102}} Olivier later used some of these same ideas in his 1948 film version of the play.

In the ''Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages'' volume on Hamlet, editors Bloom and Foster express a conviction that the intentions of Shakespeare in portraying the character of Hamlet in the play exceeded the capacity of the Freudian Oedipus complex to completely encompass the extent of characteristics depicted in Hamlet throughout the tragedy: "For once, Freud regressed in attempting to fasten the Oedipus Complex upon Hamlet: it will not stick, and merely showed that Freud did better than T.S. Eliot, who preferred ''Coriolanus'' to ''Hamlet'', or so he said. Who can believe Eliot, when he exposes his own Hamlet Complex by declaring the play to be an aesthetic failure?"{{sfn|Bloom|Foster|2008|p=xii}} The book also notes James Joyce's interpretation, stating that he "did far better in the Library Scene of ''Ulysses'', where Stephen marvellously credits Shakespeare, in this play, with universal fatherhood while accurately implying that Hamlet is fatherless, thus opening a pragmatic gap between Shakespeare and Hamlet."{{sfn|Bloom|Foster|2008|p=xii}}

Joshua Rothman has written in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' that "we tell the story wrong when we say that Freud used the idea of the Oedipus complex to understand ''Hamlet''". Rothman suggests that "it was the other way around: ''Hamlet'' helped Freud understand, and perhaps even invent, psychoanalysis". He concludes, "The Oedipus complex is a misnomer. It should be called the 'Hamlet complex'."{{sfn|Rothman|2013}}

====Jacques Lacan====
In the 1950s, the French psychoanalyst [[Jacques Lacan]] analyzed ''Hamlet'' to illustrate some of his concepts. His [[structuralism|structuralist]] theories about ''Hamlet'' were first presented in a series of [[The Seminars of Jacques Lacan|seminars]] given in Paris and later published in "Desire and the Interpretation of Desire in ''Hamlet''". Lacan postulated that the human [[psyche (psychology)|psyche]] is determined by structures of language and that the linguistic structures of ''Hamlet'' shed light on human desire.{{sfn|Britton|1995|pp=207–211}} His point of departure is Freud's Oedipal theories, and the central theme of mourning that runs through ''Hamlet''.{{sfn|Britton|1995|pp=207–11}} In Lacan's analysis, Hamlet unconsciously assumes the role of [[Phallus#Psychoanalysis|''phallus'']]—the cause of his inaction—and is increasingly distanced from reality "by mourning, [[Fantasy (psychology)|fantasy]], [[narcissism]] and [[psychosis]]", which create holes (or [[lack (manque)|lack]]) in the real, imaginary, and symbolic aspects of his psyche.{{sfn|Britton|1995|pp=207–211}} Lacan's theories influenced some subsequent literary criticism of ''Hamlet'' because of his alternative vision of the play and his use of [[semantics]] to explore the play's psychological landscape.{{sfn|Britton|1995|pp=207–211}}

===Feminist===
[[File:Ophelia - Henrietta Rae.jpg|thumb|[[Ophelia (character)|Ophelia]] is distracted by grief.{{refn|''Hamlet'' 4.5.}} Feminist critics have explored her descent into madness (artist: Henrietta Rae 1890).]]
In the 20th century, [[feminist literary criticism|feminist critics]] opened up new approaches to Gertrude and Ophelia. [[new historicism|New historicist]] and [[cultural materialism (cultural studies)|cultural materialist]] critics examined the play in its historical context, attempting to piece together its original cultural environment.{{sfn|Wofford|1994|pp=199–202}} They focused on the [[Gender role|gender system]] of [[Early modern period|early modern]] England, pointing to the common trinity of ''maid, wife, or widow'', with ''whores'' outside of that 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 and dishonest with Hamlet.{{sfn|Howard|2003|pp=411–415}}
[[File:Nicolai Abildgaard - Hamlet hos sin moder - KMS1019 - Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg|thumb|Hamlet tries to show his mother Gertrude his father's ghost (artist: [[Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard|Nicolai A. Abildgaard]], {{circa|1778}}).]]

[[Carolyn Heilbrun]]'s 1957 essay "The Character of Hamlet's Mother" defends Gertrude, arguing that the text never hints that Gertrude knew of Claudius poisoning King Hamlet. This analysis has been praised by many feminist critics, combating what is, by Heilbrun's argument, centuries' worth of misinterpretation. By this account, Gertrude's worst crime is of pragmatically marrying her brother-in-law in order to avoid a power vacuum. This is borne out by the fact that King Hamlet's ghost tells Hamlet to leave Gertrude out of Hamlet's revenge, to leave her to heaven, an arbitrary mercy to grant to a conspirator to murder.{{sfn|Heilbrun|1957}}{{sfn|Bloom|2003|pp=58–59}}{{sfn|Thompson|2001|p=4}}

Ophelia has also been defended by feminist critics, most notably [[Elaine Showalter]].{{sfn|Showalter|1985}} 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 is driven into madness.{{sfn|Bloom|2003|p=57}} 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.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=111–113}}

==Influence==
{{see also|Literary influence of Hamlet}}

''Hamlet'' is one of the [[Phrases from Hamlet in common English|most quoted]] works in the English language, and is often included on lists of the world's greatest literature.{{efn|''Hamlet'' has 208 quotations in ''[[The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations]]''; it takes up 10 of 85 pages dedicated to Shakespeare in the 1986 ''[[Bartlett's Familiar Quotations|Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (14th ed. 1968)]]''. For examples of lists of the greatest books, see [[Harvard Classics]], [[Great Books]], [[Great Books of the Western World]], [[Harold Bloom]]'s ''The Western Canon'', [[St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe)|St. John's College]] "Great Books" reading list,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/great-books-reading-list |accessdate=2024-05-29 |title=St. John's Reading List: A Great Books Curriculum |publisher=St. John's College}}</ref> and [[Core Curriculum (Columbia College)|Columbia College Core Curriculum]].}} As such, it reverberates through the writing of later centuries. 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.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|pp=114–133}}

[[File:Czachórski Actors before Hamlet.jpg|thumb|left|''Actors before Hamlet'' by [[Władysław Czachórski]] (1875), [[National Museum, Warsaw|National Museum]] in [[Warsaw]]]]

English poet [[John Milton]] was an early admirer of Shakespeare and took evident inspiration from his work. As John Kerrigan discusses, Milton originally considered writing his epic poem ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' (1667) as a tragedy.{{sfn|Kerrigan|1996|p=122}} While Milton did not ultimately go that route, the poem still shows distinct echoes of Shakespearean revenge tragedy, and of ''Hamlet'' in particular. As scholar Christopher N. Warren argues, ''Paradise Lost''{{'}}s Satan "undergoes a transformation in the poem from a Hamlet-like avenger into a Claudius-like usurper," a plot device that supports Milton's larger [[Republicanism|Republican]] internationalist project.{{sfn|Warren|2016|p=367}} The poem also reworks theatrical language from ''Hamlet'', especially around the idea of "putting on" certain dispositions, as when Hamlet puts on "an antic disposition," similarly to the Son in ''Paradise Lost'' who "can put on / [God's] terrors."{{sfn|Warren|2016|p=379}}

[[Henry Fielding]]'s ''[[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling|Tom Jones]]'', published about 1749, describes a visit to ''Hamlet'' by Tom Jones and Mr Partridge, with similarities to the "play within a play".{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=123–126}} In contrast, [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe's]] [[Bildungsroman]] ''[[Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship]]'', written between 1776 and 1796, not only has a production of ''Hamlet'' at its core but also creates parallels between the ghost and Wilhelm Meister's dead father.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=123–126}} In the early 1850s, in ''[[Pierre; or, The Ambiguities|Pierre]]'', [[Herman Melville]] focuses on a Hamlet-like character's long development as a writer.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=123–126}} Ten years later, [[Charles Dickens|Dickens's]] ''[[Great Expectations]]'' contains many ''Hamlet''-like plot elements: it is driven by revenge-motivated actions, contains ghost-like characters (Abel Magwitch and [[Miss Havisham]]), and focuses on the hero's guilt.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=123–126}} Academic Alexander Welsh notes that ''Great Expectations'' is an "autobiographical novel" and "anticipates psychoanalytic readings of ''Hamlet'' itself".{{sfn|Welsh|2001|p=131}} About the same time, [[George Eliot]]'s ''[[The Mill on the Floss]]'' was published, introducing Maggie Tulliver "who is explicitly compared with Hamlet"{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=126–131}} though "with a reputation for sanity".{{sfn|Novy|1994|pp=62, 77–78}}

In the 1920s, [[James Joyce]] managed "a more upbeat version" of ''Hamlet''—stripped of obsession and revenge—in ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'', though its main parallels are with [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]''.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=123–126}} In the 1990s, two novelists were explicitly influenced by ''Hamlet''. In [[Angela Carter]]'s ''[[Wise Children]]'', ''To be or not to be'' is reworked as a song and dance routine, and [[Iris Murdoch]]'s ''[[The Black Prince (novel)|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.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=126–131}} In the late 20th century, [[David Foster Wallace]]'s novel ''[[Infinite Jest]]'' draws heavily from ''Hamlet'' and takes its title from the play's text.

<blockquote>There is the story of the woman who read ''Hamlet'' for the first time and said, "I don't see why people admire that play so. It is nothing but a bunch of quotations strung together."
{{in5}}— [[Isaac Asimov]], ''[[Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare]]'', p. vii, Avenal Books, 1970
</blockquote>

==Performance history==
{{Main|Hamlet in performance|Shakespeare in performance}}
{{quote box
| width = 15em
| salign = center
| quote = The day we see [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]] die in the theatre, something of him dies for us. He is dethroned by the spectre of an actor, and we shall never be able to keep the usurper out of our dreams.
| source = [[Maurice Maeterlinck]] in ''[[La Jeune Belgique]]''&nbsp;(1890).{{sfn|Braun|1982|p=40}}
}}

===Shakespeare's day to the Interregnum===
Shakespeare almost certainly 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.{{sfn|Taylor|2002|p=4}}{{sfn|Banham|1998|p=141}}{{efn|Hattaway asserts that "Richard Burbage ... played Hieronimo and also Richard III but then was the first Hamlet, Lear, and Othello"{{sfn|Hattaway|1982|p=91}} and Thomson argues that the identity of Hamlet as Burbage is built into the [[dramaturgy]] of several moments of the play: "we will profoundly misjudge the position if we do not recognise that, whilst this is Hamlet talking ''about'' the groundlings, it is also Burbage talking ''to'' the groundlings".{{sfn|Thomson|1983|p=24}} See also Thomson on the first player's beard.{{sfn|Thomson|1983|p=110}}}} Judging by the number of reprints, ''Hamlet'' appears to have been Shakespeare's fourth most popular play during his lifetime—only ''[[Henry IV, Part 1|Henry IV Part 1]]'', ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' and ''[[Pericles, Prince of Tyre|Pericles]]'' eclipsed it.{{sfn|Taylor|2002|p=18}} Shakespeare provides no clear indication of when his play is set; however, as Elizabethan actors performed at the [[Globe Theatre|Globe]] in contemporary dress on minimal sets, this would not have affected the staging.{{sfn|Taylor|2002|p=13}}

Firm evidence for specific early performances of the play is scant. It is sometimes argued that the crew of the ship ''[[Red Dragon (1595)|Red Dragon]]'', anchored off [[Sierra Leone]], performed ''Hamlet'' in September 1607;{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=53–55}}{{sfn|Chambers|1930|p=334}}{{sfn|Dawson|2002|p=176}} however, this claim is based on a 19th-century insert of a 'lost' passage into a period document, and is today widely regarded as a hoax, likely to have been perpetrated by [[John Payne Collier]].{{sfn|Kliman|2011}} More credible is that the play toured in Germany within five years of Shakespeare's death,{{sfn|Dawson|2002|p=176}} and that it was performed before [[James I of England|James I]] in 1619 and [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] in 1637.{{sfn|Pitcher|Woudhuysen|1969|p=204}} Oxford editor George Hibbard argues that, since the contemporary literature contains many allusions and references to ''Hamlet'' (only [[Falstaff]] is mentioned more, from Shakespeare), the play was surely performed with a frequency that the historical record misses.{{sfn|Hibbard|1987|p=17}}

All theatres were closed down by the [[Puritan]] government during the [[English Interregnum|Interregnum]].{{sfn|Marsden|2002|p=21}} Even during this time, however, playlets known as ''[[droll]]s'' were often performed illegally, including one called ''The Grave-Makers'' based on act 5, scene 1 of ''Hamlet''.{{sfn|Holland|2007|p=34}}

===Restoration and 18th century===
[[File:Hamlet, Drury Lane Edition.jpg|thumb|Title page and frontispiece for ''Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Tragedy. As it is now acted at the Theatres-Royal in Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden. London, 1776'']]
The play was revived early in the [[English Restoration|Restoration]]. When the existing stock of pre-[[English Civil War|civil war]] plays was divided between the two newly created [[Patent theatre|patent theatre companies]], ''Hamlet'' was the only Shakespearean favourite that [[William Davenant|Sir William Davenant's]] [[Duke's Company]] secured.{{sfn|Marsden|2002|pp=21–22}} It became the first of Shakespeare's plays to be presented with movable [[Flats (theatre)|flats]] painted with generic scenery behind the [[Proscenium|proscenium arch]] of [[Lincoln's Inn Fields|Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre]].{{efn|[[Samuel Pepys]] records his delight at the novelty of ''Hamlet'' "done with scenes".{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|1996|p=57}}}} This new stage convention highlighted the frequency with which Shakespeare shifts dramatic location, encouraging the recurrent criticism of his failure to maintain [[Classical unities|unity of place]].{{sfn|Taylor|1989|p=16}} In the title role, Davenant cast [[Thomas Betterton]], who continued to play the Dane until he was 74.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|pp=98–99}} [[David Garrick]] at [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|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".{{efn|Letter to Sir William Young, 10 January 1773, quoted by Uglow.{{sfn|Uglow|1977|p=473}}}} 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.{{sfn|Morrison|2002|p=231}}

[[File:Garrick as Hamlet.jpg|thumb|left|[[David Garrick]] expresses Hamlet's shock at his first sighting of the ghost (artist: unknown).]]

[[John Philip Kemble]] made his Drury Lane debut as Hamlet in 1783.{{sfn|Moody|2002|p=41}} His performance was said to be 20 minutes longer than anyone else's, and his lengthy pauses provoked the suggestion by [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]] that "music should be played between the words".{{sfn|Moody|2002|p=44}} [[Sarah Siddons]] was the first actress known to play Hamlet; many women have since played him as a [[breeches role]], to great acclaim.{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=159}} In 1748, [[Alexander Sumarokov]] wrote a Russian adaptation that focused on Prince Hamlet as the embodiment of an opposition to Claudius's tyranny—a treatment that would recur in Eastern European versions into the 20th century.{{sfn|Dawson|2002|pp=185–187}} 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 at the [[Park Theatre (Manhattan)|Park Theatre]] in New York. Although chided for "acknowledging acquaintances in the audience" and "inadequate memorisation of his lines", he became a national celebrity.{{sfn|Morrison|2002|pp=232–233}}

===19th century===
[[File:Thos. W. Keene in Hamlet.png|thumb|upright|A poster, {{circa|1884}}, for an American production of ''Hamlet'' (starring [[Thomas W. Keene]]), showing several of the key scenes]]

From around 1810 to 1840, the best-known Shakespearean performances in the United States were tours by leading London actors—including [[George Frederick Cooke]], [[Junius Brutus Booth]], [[Edmund Kean]], [[William Charles Macready]], and [[Charles Kemble]]. 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]].{{sfn|Morrison|2002|pp=235–237}} Edwin Booth's ''Hamlet'' at the [[Fifth Avenue Theatre]] in 1875 was described as "... the dark, sad, dreamy, mysterious hero of a poem. [... acted] in an ideal manner, as far removed as possible from the plane of actual life".{{sfn|Winter|1875}}{{sfn|Morrison|2002|p=241}} Booth played Hamlet for 100 nights in the 1864/5 season at the [[Winter Garden Theatre (1850)|Winter Garden Theatre]], inaugurating the era of long-run Shakespeare in America.{{sfn|Morrison|2002|p=241}}

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.{{sfn|Schoch|2002|pp=58–75}} 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 contains 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 Theatre, London|Lyceum]] coming to?"{{efn|[[George Bernard Shaw]] in ''[[Saturday Review (London)|The Saturday Review]]'' on 2 October 1897.{{sfn|Shaw|1961|p=81}}}}

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 he is said to have surprised his audience by playing Hamlet as serious and introspective.{{sfn|Moody|2002|p=54}} 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.{{sfn|Halliday|1964|p=204}}{{sfn|O'Connor|2002|p=77}} [[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".{{efn|[[Sarah Bernhardt]], in a letter to the London ''[[The Daily Telegraph|Daily Telegraph]]''.{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=164}}}}

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.{{sfn|Holland|2002|pp=203–205}} In Germany, ''Hamlet'' had become so assimilated by the mid-19th century that [[Ferdinand Freiligrath]] declared that "Germany is Hamlet".{{sfn|Dawson|2002|p=184}} From the 1850s, the [[Parsi theatre]] tradition in India transformed ''Hamlet'' into folk performances, with dozens of songs added.{{sfn|Dawson|2002|p=188}}

===20th century===
Apart from some western troupes' 19th-century visits, the first professional performance of Hamlet in Japan was [[Otojirō Kawakami]]'s 1903 ''[[Shimpa|Shinpa]]'' ("new school theatre") adaptation.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=259–262}} [[Tsubouchi Shōyō]] translated ''Hamlet'' and produced a performance in 1911 that blended ''Shingeki'' ("new drama") and ''[[Kabuki]]'' styles.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=259–262}} This hybrid-genre reached its peak in [[Tsuneari Fukuda]]'s 1955 ''Hamlet''.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=259–262}} In 1998, [[Yukio Ninagawa]] produced an acclaimed version of ''Hamlet'' in the style of [[Noh|Nō]] theatre, which he took to London.{{sfn|Dawson|2002|p=180}}

[[Konstantin Stanislavski]] and [[Edward Gordon Craig]]—two of the 20th century's most influential [[theatre practitioner]]s—collaborated on the [[Moscow Art Theatre]]'s seminal [[Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet|production of 1911–12]].{{efn|For more on this production, see the [[Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet|MAT production of ''Hamlet'']] article. Craig and [[Konstantin Stanislavski|Stanislavski]] began planning the production in 1908 but, due to a serious illness of Stanislavski's, it was delayed until December 1911.{{sfn|Benedetti|1999|pp=188–211}}}} While Craig favoured stylised abstraction, Stanislavski, armed with his [[Stanislavski's 'system'|'system,']] explored psychological motivation.{{sfn|Benedetti|1999|pp=189, 195}} Craig conceived of the play as a [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolist]] [[monodrama]], offering a dream-like vision as seen through Hamlet's eyes alone.{{efn|On Craig's relationship to [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]], [[Russian Symbolism|Russian symbolism]], and its principles of [[monodrama]] in particular, see Taxidou;{{sfn|Taxidou|1998|pp=38–41}} on Craig's staging proposals, see Innes;{{sfn|Innes|1983|p=153}} on the centrality of the protagonist and his mirroring of the 'authorial self', see Taxidou{{sfn|Taxidou|1998|pp=181, 188}} and Innes.{{sfn|Innes|1983|p=153}}}} This was most evident in the staging of the first court scene.{{refn|''Hamlet'' 1.2.1–128.}}{{efn|A brightly lit, golden pyramid descended from Claudius's throne, representing the [[Feudalism|feudal hierarchy]], giving the illusion of a single, unified mass of bodies. In the dark, shadowy foreground, separated by a [[Scrim (material)|gauze]], Hamlet lay, as if dreaming. On Claudius's exit-line the figures remained but the gauze was loosened, so that they appeared to melt away as if Hamlet's thoughts had turned elsewhere. For this effect, the scene received an [[standing ovation|ovation]], which was unheard of at the [[Moscow Art Theatre|MAT]].{{sfn|Innes|1983|p=152}}}} 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 [[Dramaturgy|dramaturgical]] progression.{{sfn|Innes|1983|pp=165–167}} The production attracted enthusiastic and unprecedented worldwide attention for the theatre and placed it "on the cultural map for Western Europe".{{sfn|Innes|1983|p=172}}{{sfn|Innes|1983|pp=140–175}}

The first modern dress stagings of ''Hamlet'' happened in 1925 in London and then New York.&nbsp; Barry Jackson's [[Birmingham Repertory Theatre]] opened their production, directed by H.K. Ayliff at the Kingsway Theatre on August 25, 1925.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Styan |first=J.L. |title=The Shakespeare Revolution |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1977 |isbn= |pages=143–149}}</ref> Ivor Brown reported, "Many of the first night audience came to scoff and remained to hold its breath, to marvel and enjoy. . . .Shakespeare's victory over time and tailoring was swift and sweeping."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Ivor |date=August 29, 1925 |title=To Breech or Not to Breech |journal=The Saturday Review |pages=232}}</ref> Horace Brisbin Liveright's modern dress production opened at the Booth Theater in New York on November 9, 1925, the same night that the London production moved to Birmingham. It was known "more dryly, and perhaps with a touch of something more sinister, as 'the plain-clothes ''Hamlet''<nowiki/>'" and did not reach the same level of success.<ref name=":0" />

''Hamlet'' is often played with contemporary political overtones. [[Leopold Jessner]]'s 1926 production at the Berlin Staatstheater portrayed Claudius's court as a parody of the corrupt and fawning court of [[William II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm]].{{sfn|Hortmann|2002|p=214}} 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.{{sfn|Hortmann|2002|p=223}} Similarly, [[Czech Republic|Czech]] directors have used the play at times of occupation: a 1941 [[Vinohrady|Vinohrady Theatre]] production "emphasised, with due caution, the helpless situation of an intellectual attempting to endure in a ruthless environment".{{sfn|Burian|2004}}{{sfn|Hortmann|2002|pp=224–225}} 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.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=267–269}} In 1942, [[Jiao Juyin]] directed the play in a [[Confucianism|Confucian]] temple in [[Sichuan|Sichuan Province]], to which the government had retreated from the advancing Japanese.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=267–269}} In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989|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's death, at which point the actor mainly associated with Hamlet fell to the ground.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=267–69}}

[[File:Mignon Nevada Ophelia2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mignon Nevada]] as Ophelia, 1910]]

Notable stagings in London and New York include Barrymore's 1925 production at the [[Haymarket Theatre|Haymarket]]; it influenced subsequent performances by [[John Gielgud]] and [[Laurence Olivier]].{{sfn|Morrison|2002|pp=247–248}}{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|p=109}} Gielgud played the central role many times: his 1936 New York production ran for 132 performances, leading to the accolade that he was "the finest interpreter of the role since Barrymore".{{sfn|Morrison|2002|p=249}} Although "posterity has treated [[Maurice Evans (actor)|Maurice Evans]] less kindly", throughout the 1930s and 1940s he was regarded by many as the leading interpreter of Shakespeare in the United States and in the 1938/39 season he presented [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]'s first uncut ''Hamlet'', running four and a half hours.{{sfn|Morrison|2002|pp=249–250}} Evans later performed a highly truncated version of the play that he played for South Pacific war zones during World War II which made the prince a more decisive character. The staging, known as the "G.I. Hamlet", was produced on Broadway for 131 performances in 1945/46.{{sfn|Blum|1981|p=307}} Olivier's 1937 performance at The Old Vic was popular with audiences but not with critics, with [[James Agate]] writing in a famous review in ''[[The Sunday Times]],'' "Mr. Olivier does not speak poetry badly. He does not speak it at all."{{sfn|Tanitch|1985}} In 1937 [[Tyrone Guthrie]] directed the play at Elsinore, Denmark, with Laurence Olivier as Hamlet and Vivien Leigh as Ophelia.

In 1963, Olivier directed [[Peter O'Toole]] as Hamlet in the inaugural performance of the newly formed [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]]; critics found resonance between O'Toole's Hamlet and [[John Osborne]]'s hero, Jimmy Porter, from ''[[Look Back in Anger]]''.{{sfn|Smallwood|2002|p=108}}{{sfn|National Theatre|n.d.}}

[[Richard Burton]] received his third Tony Award nomination when he played his second Hamlet, his first under John Gielgud's direction, in 1964 in a production that holds the record for the longest run of the play in Broadway history (137 performances).
In 1968, [[Joseph Papp]] staged at [[The Public Theater]] what became known as ''"Naked" Hamlet'' because the text was stripped down. It starred [[Martin Sheen]] as Hamlet, and Sheen delivered the monologues either in Spanish or with a Spanish accent, as Hamlet's alter-ego, a Puerto Rican janitor named Ramon.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Della Gatta |first1=Carla |title=Latinx Shakespeares: Staging US Intracultural Theater |date=2023 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor |isbn=9780472903740 |page=27 |url=https://press.umich.edu/Books/L/Latinx-Shakespeares2}}</ref>

Other New York portrayals of ''Hamlet'' of note include that of [[Ralph Fiennes]]'s in 1995 (for which he won the [[Tony Award]] for Best Actor)—which ran, from first preview to closing night, a total of one hundred performances. About the Fiennes ''Hamlet'' [[Vincent Canby]] wrote in ''The New York Times'' that it was "... not one for literary sleuths and Shakespeare scholars. It respects the play, but it doesn't provide any new material for arcane debates on what it all means. Instead it's an intelligent, beautifully read ..."{{sfn|Canby|1995}} [[Stacy Keach]] played the role with an all-star cast at [[Joseph Papp]]'s [[Delacorte Theater]] in the early 1970s, with [[Colleen Dewhurst]]'s Gertrude, [[James Earl Jones]]'s King, [[Barnard Hughes]]'s Polonius, [[Sam Waterston]]'s Laertes and [[Raul Julia]]'s Osric. Sam Waterston later played the role himself at the Delacorte for the [[New York Shakespeare Festival]], and the show transferred to the [[Vivian Beaumont Theater]] in 1975 ([[Stephen Lang]] played Bernardo and other roles). Stephen Lang's ''Hamlet'' for the [[Roundabout Theatre Company]] in 1992 received mixed reviews{{sfn|Gussow|1992a}}{{sfn|Guernsey|Sweet|2000|p=43}} and ran for sixty-one performances. [[David Warner (actor)|David Warner]] played the role with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 1965. [[William Hurt]] (at [[Circle Repertory Company]] [[off-Broadway]], memorably performing "[[To be, or not to be]]" while lying on the floor), [[Jon Voight]] at Rutgers,{{clarify|date=March 2023|reason=Which Rutgers?}} and [[Christopher Walken]] (fiercely) at Stratford, Connecticut, have all played the role, as has [[Diane Venora]] at [[The Public Theatre]]. The [[Internet Broadway Database]] lists sixty-six productions of ''Hamlet''.<ref>{{IBDB show|4172|Hamlet}}</ref>

[[Ian Charleson]] performed Hamlet from 9 October to 13 November 1989, in [[Richard Eyre]]'s production at the [[Royal National Theatre|Olivier Theatre]], replacing [[Daniel Day-Lewis]], who had abandoned the production. Seriously ill from [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] at the time, Charleson died eight weeks after his last performance. Fellow actor and friend, [[Ian McKellen|Sir Ian McKellen]], said that Charleson played Hamlet so well it was as if he had rehearsed the role all his life; McKellen called it "the perfect Hamlet".{{sfn|McKellen|Puttnam|Wax|Redgrave|1990|p=124}}{{sfn|Barratt|2005|p=63}} The performance garnered other major accolades as well, some critics echoing McKellen in calling it the definitive Hamlet performance.{{sfn|Davison|1999|pp=170–182}}

[[Keanu Reeves]] performed Hamlet from 12 January to 4 February 1995 at the [[Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre]] ([[Winnipeg]], Manitoba). The production garnered positive reviews from worldwide media outlets.{{sfn|Small|2019}}

===21st century===
''Hamlet'' continues to be staged regularly. Actors performing the lead role have included: [[Simon Russell Beale]], [[Ben Whishaw]], [[David Tennant]], [[Tom Hiddleston]], [[Angela Winkler]], [[Samuel West]], [[Christopher Eccleston]], [[Maxine Peake]], [[Rory Kinnear]], [[Oscar Isaac]], [[Michael Sheen]], [[Christian Camargo]], [[Paapa Essiedu]] and [[Michael Urie]].{{sfn|Billington|2001}}{{sfn|Gardner|2002}}{{sfn|Billington|2008}}{{sfn|Brown|2016}}

In May 2009, ''Hamlet'' opened with [[Jude Law]] in the title role at the [[Donmar Warehouse]] West End season at [[Wyndham's Theatre]]. The production officially opened on 3 June and ran through 22 August 2009.{{sfn|Shenton|2007}}{{sfn|Broadwayworld|2009}} A further production with Jude Law ran at [[Elsinore Castle]] in Denmark from 25 to 30 August 2009,{{sfn|Daily Mirror|2009}} and then moved to Broadway, and ran for 12 weeks at the [[Broadhurst Theatre]] in New York.{{sfn|Law|2009|loc=53:55}}{{sfn|Itzkoff|2009}}

In October 2011, a production starring [[Michael Sheen]] opened at the [[Young Vic]], in which the play was set inside a psychiatric hospital.{{sfn|Spencer|2011}}

In 2013, American actor [[Paul Giamatti]] played the title role of ''Hamlet'' in [[modern dress]], at the [[Yale Repertory Theatre]], at [[Yale University]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]].{{sfn|Fine|2013}}{{sfn|Isherwood|1995}}

The [[Shakespeare's Globe|Globe Theatre]] of London initiated a project in 2014 to perform ''Hamlet'' in every country in the world in the space of two years. Titled ''Globe to Globe Hamlet'', it began its tour on 23 April 2014, the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, and performed in 197 countries.{{sfn|Globe to Globe Hamlet|n.d.}}

[[Benedict Cumberbatch]] played the role for a 12-week run in a production at the [[Barbican Centre|Barbican Theatre]], opening on 25 August 2015. It was called the "most in-demand theatre production of all time" and sold out in seven hours after tickets went on sale 11 August 2014, more than a year before the play opened.{{sfn|Stewart|2014}}{{sfn|Calia|2014}}

A 2017 [[Almeida Theatre]] production, directed by [[Robert Icke]] and starring [[Andrew Scott (actor)|Andrew Scott]], was transferred that same year to the West End's [[Harold Pinter Theatre]].{{sfn|Kellaway|2017}}

[[Tom Hiddleston]] played the role for a three-week run at [[Vanbrugh Theatre]] that opened on 1 September 2017 and was directed by [[Kenneth Branagh]].{{sfn|Sulcas|2017}}{{sfn|Zhuk|2017}}

In 2018, [[Shakespeare's Globe|The Globe Theatre]]'s newly instated artistic director [[Michelle Terry]] played the role in a production notable for its [[Color-blind casting|gender-blind casting]].{{sfn|Brown|2018}}

A production by [[Bristol Old Vic]] starring [[Billy Howle]] in title role, [[Niamh Cusack]] as Gertrude, [[Mirren Mack]] as Ophelia opened on 13 October 2022.{{sfn|Wild|2022}}

===Film and TV performances===
{{Main|Hamlet on screen}}
{{see also|Cultural references to Hamlet}}

An early film version of ''Hamlet'' is [[Sarah Bernhardt]]'s five-minute film of the fencing scene,{{refn|''Hamlet'' 5.2.203–387.}} which was produced in 1900. The film was an early attempt at combining [[Sound film|sound and film]]; music and words were recorded on phonograph records, to be played along with the film.{{sfn|Brode|2001|pp=117–118}} Silent versions were released in 1907, 1908, 1910, 1913, 1917, and 1920.{{sfn|Brode|2001|pp=117–18}} In the 1921 film ''[[Hamlet (1921 film)|Hamlet]]'', Danish actress [[Asta Nielsen]] played the role of Hamlet as a woman who spends her life disguised as a man.{{sfn|Brode|2001|pp=117–118}}

[[Laurence Olivier]]'s 1948 moody black-and-white ''[[Hamlet (1948 film)|Hamlet]]'' won [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]] and [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]] [[Academy Awards]] and is {{As of|2024|lc=y}}, the only Shakespeare film to have done so. His interpretation stressed the Oedipal overtones of the play and cast 28-year-old [[Eileen Herlie]] as Hamlet's mother opposite himself at 41 as Hamlet.{{sfn|Davies|2000|p=171}}

In 1953, actor [[Jack Manning (actor)|Jack Manning]] performed the play in 15-minute segments over two weeks in the short-lived late night [[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] series ''[[Monodrama Theater]]''. ''New York Times'' TV critic Jack Gould praised Manning's performance as Hamlet.{{sfn|Fox|2009}}

The 1964 Soviet film ''[[Hamlet (1964 film)|Hamlet]]'' ({{langx|ru|link=no|Гамлет}}) is based on a translation by [[Boris Pasternak]] and directed by [[Grigori Kozintsev]], with a score by [[Dmitri Shostakovich]].{{sfn|Guntner|2000|pp=120–121}} [[Innokenty Smoktunovsky]] was cast in the role of Hamlet.

John Gielgud directed [[Richard Burton]] in a [[Richard Burton's Hamlet|Broadway production]] at the [[Lunt-Fontanne Theatre]] in 1964–65, the longest-running ''Hamlet'' in the U.S. to date. A live film of the production was produced using "Electronovision", a method of recording a live performance with multiple video cameras and converting the image to film.{{sfn|Brode|2001|pp=125–27}} Eileen Herlie repeated her role from Olivier's film version as the Queen, and the voice of Gielgud was heard as the ghost. The Gielgud/Burton production was also recorded complete and released on LP by [[Columbia Masterworks]].
[[File:Bernhardt Hamlet2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sarah Bernhardt]] as Hamlet, with [[Yorick]]'s skull (photographer: [[James Lafayette]], {{circa|1885–1900}})]]
The first ''Hamlet'' in color was a [[Hamlet (1969 film)|1969 film]] directed by [[Tony Richardson]] with [[Nicol Williamson]] as Hamlet and [[Marianne Faithfull]] as Ophelia.

In 1990 [[Franco Zeffirelli]], whose Shakespeare films have been described as "sensual rather than cerebral",{{sfn|Cartmell|2000|p=212}} cast [[Mel Gibson]]—then famous for the ''[[Mad Max]]'' and ''[[Lethal Weapon]]'' movies—in the title role of his [[Hamlet (1990 film)|1990 version]]; [[Glenn Close]]—then famous as the psychotic "other woman" in ''[[Fatal Attraction]]''—played Gertrude, and [[Paul Scofield]] played Hamlet's father.{{sfn|Guntner|2000|pp=121–122}}

[[Kenneth Branagh]] adapted, directed, and starred in a 1996 film version of ''Hamlet'' that contained material from the First Folio and the Second Quarto. Branagh's [[Hamlet (1996 film)|''Hamlet'']] was the first unabridged theatrical film adaptation of the play and has a runtime of 242 minutes (just over four hours).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.frenchfilms.org/review/hamlet-1996.html |title=Hamlet: Film Review |website=Frenchfilms.org |last=Travers |first=James |access-date=11 April 2025}}</ref>{{sfn|Crowl|2000|p=232}} Branagh set the film with late 19th-century costuming and furnishings, a production in many ways reminiscent of a Russian novel of the time,{{sfn|Starks|1999|p=272}} and [[Blenheim Palace]], built in the early 18th century, became Elsinore Castle in the external scenes. The film is structured as an [[Epic film|epic]] and makes frequent use of [[Flashback (narrative)|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]]).{{sfn|Keyishian|2000|pp=78–79}}

In 2000, [[Michael Almereyda]]'s ''[[Hamlet (2000 film)|Hamlet]]'' set the story in contemporary [[Manhattan]], with [[Ethan Hawke]] playing Hamlet as a film student. Claudius (played by [[Kyle MacLachlan]]) became the CEO of "Denmark Corporation", having taken over the company by killing his brother.{{sfn|Burnett|2003}}

The 2014 [[Bollywood]] film ''[[Haider (film)|Haider]]'' is an adaptation set in modern [[Kashmir]].{{sfn|Gupta|2014}}

In 2025, the Tribeca Film festival hosted at the Public Theatre the world premiere of a completely audio production of the play by Make-Believe Association with Daniel Kyri in the title role.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hamlet: World Premiere Listening Event and Conversation {{!}} 2025 Tribeca Festival |url=https://tribecafilm.com/films/hamlet-world-premiere-listening-event-and-conversation-2025 |access-date=2025-08-11 |website=Tribeca}}</ref>  Using Shakespeare's text, it brought listeners into Hamlet's mind to hear only what he heard; it continues as a six-part podcast.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hamlet |url=https://makebelieve.fm/hamlet |access-date=2025-08-11 |website=Make-Believe Association |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-08-06 |title=Column: A new podcast seeks to put you in ‘Hamlet’s’ head |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/06/hamlet-podcast/ |access-date=2025-08-11 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Derivative works==
[[File:Ralph Cleaver - 1904 amateur performance of W.S. Gilbert's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at the Garrick Theatre, London - Image 1.jpg|thumb|Scenes from a 1904 benefit performance of [[W. S. Gilbert]]'s ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (play)|Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]]'', with Gilbert as Claudius]]
This section is limited to derivative works written for the stage.

Tom Stoppard's 1966 play ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead]]'' retells many of the events of the story from the point of view of the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and gives them a backstory of their own. Several times since 1995, the [[American Shakespeare Center]] has mounted repertories that included both ''Hamlet'' and ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern'', with the same actors performing the same roles in each.{{sfn|Warren|n.d.}}

[[W. S. Gilbert]] wrote a short comic play titled ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (play)|Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]]'', in which Hamlet's play is presented as a tragedy written by Claudius in his youth of which he is greatly embarrassed. Through the chaos triggered by Hamlet's staging of it, Guildenstern helps Rosencrantz vie with Hamlet to make Ophelia his bride.{{sfn|Gilbert|1892|pp=349–366}}

[[Lee Blessing]]'s ''[[Fortinbras (play)|Fortinbras]]'' is a comical sequel to ''Hamlet'' in which all the deceased characters come back as ghosts. ''The New York Times'' said it is "scarcely more than an extended comedy sketch, lacking the portent and linguistic complexity of Tom Stoppard's ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead''. ''Fortinbras'' operates on a far less ambitious plane, but it is a ripping yarn and offers Keith Reddin a role in which he can commit comic mayhem".{{sfn|Gussow|1992b}}

[[Caridad Svich]]'s ''12 Ophelias (a play with broken songs)'' includes elements of the story of ''Hamlet'' but focuses on Ophelia. In Svich's play, Ophelia is resurrected and rises from a pool of water, after her death in ''Hamlet''. The play is a series of scenes and songs, and was first staged at a public swimming pool in Brooklyn.{{sfn|Schultz|2008}}

[[David Davalos]]'s ''Wittenberg'' is a "tragical-comical-historical" prequel to ''Hamlet'' that depicts the Danish prince as a student at Wittenberg University (now known as the [[University of Halle-Wittenberg]]), where he is torn between the conflicting teachings of his mentors [[Faust|John Faustus]] and [[Martin Luther]]. ''The New York Times'' reviewed the play, saying, "Mr. Davalos has molded a daft campus comedy out of this unlikely convergence",{{sfn|Grode|2011}} and ''[[Nytheatre.com]]''{{'}}s review said the playwright "has imagined a fascinating alternate reality, and quite possibly, given the fictional Hamlet a back story that will inform the role for the future."{{sfn|Todoroff|2011}}

''Mad Boy Chronicle'' by Canadian playwright Michael O'Brien is a dark comedy loosely based on ''Hamlet'', set in [[Viking Age|Viking]] Denmark in 999 AD.{{sfn|Brandes|2001}}

In 2025 [[Radiohead]]'s [[Thom Yorke]] collaborated with directors Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones at the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] to make a work fusing ''Hamlet'' with Radiohead's album ''[[Hail to the Thief]]''. The work featured [[Samuel Blenkin]] as Hamlet.<ref>{{cite web | last1=Davis | first1=Clive | last2=Critic | first2=Chief Theatre | title=Hamlet Hail to the Thief review | website=Radiohead’s Shakespearean maelstrom | date=2025-05-08 | url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/theatre-dance/article/hamlet-hail-to-the-thief-review-f3nk7h68s | access-date=2025-10-20}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[List of idioms attributed to Shakespeare]]

==Notes and references==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===References===
{{refbegin}}
All references to ''Hamlet'', unless otherwise specified, are taken from the [[Arden Shakespeare]] Q2.{{sfn|Thompson|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''.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006b}} Their referencing system for Q1 has no act breaks, so 7.115 means scene 7, line 115.
{{refend}}
{{reflist|24em}}

==Sources==
===Editions of ''Hamlet''===
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet |editor1-last=Barnet |editor1-first=Sylvan |editor1-link=Sylvan Barnet |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=Signet Classics |year=1998 |isbn= 978-0451526922 |ref={{harvid|Barnet|1998}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
* {{Cite book |title=Complete Works |editor1-last=Bate |editor1-first=Jonathan |editor1-link=Jonathan Bate |editor2-last=Rasmussen |editor2-first=Eric |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=The RSC Shakespeare |publisher=[[Royal Shakespeare Company]] |location=New York |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-679-64295-4 |ref={{harvid|Bate|Rasmussen|2007}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet |editor1-last=Bate |editor1-first=Jonathan |editor1-link=Jonathan Bate |editor2-last=Rasmussen |editor2-first=Eric |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=The RSC Shakespeare |publisher=[[The Royal Shakespeare Company]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-230-21786-7 |ref={{harvid|Bate|Rasmussen|2008}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet, Prince of Denmark |url=https://archive.org/details/hamletprinceofde0000shak |editor1-last=Edwards |editor1-first=Phillip|editor-link=Philip Edwards (academic)|last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=[[New Cambridge Shakespeare]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-521-29366-2 |ref={{harvid|Edwards|1985}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
* {{cite book |title=The Riverside Shakespeare |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=G. Blakemore |editor1-link=G. Blakemore Evans |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=[[The Riverside Shakespeare]] |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] for [[Riverside Shakespeare Company]] |year=1974 |isbn=978-0-395-04402-5 |ref={{harvid|Evans|1974}}
  |display-authors = 0
  |url = https://archive.org/details/riversideshakesp00shak
  }}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet |editor1-last=Hibbard |editor1-first=G. R. |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=[[Oxford World's Classics]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |year=1987 |isbn=0-19-283416-9 |ref={{harvid|Hibbard|1987}}
  |display-authors = 0
  |url = https://archive.org/details/hamletsh00shak
  }}
* {{cite book |title=The First Quarto of Hamlet |editor1-last=Irace |editor1-first=Kathleen O. |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=[[New Cambridge Shakespeare]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=1998 |isbn=0-521-65390-8 |ref={{harvid|Irace|1998}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet |editor1-last=Jenkins |editor1-first=Harold|editor-link=Harold Jenkins (Shakespeare scholar)|last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=[[Arden Shakespeare]], second series |publisher=[[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]] |location=London |year=1982 |isbn=1-903436-67-2 |ref={{harvid|Jenkins|1982}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet |editor1-last=Lott |editor1-first=Bernard |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=[[New Swan Shakespeare]], Advanced series |publisher=[[Longman]] |location=London |year=1970 |edition=New |isbn=0-582-52742-2 |ref={{harvid|Lott|1970}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet |editor1-last=Thompson |editor1-first=Ann |editor2-last=Taylor |editor2-first=Neil |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=[[Arden Shakespeare]], third series |publisher=[[Cengage Learning]] |location=London |year=2006 |volume=1 |isbn=1-904271-33-2 |ref={{harvid|Thompson|Taylor|2006a}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet: The Texts of 1603 and 1623 |editor1-last=Thompson |editor1-first=Ann |editor2-last=Taylor |editor2-first=Neil |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=[[Arden Shakespeare]], third series |publisher=[[Cengage Learning]] |location=London |year=2006 |volume=2 |isbn=1-904271-80-4 |ref={{harvid|Thompson|Taylor|2006b}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
* {{cite book |title=The Complete Works |editor1-last=Wells |editor1-first=Stanley|editor1-link=Stanley Wells|editor2-last=Taylor |editor2-first=Gary|editor2-link=Gary Taylor (scholar)|last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=[[The Oxford Shakespeare]] |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |location=Oxford |year=1988 |edition=Compact |isbn=0-19-871190-5 |ref={{harvid|Wells|Taylor|1988}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
* {{cite book |title=William Shakespeare, Hamlet; The First Quarto 1603 |editor1-last= Weiner |editor1-first= Albert B. |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |series=Barrons Educational Series |year=1962 |isbn= |ref={{harvid|Weiner|1962}}
  |display-authors = 0
}}
{{div col end}}

===Secondary sources===
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{cite book |title=The Cambridge Guide to Theatre |editor-last=Banham |editor-first=Martin |series=Cambridge Guides |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=1998 |isbn=0-521-43437-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeguideto0000banh}}
* {{cite book |title=Ian Mckellen: An Unofficial Biography |url=https://archive.org/details/ianmckellenunaut0000barr |last=Barratt |first=Mark |publisher=[[Virgin Books]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-85227-251-7}}
* {{cite book |title=Stanislavski: His Life and Art |last=Benedetti |first=Jean |publisher=[[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]] |location=London |year=1999 |edition=Revised |orig-year=1988 |isbn=0-413-52520-1}}
* {{cite news |title=''Hamlet''{{snd}}Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon
  |last = Billington
  |first = Michael
  |author-link = Michael Billington (critic)
  |location = London
  |newspaper = [[The Guardian]]
  |department = Theatre
  |date = 4 May 2001
  |url = https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2001/may/04/theatre.artsfeatures1
}}
* {{cite news |title=''Hamlet''{{snd}}Courtyard, Stratford-upon-Avon
  |last = Billington
  |first = Michael
  |author-link = Michael Billington (critic)
  |newspaper = [[The Guardian]]
  |location = London
  |department = Theatre
  |date = 6 August 2008
  |url = https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/aug/06/theatre.rsc
}}
* {{cite book |title=The Western Canon |last=Bloom |first=Harold |author-link=Harold Bloom |publisher=Harcourt Brace |location=New York |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-57322-514-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/westerncanonbook00bloo}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet: Poem Unlimited |last=Bloom |first=Harold |author-link=Harold Bloom |publisher=[[Canongate Books|Canongate]] |location=Edinburgh |year=2003 |isbn=1-84195-461-6}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet |editor1-last=Bloom |editor1-first=Harold |editor1-link=Harold Bloom |editor2-last=Foster |editor2-first=Brett |series=Bloom's Shakespeare through the ages |publisher=Bloom's Literary Criticism |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7910-9592-8}}
* {{cite book |title=A Pictorial History of the American Theatre, 1860–1980 |last=Blum |first=Daniel C. |publisher=[[Crown Publishers]] |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-517-54262-0 |edition=5th |url=https://archive.org/details/pictorialhistory00blum}}
* {{cite web |title=A Viking Helmet for ''Hamlet'' in Satirical ''Mad Boy Chronicle'' |last=Brandes |first=Philip |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=5 July 2001 |access-date=20 December 2017 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jul-05-ca-18763-story.html}}
* {{cite book |title=The Director and the Stage: From Naturalism to Grotowski |url=https://archive.org/details/directorstagefro0000brau_s9m0 |last=Braun |first=Edward |publisher=[[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]] |location=London |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-413-46300-5}}
* {{cite book |title=From Formalism to Poststructuralism |chapter=Structuralist and poststructuralist psychoanalytic and Marxist theories |series=Cambridge History of Literary Criticism |volume=8 |editor1-last=Seldon |editor1-first=Raman |last=Britton |first=Celia |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-521-30013-1}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare in the Movies: From the Silent Era to Today |last=Brode |first=Douglas |publisher=Berkley Boulevard Books |location=New York |year=2001 |isbn=0-425-18176-6}}
* {{cite web |title=Cook, Eyre, Lee And More Join Jude Law In Grandage's ''Hamlet''<!-- see MOS:ALLCAPS --> |author=<!--no byline--> |website=Broadwayworld |date=4 February 2009 |access-date=18 February 2009 |url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/Cook-Eyre-Lee-And-More-Join-Jude-Law-In-Grandages-HAMLET-20090204 |ref={{harvid|Broadwayworld|2009}}
}}
* {{cite news |title=Sherlock star Andrew Scott to play Hamlet in new UK production |last=Brown |first=Mark |website=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |department=Theatre |date=1 April 2016 |access-date=22 July 2016 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/01/sherlock-andrew-scott-moriarty-play-hamlet-almeida-theatre-cumberbatch}}
* {{cite news |title=Shakespeare's Globe casts its own artistic director as Hamlet |last=Brown |first=Mark |date=11 April 2018 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |department=Theatre |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/apr/11/shakespeares-globe-casts-its-own-artistic-director-as-hamlet}}
* {{cite book |title=Introducing Psychoanalysis: Essential Themes and Topics |last=Budd |first=Susan |editor1-last=Rusbridger |editor1-first=Richard |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-135-44570-6}}
* {{cite book |title=Foreign Shakespeare: Contemporary Performance |chapter=Hamlet in Postwar Czech Theatre |editor1-last=Kennedy |editor1-first=Dennis |editor1-link=Dennis Kennedy (author) |last=Burian |first=Jarka |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |orig-year=1993 |year=2004 |edition=New |isbn=0-521-61708-1}}
* {{cite journal |title='To Hear and See the Matter': Communicating Technology in Michael Almereyda's ''Hamlet'' (2000) |last=Burnett |first=Mark Thornton |journal=[[Cinema Journal]] |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=48–69 |year=2003 |issn=1527-2087 |jstor=1225904 |doi=10.1353/cj.2003.0007|s2cid=191444329 }}
* {{cite news |title=Will the real Hamlet please stand up? |last=Burrow |first=Colin |newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=19 May 2002 |page=6 |url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A86081886/STND?sid=wikipedia |url-access=subscription |via=[[InfoTrac Newsstand]]}}
* {{cite news |title=Benedict Cumberbatch as 'Hamlet' Opens Next Year, And Is Now Sold Out |last=Calia |first=Michael |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |department=Speakeasy |date=11 August 2014 |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/08/11/benedict-cumberbatch-as-hamlet-opens-next-year-and-is-now-sold-out/}}
* {{cite news |title=Ralph Fiennes as Mod Hamlet |last=Canby |first=Vincent|author-link=Vincent Canby|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=3 May 1995 |access-date=21 July 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/03/theater/theater-review-ralph-fiennes-as-mod-hamlet.html}}
* {{cite book |title=The Problem of Hamlet: A Solution |last=Cairncross |first=Andrew S. |author-link=Andrew Scott Cairncross |publisher=Norwood Editions |location=Norwood, PA |orig-year=1936 |year=1975 |edition=Reprint |isbn=0-88305-130-3}}
* {{harvc|last=Cartmell|first=Deborah|chapter=Franco Zeffirelli and Shakespeare|in=Jackson|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00jack_577/page/n227 212]–221}}
* {{cite book |title=English Prose, Selections with Critical Introductions by Various Writers and General Introductions to Each Period; edited by Henry Craik. |chapter=Ten Precepts |editor1-last=Craik |editor1-first=Henry |editor1-link=Sir Henry Craik, 1st Baronet |last=Cecil |first=William |author-link=William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley |publisher=[[The Macmillan Company]] |location=New York |orig-year=First published in 1916 |year=2012 |edition=Online edition by [[Bartleby.com]] |url=http://bartleby.com/209/index1.html |chapter-url=http://bartleby.com/209/166.html}}
* {{cite book |title=The Elizabethan Stage |last=Chambers |first=E. K. |author-link=E. K. Chambers |orig-year=First published 1923 |year=2009 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-956750-8 |volume=3 |ref={{harvid|Chambers|1923b}}}}
* {{cite book |title=William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.182554 |last=Chambers |first=E. K. |author-link=E. K. Chambers |year=1930 |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-811774-4}}
* {{cite book |title=The Theater of Trauma: American modernist drama and the psychological struggle for the American Mind |last=Cotsell |first=Michael |year=2005 |publisher=[[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8204-7466-3}}
* {{harvc|last=Crowl|first=Samuel|chapter=Flamboyant Realist: Kenneth Branagh|in=Jackson|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00jack_577/page/n237 222]–240}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare's Hamlet: The Relationship Between Text and Film |last=Crowl |first=Samuel |series=Screen Adaptations |publisher=[[Arden Shakespeare]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4725-3893-2}}
* {{cite news |title=Jude Law to play Hamlet at 'home' Kronborg Castle |author=<!--no byline--> |newspaper=[[Daily Mirror|The Daily Mirror]] |date=10 July 2009 |access-date=14 July 2009 |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/3am/2009/07/10/it-s-the-highest-accolade-for-115875-21508571/ |ref={{harvid|Daily Mirror|2009}}}}
* {{harvc|last=Davies|first=Anthony|chapter=The Shakespeare films of Laurence Olivier|in=Jackson|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00jack_577/page/n178 163]–182}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare, Text and Theater: Essays in Honor of Jay L. Halio |chapter=The Readiness Was All: Ian Charleson and Richard Eyre's ''Hamlet'' |editor1-last=Potter |editor1-first=Lois |editor2-last=Kinney |editor2-first=Arthur F. |last=Davison |first=Richard Allan |publisher=[[University of Delaware Press]] |location=Newark |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-87413-699-9}}
* {{harvc|chapter=International Shakespeare|last=Dawson|first=Anthony B.|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/174 174]–193}}
* {{cite book |title=Ungentle Shakespeare: scenes from his life |url=https://archive.org/details/ungentleshakespe0000dunc |url-access=registration |last=Duncan-Jones |first=Catherine |publisher=[[Arden Shakespeare]] |location=London |year=2001 |isbn=1-903436-26-5}}
* {{cite news |title=Paul Giamatti in ''Hamlet'' |last=Fine |first=Marshall |author-link=Marshall Fine |newspaper=[[The Huffington Post]] |department=Onstage |date=10 April 2013 |url=https://huffingtonpost.com/marshall-fine/onstage-paul-giamatti-in_b_3050973.html |access-date=11 July 2015}}
* {{cite news |title=Jack Manning, Character Actor, Dies at 93 |last=Fox |first=Margalit|author-link=Margalit Fox|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |department=Theater |date=18 September 2009 |access-date=14 September 2013 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/theater/18manning.html}}
* {{cite journal |title=Psychopathic Characters on the Stage |last1=Freud |first1=Sigmond |last2=Bunker |first2=Henry Alden |journal=[[The Tulane Drama Review]] |publisher=The MIT Press |issn=0886-800X |volume=4 |issue=3 |year=1960 |pages=144–148 |doi=10.2307/1124852 |jstor=1124852 |s2cid=149658226 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Interpretation of Dreams |last=Freud |first=Sigmund |author-link=Sigmund Freud |editor1-last=Richards |editor1-first=Angela |translator-last=Strachey |translator-first=James |series=The Penguin Freud Library |publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] |location=London |orig-year=1900 |year=1991 |volume=4 |isbn=0-14-013794-7 |ref={{harvid|Freud|1900}}
|title-link = The Interpretation of Dreams}}
* {{cite book |title=The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud |url=https://archive.org/details/basicwritingsfre00sigm |url-access=registration |last=Freud |first=Sigmund |author-link=Sigmund Freud |editor1-last=Brill |editor1-first=A. A. |translator-last=Brill |translator-first=A. A. |publisher=The Modern Library |location=New York |orig-year=1900 |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-679-60166-1}}
* {{cite news |title=''Hamlet''{{snd}}West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
  |last = Gardner
  |first = Lyn
  |author-link = Lyn Gardner
  |work = [[The Guardian]]
  |location = London
  |department = Theatre
  |date = 8 November 2002
  |url = https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2002/nov/08/theatre.artsfeatures2}}
* {{harvc||chapter=Women and Shakespearean Performance |last=Gay |first=Penny |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/155 155]–173|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton|year=2002}}
* {{cite book |title=Foggerty's Fairy: and other tales |chapter=Rosencrantz and Guildenstern |last=Gilbert |first=W. S. |author-link=W. S. Gilbert |year=1892 |publisher=[[George Routledge & Sons]] |location=London |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/00189951.2023.emory.edu |access-date=27 June 2016}}
* {{harvc|chapter=Shakespeare on the Stages of Asia |last1=Gillies |first1=John |last2=Minami |first2=Ryuta |last3=Li |first3=Ruru |last4=Trivedi |first4=Poonam |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/259 259]–283|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton||year=2002}}
* {{cite web |title=About the Project |author=<!--no author--> |website=Globe to Globe Hamlet |publisher=[[Shakespeare's Globe]] |date=n.d. |access-date=25 July 2020 |url=http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/hamlet/about-the-project |ref={{harvid|Globe to Globe Hamlet|n.d.}} |archive-date=8 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708181805/http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/hamlet/about-the-project |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |title=''Hamlet'' without Hamlet |last=de Grazia |first=Margreta |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-69036-2}}
* {{cite book |title=Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare |last=Greenblatt |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Greenblatt |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |location=New York |year=2004a|isbn=0-393-05057-2|url = https://archive.org/details/willinworldhows00gree}}
* {{cite magazine |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17483 |title=The Death of Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet |last=Greenblatt |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Greenblatt |magazine=[[The New York Review of Books]] |volume=51 |issue=16 |date=21 October 2004 |ref={{harvid|Greenblatt|2004b}}}}
* {{cite news |title=Dueling Mentors Bedevil a Dithering Young Dane |last=Grode |first=Eric |date=30 March 2011 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |department=Theater Reviews |url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/theater/reviews/wittenberg-at-the-pearl-theater-review.html |access-date=10 December 2011}}
* {{cite book |title=The Applause/Best Plays Theater Yearbook 1991–1992 |editor1-last=Guernsey |editor1-first=Otis L. |editor1-link=Otis Guernsey Jr. |editor2-last=Sweet |editor2-first=Jeffrey |editor2-link=Jeffrey Sweet |others=Illustrated by [[Al Hirschfeld]] |publisher=[[Hal Leonard]] |edition=illustrated |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-55783-147-7}}
* {{harvc|last=Guntner|first=J. Lawrence|chapter=''Hamlet'', ''Macbeth'' and ''King Lear'' on film|in=Jackson|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00jack_577/page/n132 117]–134 }}
* {{cite web |title=Bollywood returns to their favourite destination Kashmir |last=Gupta |first=Priya |website=[[The Times of India]] |date=7 February 2014 |access-date=10 February 2018 |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Bollywood-returns-to-their-favourite-destination-Kashmir/articleshow/29954493.cms}}
* {{cite news |title=A High-Keyed ''Hamlet'' Starring Stephen Lang |last=Gussow |first=Mel|author-link=Mel Gussow|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=3 April 1992 |access-date=13 July 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/03/theater/review-theater-a-high-keyed-hamlet-starring-stephen-lang.html |ref={{harvid|Gussow|1992a}}}}
* {{cite news |title=Theater in Review |last=Gussow |first=Mel |date=14 October 1992 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |department=Theater |access-date=26 June 2011 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/14/theater/theater-in-review-314092.html |ref={{harvid|Gussow|1992b}}}}
* {{cite book |title=A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964 |last=Halliday |first=F. E. |author-link=F. E. Halliday |series=Shakespeare Library |publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] |location=Baltimore |orig-year=first ed. 1964 |year=1969 |isbn=0-14-053011-8 |ref={{harvid|Halliday|1964}}}}
* {{cite book |title=Elizabethan Popular Theatre: Plays in Performance |last=Hattaway |first=Michael |series=Theatre Production |publisher=[[Routledge|Routledge & Kegan Paul]] |location=London and Boston |year=1982 |isbn=0-7100-9052-8}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet |url=https://archive.org/details/hamlet0000hatt_k5x5 |last=Hattaway |first=Michael |series=The Critics Debate |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |location=Basingstoke, Hampshire |year=1987 |isbn=0-333-38524-1}}
* {{cite journal |title=The Character of Hamlet's Mother |last=Heilbrun |first=Carolyn |author-link=Carolyn Heilbrun |journal=[[Shakespeare Quarterly]] |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=201–206|year=1957 |issn=0037-3222 |eissn=1538-3555 |doi=10.2307/2866964 |jstor=2866964}}
* {{cite journal |title=Duration of Performances and Lengths of Plays: How Shall We Beguile the Lazy Time? |last=Hirrel |first=Michael J. |journal=[[Shakespeare Quarterly]] |publisher=[[Folger Shakespeare Library]] |issn=0037-3222 |eissn=1538-3555 |volume=61 |issue=2 |year=2010 |pages=159–182|doi=10.1353/shq.0.0140 |jstor=40731154 |s2cid=191661049}}
* {{harvc|last=Holland |first=Peter|chapter=Touring Shakespeare|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/194 194]–211}}
* {{cite book |title=The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture |chapter=Shakespeare Abbreviated |editor1-last=Shaughnessy |editor1-first=Robert |last=Holland |first=Peter |series=Cambridge Companions to Literature |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-60580-9}}
* {{harvc|last=Hortmann |first=Wilhelm|chapter=Shakespeare on the Political Stage in the Twentieth Century|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/212 212]–229}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide |chapter=Feminist Criticism |editor1-last=Wells |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-link=Stanley Wells |editor2-last=Orlin |editor2-first=Lena |last=Howard |first=Jean E. |series=Oxford Guides |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |year=2003 |isbn=0-19-924522-3}}
* {{cite book |title=Edward Gordon Craig |last=Innes |first=Christopher |series=Directors in Perspective |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=1983 |isbn=0-521-27383-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/edwardgordoncrai0000inne}}
* {{cite news |title=Middle-Aged, Yet a Prince, Slouching but Haunted |last=Isherwood|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Isherwood|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=26 March 1995}}
* {{cite news|title=Donmar Warehouse's ''Hamlet'' Coming to Broadway With Jude Law |last=Itzkoff |first=Dave|author-link=Dave Itzkoff|department=ArtsBeat|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=30 June 2009 |access-date=10 September 2009 |url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/donmar-warehouses-hamlet-coming-to-broadway-with-jude-law/}}
* {{cite book |title=The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies |chapter=The Transmission of Shakespeare's Text |editor1-last=Wells |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-link=Stanley Wells |last=Jackson |first=MacDonald |series=Cambridge Companions to Literature |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=1986 |isbn=0-521-31841-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well/page/163 163–185] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well/page/163}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Jackson|editor-first=Russell|title=The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00jack_577|series=Cambridge Companions to Literature|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=Cambridge|year=2000|isbn=0-521-63975-1}}
* {{cite journal |title=The Œdipus-Complex as an Explanation of Hamlet's Mystery: A Study in Motive |last=Jones|first=Ernest|author-link=Ernest Jones|journal=[[American Journal of Psychology]] |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |issn=0002-9556 |eissn=1939-8298 |volume=21 |issue=1 |year=1910 |pages=72–113 |doi=10.2307/1412950 |jstor=1412950 |s2cid=46623868 }}
* {{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/jun/25/hamlet-andrew-scott-harold-pinter-theatre-west-end-transfer-review-robert-icke|title=''Hamlet'' review – an all-consuming marvel – 5 out of 5 stars|first=Kate |last=Kellaway |author-link=Kate Kellaway |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=2017-06-25 |access-date=2020-11-04}}
* {{cite book |title=Revenge Tragedy: Aeschylus to Armageddon |last=Kerrigan |first=John |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |location=Oxford |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-159172-3}}
* {{harvc|last=Keyishian|first=Harry|chapter=Shakespeare and Movie Genre: The Case of ''Hamlet''|in=Jackson|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00jack_577/page/n87 72]–84}}
* {{cite book |title=Filthy Shakespeare: Shakespeare's Most Outrageous Sexual Puns |last=Kiernan |first=Pauline |publisher=[[Quercus]] |year=2007 |edition=revised |isbn=978-1-84724-073-6}}
* {{cite journal |title=A Caroline Commentary on the Drama |last=Kirsch |first=Arthur C. |author-link=Arthur Kirsch |journal=[[Modern Philology]] |publisher=[[The University of Chicago Press]] |eissn=1545-6951 |volume=66 |issue=3 |year=1969 |pages=256–261 |doi=10.1086/390087 |jstor=436454 |s2cid=162049086|issn=0026-8232 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Kliman |first=Bernice W. |date=Summer 2011|title=At Sea about Hamlet at Sea: A Detective Story|jstor=23025627|journal=[[Shakespeare Quarterly]]|volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=180–204 |doi=10.1353/shq.2011.0025 |s2cid=192187966 |issn=0037-3222}}
* {{cite journal |title=Hamlet and Counter-Humanism |last=Knowles |first=Ronald |journal=[[Renaissance Quarterly]] |publisher=[[Renaissance Society of America]] |eissn=1935-0236 |volume=52 |issue=4 |year=1999 |pages=1046–1069 |doi=10.2307/2901835 |jstor=2901835|s2cid=170767175 }}
* {{cite interview |title=Shakespeare's Hamlet with Jude Law |last=Law |first=Jude |subject-link=Jude Law |interviewer=[[Charlie Rose]] |url=https://charlierose.com/videos/25839 |publisher=[[PBS]] |date=2 October 2009 |work=[[Charlie Rose (TV series)|Charlie Rose]] |access-date=6 October 2009}}
* {{cite book |title="Hamlet": A Guide to the Play |url=https://archive.org/details/hamletguidetopla0000macc |last=MacCary |first=W. Thomas |series=Greenwood Guides to Shakespeare |publisher=[[Greenwood Press]] |location=Westport, Connecticut|year=1998 |isbn=0-313-30082-8}}
* {{harvc|last=Marsden |first=Jean I.|chapter=Improving Shakespeare: from the Restoration to Garrick|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/21 21]–36}}
* {{cite book |title=For Ian Charleson: A Tribute |last1=McKellen |first1=Ian |author-link1=Ian McKellen |last2=Puttnam |first2=David |author-link2=David Puttnam |last3=Wax |first3=Ruby |author-link3=Ruby Wax |last4=Redgrave |first4=Vanessa |author-link4=Vanessa Redgrave |last5=Bates |first5=Alan |author-link5=Alan Bates |publisher=[[Constable and Company]] |location=London |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-09-470250-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780094702509}}
* {{harvc|last=Moody|first=Jane|chapter=Romantic Shakespeare|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/37 37]–57}}
* {{harvc|last=Morrison|first=Michael A.|chapter=Shakespeare in North America|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton||year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/230 230]–258}}
* {{cite book |title=John Barrymore, Shakespearean Actor |last=Morrison |first=Michael A. |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=1997 |isbn=0-521-62028-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/johnbarrymoresha00morr}}
* {{cite web |title=Hamlet 1963 |website=[[Royal National Theatre]] |date=n.d. |access-date=21 July 2016 |url=http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=2879&dspl=reviews |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811065054/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=2879&dspl=reviews |archive-date=11 August 2010 |ref={{harvid|National Theatre|n.d.}}}}
* {{cite book |title=Engaging with Shakespeare: Responses of George Eliot and Other Women Novelists |url=https://archive.org/details/engagingwithshak0000novy |url-access=registration |last=Novy |first=Marianne L. |publisher=[[University of Georgia Press]] |location=Athens, Georgia |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-8203-1596-6}}
* {{harvc|last=O'Connor|first=Marion|chapter=Reconstructive Shakespeare: Reproducing Elizabethan and Jacobean Stages|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/76 76]–97}}
* {{cite book |title=The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00shau |chapter=Narration and Staging in ''Hamlet'' and its afternovels |editor1-last=Shaughnessy |editor1-first=Robert |last=Osborne |first=Laurie |series=Cambridge Companions to Literature |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-60580-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00shau/page/114 114]–133}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare Companion, 1564–1964 |last1=Pitcher |first1=John |last2=Woudhuysen |first2=Henry |publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] |location=London |year=1969 |isbn=0-14-053011-8}}
* {{cite book |title=The Masks of Hamlet |last=Rosenberg |first=Marvin |publisher=[[Associated University Presses]] |location=London |year=1992 |isbn=0-87413-480-3}}
* {{cite magazine |title=''Hamlet'': A Love Story |last=Rothman |first=Joshua |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=14 August 2013 |access-date=20 July 2016 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/hamlet-a-love-story}}
* {{cite book |title=William Shakespeare: A Biography |last=Rowse |first=A. L. |author-link=A. L. Rowse |publisher=[[Barnes & Noble|Barnes & Noble Books]] |location=New York |orig-year=1963 |year=1995 |isbn=1-56619-804-6 |ref={{harvid|Rowse|1963}}}}
* {{cite book |title=The Real Shakespeare; Retrieving the Early Years, 1564-1594|url=|last=Sams |first=Eric |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1995|isbn=978-0300072822}}
* {{cite book |title=Saxo Grammaticus and the Life of Hamlet: A Translation, History, and Commentary |editor1-last=Hansen |editor1-first=William |author=Saxo Grammaticus |author-link=Saxo Grammaticus |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |location=Lincoln |year=1983 |isbn=0-8032-2318-8 |ref={{harvid|Saxo|Hansen|1983}}}}
* {{harvc|last=Schoch|first=Richard W.|chapter=Pictorial Shakespeare|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/58 58]–75}}
* {{cite web |title=A Play at Poolside: Caridad Svich's ''12 Ophelias'' |last=Schultz |first=David G. |date=16 July 2008 |website=[[The Brooklyn Rail]] |url=http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/07/theater/a-play-at-poolside-caridad-svichs-12-ophelias |access-date=26 June 2011}}
* {{cite book |title=1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare |last=Shapiro |first=James |author-link=James S. Shapiro |publisher=[[Faber and Faber|Faber]] |location=London |year=2005 |isbn=0-571-21481-9}}
* {{cite book |title=Shaw on Shakespeare |editor1-last=Wilson |editor1-first=Edwin |last=Shaw |first=George Bernard |author-link=George Bernard Shaw |publisher=Applause |location=New York |year=1961 |isbn=1-55783-561-6}}
* {{cite news |title=Jude Law to star in Donmar's ''Hamlet'' |last=Shenton |first=Mark |newspaper=[[The Stage]] |date=10 September 2007 |access-date=19 November 2007 |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2007/jude-law-to-star-in-donmars-hamlet/ |url-access=subscription}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare and the Question of Theory |url=https://archive.org/details/shakespearequest00hart |chapter=Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism |editor1-last=Parker |editor1-first=Patricia |editor2-last=Hartman |editor2-first=Geoffrey |last=Showalter |first=Elaine |author-link=Elaine Showalter |publisher=[[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]] |location=New York and London |year=1985 |isbn=0-416-36930-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/shakespearequest00hart/page/n89 77]–94}}
* {{Cite news |last=Small |first=Alan |date=19 April 2019 |title=International Magazine Recalls Reeves' Reign As Hamlet |work=[[Winnipeg Free Press]]|url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/2019/04/19/international-magazine-recalls-reeves-reign-as-hamlet |access-date=26 November 2022}}
* {{harvc|last=Smallwood |first=Robert|chapter=Twentieth-century Performance: The Stratford and London Companies|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687/page/98 98]–117}}
* {{cite web|last=Spencer|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Spencer (journalist)|date=10 November 2011|title=''Hamlet'', The Young Vic Theatre: review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/8879601/Hamlet-The-Young-Vic-Theatre-review.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/8879601/Hamlet-The-Young-Vic-Theatre-review.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=18 March 2019}}{{cbignore}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare and Appropriation |chapter=The Displaced Body of Desire: Sexuality in Kenneth Branagh's ''Hamlet'' |editor1-last=Desmet |editor1-first=Christy |editor2-last=Sawyer |editor2-first=Robert |last=Starks |first=Lisa S. |series=Accents on Shakespeare |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |year=1999 |isbn=0-415-20725-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/shakespeareappro00chri/page/160 160–178] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/shakespeareappro00chri/page/160}}
* {{cite news |title=Cumberbatch's Hamlet most in-demand show of all time |last=Stewart |first=Rachel |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |date=11 August 2014 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/11025625/Cumberbatchs-Hamlet-most-in-demand-show-of-all-time.html}}
* {{cite news |title=Kenneth Branagh to Direct Tom Hiddleston in ''Hamlet''|last=Sulcas |first=Roslyn|author-link=Roslyn Sulcas|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |department=Theater |date=1 August 2017 |access-date=21 December 2017 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/theater/kenneth-branagh-tom-hiddleston-hamlet.html}}
* {{cite book |title=Olivier: The complete career |last=Tanitch |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Tanitch |publisher=[[Abbeville Press]] |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-89659-590-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/oliviercompletec00tani}}
* {{cite book |title=The Mask: A Periodical Performance by Edward Gordon Craig |last=Taxidou |first=Olga |series=Contemporary Theatre Studies |volume=30 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis|Harwood Academic Publishers]] |location=Amsterdam |year=1998 |isbn=90-5755-046-6}}
* {{cite book |title=Reinventing Shakespeare: A Cultural History from the Restoration to the Present |last=Taylor |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Taylor (scholar) |publisher=[[Hogarth Press]] |location=London |year=1989 |isbn=0-7012-0888-0}}
* {{harvc|last=Taylor|first=Gary|author-link=Gary Taylor (scholar)|chapter=Shakespeare Plays on Renaissance Stages|in1=Wells|in2=Stanton|year=2002}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare and Sexuality |editor1-last=Alexander |editor1-first=Catherine M.S. |editor2-last=Wells |editor2-first=Stanley |editor2-link=Stanley Wells |last=Thompson |first=Ann |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=2001 |isbn=0-521-80475-2 |pages=1–13}}
* {{cite book |title=William Shakespeare, "Hamlet" |url=https://archive.org/details/williamshakespea0000thom |last1=Thompson |first1=Ann |last2=Taylor |first2=Neil |publisher=Northcote House, in association with the [[British Council]] |location=Plymouth, UK |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-74630-765-6 |oclc=954440601}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare's Theatre |url=https://archive.org/details/shakespearesthea0000thom |last=Thomson |first=Peter |series=Theatre Production |publisher=[[Routledge|Routledge and Kegan Paul]] |location=London and Boston |year=1983 |isbn=0-7100-9480-9}}
* {{cite web |title=Wittenberg |last=Todoroff |first=Aimee |website=[[Nytheatre.com]] |date=19 March 2011 |access-date=23 October 2017 |url=http://www.nytheatre.com/Content/aimee-todoroff-2011-3-19-wittenberg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063707/http://www.nytheatre.com/Content/aimee-todoroff-2011-3-19-wittenberg |archive-date=23 October 2017}}
* {{cite book |title=Sincerity and Authenticity |last=Trilling |first=Lionel |author-link=Lionel Trilling |series=The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-50419-6}}
* {{cite book |title=Hogarth: A Life and a World |last=Uglow |first=Jenny |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |location=London |orig-year=1977 |year=2002 |isbn=0-571-19376-5 |edition=New |ref={{harvid|Uglow|1977}}}}
* {{cite book |title=[[Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage]] (1623–1692) |editor-last=Vickers |editor-first=Brian|editor-link=Brian Vickers (literary scholar) |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |volume=1 |isbn=0-415-13404-8 |orig-year=1974 |year=1995a |edition=New}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage (1753–1765) |editor-last=Vickers |editor-first=Brian|publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |volume=4 |isbn=0-415-13407-2 |orig-year=1974 |year=1995b |edition=New}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage (1765–1774) |editor-last=Vickers |editor-first=Brian|publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |volume=5 |isbn=0-415-13408-0 |orig-year=1974 |year=1995c |edition=New}}
* {{cite journal |title=Big Leagues: Specters of Milton and Republican International Justice between Shakespeare and Marx |last=Warren |first=Christopher N. |year=2016 |journal=Humanity |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=365–389 |issn=2151-4372 |doi=10.1353/hum.2016.0020 |s2cid=159721222 |url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/download/hc:12692/CONTENT/warren-big-leages-humanity.pdf/}}
* {{cite web |title=Every Exit is an Entrance Someplace Else |last=Warren |first=Jim |date=n.d. |department=Director's Notes |publisher=[[American Shakespeare Center]] |url=http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=153 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222152045/http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=153 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |access-date=20 June 2009}}
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Wells|editor1-first=Stanley|editor1-link=Stanley Wells|editor2-last=Stanton|editor2-first=Sarah|title=The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00well_687|series=Cambridge Companions to Literature|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=Cambridge|year=2002|isbn=0-521-79711-X}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet in his Modern Guises |url=https://archive.org/details/hamletinhismoder0000wels |last=Welsh |first=Alexander |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-691-05093-5}}
* {{cite web|last=Wild|first=Stephi|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/uk-regional/article/Billy-Howle-Joined-By-Niamh-Cusack-and-Mirren-Mack-in-HAMLET-at-Bristol-Old-Vic-Full-Cast-Announced-20220901|title=Billy Howle Joined by Niamh Cusack and Mirren Mack in ''Hamlet'' at Bristol Old Vic; Full Cast Announced|date=1 September 2022|work=[[BroadwayWorld]]}}
* {{cite book |title=The Essential Shakespeare: A Biographical Adventure |url=https://archive.org/details/essentialshakesp00jdwi |last=Wilson |first=J. Dover |author-link=J. Dover Wilson |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=1932|isbn=9780521068277 }}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet and the Scottish succession, Being an Examination of the Relations of the Play of ''Hamlet'' to the Scottish Succession and the Essex Conspiracy |last=Winstanley |first=Lilian |publisher=R. West |location=Philadelphia |orig-year=1921 |year=1977 |isbn=0-8492-2912-X}}
* {{cite magazine |title=Fifth Avenue Theater{{snd}}Edwin Booth as Hamlet
  |last = Winter
  |first = William
  |author-link = William Winter (author)
  |magazine = [[New-York Tribune]]
  |department = The Drama
  |page = 5
  |date = 26 October 1875
  |issn = 1941-0646
  |lccn = sn83030214
  |oclc = 9405688
  |url = http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1875-10-26/ed-1/seq-5/}}
* {{cite book |title=Hamlet: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives |chapter=A Critical History of Hamlet |last=Wofford |first=Susanne L. |publisher=[[Bedford Books]] |location=Boston |year=1994 |isbn=0-312-08986-4 |pages=181–207}}
* {{cite news |title=Tom Hiddleston in ''Hamlet'' review: A Supremely Self-Assured Prince – Rada's Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre |last=Zhuk |first=Nataliia |date=2 September 2017 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |issn=0307-1235 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/tom-hiddleston-hamlet-supremely-self-assured-prince-radas/}}
{{div col end}}

==Further reading==
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{cite book|last=Alexander|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Alexander (Shakespearean scholar)|title=Alexander's Introductions to Shakespeare|publisher=[[William Collins, Sons|Collins]] |location=London |year=1964 |oclc=257743100|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Bloom|first=Harold|author-link=Harold Bloom|title=Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human|publisher=[[Longman]] |location=Harlow, Essex |year=2001 |edition=Open Market |isbn=1-57322-751-X|ref=none}}
* {{cite web|last=Brennan|first=Sandra|title=Innokenti Smoktunovsky|access-date=29 May 2010 |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/66625/Innokenti-Smoktunovsky/biography |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218212705/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/66625/Innokenti-Smoktunovsky/biography |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2015 |archive-date=18 February 2015|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Chambers|first=E. K.|author-link=E. K. Chambers|title=The Elizabethan Stage|orig-year=First published 1923 |year=2009 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-956748-5 |volume=1 |ref=none<!--{{harvid|Chambers|1923a}}-->}}
* {{cite book|last1=Crystal|first1=David|last2=Crystal|first2=Ben|title=The Shakespeare Miscellany |url=https://archive.org/details/shakespearemisce0000crys_e7r7|publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] |location=New York |year=2005 |isbn=0-14-051555-0|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Jackson |first=MacDonald|title=The Tempest and After |chapter=The Year's Contributions to Shakespeare Studies: 3 – Editions and Textual Studies |editor1-last=Wells |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-link=Stanley Wells|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |series=[[Shakespeare Survey]] |volume=43 |pages=255–270 |year=1991 |isbn=978-1-139-05320-4|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Kermode|first=Frank|author-link=Frank Kermode|title=Shakespeare's Language |url=https://archive.org/details/shakespeareslang0000kerm|publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] |location=London |year=2000 |isbn=0-14-028592-X|ref=none}}
{{div col end}}

==External links==
{{Library resources box}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|en-Hamlet.ogg|date=2011-10-14}}
* [http://www.bl.uk/works/hamlet ''Hamlet''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225051155/http://www.bl.uk/works/hamlet |date=25 February 2021 }} at the British Library
* {{IBDB show|4172}}
* {{IOBDB show|Hamlet}}
* {{librivox book | title=Hamlet | author=William Shakespeare}}

===Texts===
* {{wikisource-inline|Hamlet (Shakespeare)|Hamlet|single=true}}, in multiple editions
* [http://shakespearestudyguide.com/Hamlet%20Text.html ''Hamlet''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407002027/http://shakespearestudyguide.com/Hamlet%20Text.html |date=7 April 2018 }} Complete text on one page with definitions of difficult words and explanations of difficult passages.
* {{Folger inline|Hamlet}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-shakespeare/hamlet}}
* {{gutenberg|no=1524|name= Hamlet}}
* [http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Texts/Ham/ ''Hamlet'' at the Internet Shakespeare Editions]{{snd}}Transcripts and facsimiles of Q1, Q2 and F1.
* [http://www.quartos.org Shakespeare Quartos Archive]{{snd}}Transcriptions and facsimiles of thirty-two copies of the five pre-1642 quarto editions.
* [http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/playmenu.php?WorkID=hamlet ''Hamlet'' at Open Source Shakespeare]{{snd}}A complete text of ''Hamlet'' based on Q2.
* ''[https://www.owleyes.org/text/hamlet Hamlet]''{{snd}}Annotated text aligned to Common Core standards.
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56454 ''Hamlet'']{{snd}}Etext in Spanish available in many formats at Gutenberg.org.

===Analysis===
* [http://shea.mit.edu/ramparts Hamlet on the Ramparts]{{snd}}The [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]]'s Shakespeare Electronic Archive.
* [http://www.hamletworks.org Hamletworks.org]{{snd}}Scholarly resource with multiple versions of ''Hamlet'', commentaries, concordances, and more.
* [http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/HamletPaintings.html Depictions and commentary of Hamlet paintings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123111631/http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/HamletPaintings.html |date=23 November 2020 }}
* [http://clearshakespeare.com/category/hamlet/ Clear Shakespeare ''Hamlet'']{{snd}}A word-by-word audio guide through the play.

{{Shakespeare}}
{{Hamlet}}
{{OlivierAward PlayRevival 2001–2025}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Subject bar |commons=y |q=y |s=y |s-search=Hamlet (Shakespeare) |portal1=The arts|portal2=Literature |portal3=Theatre}}

[[Category:Hamlet| ]]
[[Category:1600s plays]]
[[Category:English Renaissance plays]]
[[Category:Shakespearean tragedies]]
[[Category:Fiction about familicide]]
[[Category:Fiction about regicide]]
[[Category:Fiction about fratricide]]
[[Category:Plays about ghosts]]
[[Category:Metafictional plays]]
[[Category:British plays adapted into films]]
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[[Category:Plays adapted into radio programs]]
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[[Category:Plays set in Denmark]]
[[Category:Plays set in castles]]
[[Category:Plays set in palaces]]
[[Category:Fiction about purgatory]]
[[Category:Revenge plays]]
[[Category:Fiction about suicide]]
[[Category:Works based on Gesta Danorum]]
[[Category:Fiction about poisonings]]
[[Category:Kronborg]]
[[Category:Plays about princes]]
[[Category:Plays about royalty]]
[[Category:British plays adapted for television]]
[[Category:British plays adapted for radio]]