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    Hamlet (Pocket Classics)
    Hamlet (Pocket Classics)
    Hamlet (Pocket Classics)
    Ebook198 pages1 hour

    Hamlet (Pocket Classics)

    By William Shakespeare

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Experience the power of Shakespeare's iconic tragedy, Hamlet, in this compact and portable Pocket Classics edition. Immerse yourself in the complex world of the Danish prince as he grapples with revenge, loyalty, and the human condition. Perfect for Shakespeare lovers on the go.

    • Pocket Classics edition of Shakespeare's renowned tragedy, Hamlet
    • Carry the profound tale of the Danish prince wherever you go
    • Dive into the themes of revenge, loyalty, and existential introspection
    • Perfect for Shakespeare enthusiasts and students studying his works
    • Compact size for convenient reading, ideal for travel or daily commutes.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFingerprint Publishing
    Release dateApr 1, 2018
    ISBN9789362144379
    Hamlet (Pocket Classics)
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

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    Reviews for Hamlet (Pocket Classics)

    4/5

    6,843 ratings103 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Prince Hamlet is dejected after the death of his father and the hasty remarriage of his mother to his uncle. Though he is of age, he has been effectively disinherited. But when he meets the ghost of his father, he learns that his uncle murdered the king in order to steal the throne.

      Hamlet is throne into a murderous revenge-spiral that ends in gruesome tragedy.
    • 4/5
      You cannot give Hamlet, as written, a bad review. Starting out as a simple revenge tragedy, it just stretches out to a study of our attitude to life itself. The characters are well drawn, and while the conflict is clear, "Is Hamlet going to exact revenge for his father's death? And on Whom?" We readers soon are drawn to examining our own conflicts, and the solutions we have, or will have tried for them. At the end, after " ...carnal,Bloody and unnatural acts, of accidental judgements,casual slaughters,of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause...and purposes mistook fall'n on the inventor's heads"...the stage is filled with corpses, and only a messager character Horatio is left to explain to the eventual heir of the country what happened. As with almost all of the plays, you will find yourself reading aloud. The play was presented to the Lord Chamberlain in 1602. I seem to have read it nine times.
    • 3/5
      This was an OK production. An all American cast that at times feels like they are uncomfortably reading the lines. Some of the actors/actresses do very good jobs, others make the listening to and the flow of the story choppy and tough. Good enough for fans of the Bard, but I wouldn't use this for a classroom or early students of Shakespeare. Probably would turn them away...
    • 5/5
      I've read it about 3 times. Great play. Love the language.
    • 4/5
      On rereading classic plays - I found Hamlet to be, well Hamlet. As in any book that gives extra information, much of it is useful, a lot of it repetitious. I found the information about the folio's vs the quarto's and the difference between the two fascinating. For example, some of the editions were put together from actor's memories well after the last performance. So parts are added, removed, and expanded on. Putting this all together in the way Shakespeare intended it is always a lot of guessing and arguing.
    • 4/5
      More of the action seemed to happen off-stage than on! Excellent notes, and again many familiar lines I have seen referenced another literature and in everyday speech. Most of the cast dead by the end...
    • 4/5
      Hamlet, perhaps the best known of Shakespeare's tragedies, follows the title character as he seeks revenge upon his father's assassin--an uncle. The number of well-known lines from this work attests to its enduring influence. I chose to listen to the fully dramatized audio book produced from a performance of the Folger Theatre. It was well-done, but I do recommend either reading the book along with it or watching the recorded production to help sort cast members when you lack the name cues of the written format.
    • 4/5
      I feel I would have got more from this if I'd read it as a physical book instead on on my iPad, as there were a few times when I would haved liked to check back on things or make notes in the margins (I like to annotate books) so I will probably read this again at some point.

      I like reading plays. They go to show that a story still works when all you have is dialogue. Writers of huge novels with reams and reams of unnecessary discription should take note.

      Anyway, I really enjoyed Hamlet. It was full of interesting characters and events and I don't really think the story could have ended any other way! And the way Shakespeare wrote his plays was superb.
    • 3/5
      It will be one of life's mysteries, I think, how Hamlet can be likeable.
    • 5/5
      Well, what can you say about this book that has not already been said.

      it was good :3
    • 5/5
      Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
    • 5/5
      I was expecting Hamlet to be more like the Lion King, but Hamlet ended up being one of the most enjoyable Shakespeare plays I've read. He really is a pun master.
    • 4/5
      I find it much easier to listen to Shakespeare than to read it.
    • 5/5
      Few stories are likely better known to most fans of literature or the theater than that of Hamlet, Shakespeare’s legendarily morose Danish prince. As the play begins, Hamlet’s scheming and duplicitous uncle has killed his father to assume the throne and, adding insult to injury, has also married the widowed mother. Hamlet is then visited by his father’s ghost, who demands revenge for his murder. This sets in motion a complicated series of events in which Hamlet wrestles with the morality of the request and the responsibility he feels to his father. Of course, nothing ends well for almost anyone connected to the main plot—this is one of the Immortal Bard’s tragedies, after all. Along the way to the fatal ending, though, the reader is treated to some of most memorable scenes in fiction, including those involving spectral visitations, sword duels, deceitful alliances, philosophical introspection, the quest for revenge, unrequited love, a descent into madness, and the loyalty of friends.

      Beyond its merits as a great stand-alone story, Hamlet is notable for the profound impact it has had on the creative arts over the past few centuries. There have been countless adaptations and retellings of this tale, both in literature and in film, which is certainly a mark of how enduring the play’s themes and central message are. Also, the text is packed with phrases and quotations that have become staples in the common lexicon, such as ‘to thine own self be true’, ‘neither a borrower or a lender be’, ‘to the manner born’, ‘something is rotten is the state of Denmark’, ‘brevity is the soul of wit’, ‘though this be madness, yet there is method in’t’, ‘the lady doth protest too much, methinks’, and, of course, ‘to be or not to be, that is the question’. (In fact, Shakespeare must rival the Bible for providing aphorisms to the English-speaking world!) In short, this is altogether great stuff that really is essential reading for any lover of the written word.
    • 4/5
      Love listening to Classical!!!
    • 5/5
      Harold Pinter Theatre, London. Glorious, an electric production.
    • 4/5
      The only Shakespeare plays I had read before this were Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, Macbeth being my favorite. Having now read Hamlet, I can honestly say that Macbeth is still my favorite.

      Let's discuss.

      So, Hamlet himself is an emo icon, and also a misogynist, who basically goes crazy, murders someone, and essentially ruins everything.

      The ending came a little too quickly for me, tbh. There wasn't enough time to really develop any other characters. It was pretty quotable, though. Really, it gave me more Romeo and Juliet feels than Macbeth feels.
    • 5/5
      This is a re-read, in anticipation of seeing Hamlet live on the stage later this week in Stratford, ON. Reading the play it is easier to savor and appreciate the phrasing that goes by all too quickly on the stage. And In my mind, I could see Kenneth Branagh as the lead, though I have not seen his film version.
    • 4/5
      It amazes me how many people like Hamlet, no exception here, when it's really hard to relate to, but yet it's just one of those plays once you get into it, you come to love it. I read it for the first time in 12th grade and everyone would talk about it even when they didn't have to. The characters in Hamlet are amazingly complex and it doesn't just state how they are, you learn it through their actions and what they say. It's just so unique, I know everytime I read it I get a different opinion of the characters and the overall play.
    • 5/5
      Almost intriguing play, and not the easiest work to read. The tale of a young prince trying to come to terms with his father’s death is probably the best known of Shakespeare’s tragedies. There’s something for everyone here: high drama, low comedy, intriguing characters.
      I’d advise watching a video or move, or perhaps listening to an audio presentation either before or while reading this one. No matter how good your reading skills are, the enjoyment and understanding of any play is enhanced Psy seeing it performed. This time out I watched an old stage production starring Richard Burton. The highlight of that one is Hume Cronyn’s marvelously humorous take on Polonius.
      Highest recommendation possible.
    • 5/5
      My favorite, of all the histories and tragedies. I've seen it in performance at least 5 times--with Kevin Kline and Ralph Fiennes two of the most memorable.
    • 5/5
      Forcing myself into reading Shakespeare as an adult, I started here. I'm not sorry. Excellent poetry. "What a piece of work is man" is one of my favorite bits of writing period, not just within Shakespeare's works. I believe this is also the longest of his plays? Partly my reason for tackling it first. If you only read one of his works, read Hamlet.
    • 5/5
      My favorite of Shakespeare's plays. It just gets better with every reading, and this time I started with Marjorie Garber's excellent chapter on the play (in her Shakespeare After All), which helped me appreciate the themes of “playing” – of dramas within dramas, “staged” events, audiences being observed, etc. – and of borders...

      ”In suggesting that these three worlds – the world of Hamlet's mind and the imagination; the physical, political, and “historical” world of Denmark; and the world of dramatic fiction and play – are parallel to and superimposed upon one another, I am suggesting, also, that the play is about the whole question of boundaries, thresholds, and liminality or border crossing; boundary disputes between Norway and Denmark, boundaries between youth and age, boundaries between reality and imagination, between audience and actor. And these boundaries seem to be constantly shifting.”

      Also, of course, fathers and sons, words and meanings, just so much in this one, which, I suppose, is why I enjoy new things about it each time I read it. And I do love Hamlet. He treats Ophelia terribly, and Laertes at her grave, but his indecision, his anxiety, his sincerity, his hopefulness are all so... relatable! Really, I love it all. The relationships, the humor, the wordplay, the poetry. Happy sigh.
    • 4/5
      BBC Audiobook performed by Michael Sheen (Hamlet), Kenneth Cranham (Claudius), Juliet Stevenson (Gertrude) and Ellie Beaven (Ophelia), and a full cast

      I’ll dispense with the summary for this classic tragedy by William Shakespeare, but as I’ve said before, I really dislike reading plays. I much prefer to see them performed live by talented actors, the medium for which they are written. The next best thing to a live performance, however, must be an audio such as this one, with talented actors taking on the roles and really bringing the play to life for the listener.

      There are hundreds of editions of this work, and I recommend that readers get one that is annotated. The text copy I had as an accompaniment to the audio was published by the Oxford University Press, and included several scholarly articles, appendices and footnotes to help the modern-day reader understand Shakespeare’s Elizabethan terms and use of language, as well as historical references. One appendix even includes the music to accompany the songs!
    • 5/5
      The Play of Plays: "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate, Eric Rasmussen Published 2008.

      “He helps us understand the human condition. But he cannot do this without a good text of the plays. Without editions there would be no Shakespeare. That is why throughout the last three centuries there has been a major new edition of his complete works.”
      (Jonathan Bate)

      I studied Shakespeare at Universidade de Letras de Lisboa and have seen many plays in performance since then. We read twelve plays in sixteen weeks: “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Richard II”, “Richard III”, “The First Part of King Henry IV”, and “Twelfth Night” among others. I did not do as well in that class as I would have liked. In fact, I distinctly remember not studying much for the exam because the girl with whom I was studying asked me if I was interested in going out and, since I was attracted to her, I said yes. After my professor returned my exam to me, she asked me if I would visit her during office hours to discuss my poor academic performance. I told her, "I'm not going to lie. Instead of studying, I went out with a girl in our class." Her reply, "I can hardly fault you for acting upon the sort of thing Shakespeare wrote about. I am willing to give you another chance. If you do better on the final exam, I will not weight this exam as heavily."

      The rest of this review is available elsewhere.
    • 5/5
      My fav editions of the Bard.
    • 3/5
      Really enjoyed, and could relate to the performance done on DVD in 1996, and that is what recommended the play to me. Really interesting and moving.... it's hard to review something so integral to the classics, but as with all of shakespeare, it is best read simultaneous (the dreaded, read-and-pause) with a good adaption.

      Kenneth Branagh helped me appreciate Hamlet. Despite it's leangth, it is lush and fantastical in the most bearable way. A great play.
    • 3/5
      READ IN ENGLISH

      To be or not to be; that is the question

      That's probably one of the best known parts of Western literature.
      I never really like Shakespeare (okay, I only read Romeo and Juliet and my school forced me to do so), but things have changed a bit lately after I went to see a theatre production of The Tempest in London's Globe Theatre.
      So, why not try and read Hamlet? (The Tempest will be read as well, as soon as I have the time to do so)
      Indeed, and I liked the play. It was still a relatively easy read and great for some winter evenings.
    • 3/5
      To commemorate in my own small way the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death, I decided to read Hamlet for the first time in my life. While one of his greatest plays, I don't enjoy this as much as Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet, which I studied at school and have enjoyed also in adulthood. There are some amazing scenes, though, and the flow of phrases which have entered the English language from this play alone comes thick and fast.
    • 5/5
      Great classic

    Book preview

    Hamlet (Pocket Classics) - William Shakespeare

    Act 1

    Scene: Denmark

    SCENE I. Elsinore.

    A platform before the castle.

    FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO

    BERNARDO

    Who’s there?

    FRANCISCO

    Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.

    BERNARDO

    Long live the king!

    FRANCISCO

    Bernardo?

    BERNARDO

    He.

    FRANCISCO

    You come most carefully upon your hour.

    BERNARDO

    ’Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.

    FRANCISCO

    For this relief much thanks: ’tis bitter cold,

    And I am sick at heart.

    BERNARDO

    Have you had quiet guard?

    FRANCISCO

    Not a mouse stirring.

    BERNARDO

    Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

    The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

    FRANCISCO

    I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who’s there?

    Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS

    HORATIO

    Friends to this ground.

    MARCELLUS

    And liegemen to the Dane.

    FRANCISCO

    Give you good night.

    MARCELLUS

    O, farewell, honest soldier:

    Who hath relieved you?

    FRANCISCO

    Bernardo has my place.

    Give you good night.

    Exit

    MARCELLUS

    Holla! Bernardo!

    BERNARDO

    Say, what, is Horatio there?

    HORATIO

    A piece of him.

    BERNARDO

    Welcome, Horatio, welcome, good Marcellus.

    MARCELLUS

    What, has this thing appear’d again to-night?

    BERNARDO

    I have seen nothing.

    MARCELLUS

    Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy,

    And will not let belief take hold of him

    Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:

    Therefore I have entreated him along

    With us to watch the minutes of this night;

    That if again this apparition come,

    He may approve our eyes and speak to it.

    HORATIO

    Tush, tush, ’twill not appear.

    BERNARDO

    Sit down awhile;

    And let us once again assail your ears,

    That are so fortified against our story

    What we have two nights seen.

    HORATIO

    Well, sit we down,

    And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

    BERNARDO

    Last night of all,

    When yond same star that’s westward from the pole

    Had made his course to illume that part of heaven

    Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,

    The bell then beating one—

    Enter Ghost

    MARCELLUS

    Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!

    BERNARDO

    In the same figure, like the king that’s dead.

    MARCELLUS

    Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.

    BERNARDO

    Looks it not like the king? Mark it, Horatio.

    HORATIO

    Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder.

    BERNARDO

    It would be spoke to.

    MARCELLUS

    Question it, Horatio.

    HORATIO

    What art thou that usurp’st this time of night,

    Together with that fair and warlike form

    In which the majesty of buried Denmark

    Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge

    thee, speak!

    MARCELLUS

    It is offended.

    BERNARDO

    See, it stalks away!

    HORATIO

    Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!

    Exit Ghost

    MARCELLUS

    ’Tis gone, and will not answer.

    BERNARDO

    How now, Horatio? You tremble and look pale:

    Is not this something more than fantasy?

    What think you on’t?

    HORATIO

    Before my God, I might not this believe

    Without the sensible and true avouch

    Of mine own eyes.

    MARCELLUS

    Is it not like the king?

    HORATIO

    As thou art to thyself:

    Such was the very armour he had on

    When he the ambitious Norway combated;

    So frown’d he once, when in an angry parle,

    He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.

    ’Tis strange.

    MARCELLUS

    Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,

    With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.

    HORATIO

    In what particular thought to work I know not;

    But in the gross and scope of my opinion,

    This bodes some strange eruption to our state.

    MARCELLUS

    Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,

    Why this same strict and most observant watch

    So nightly toils the subject of the land,

    And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,

    And foreign mart for implements of war;

    Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task

    Does not divide the Sunday from the week;

    What might be toward, that this sweaty haste

    Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:

    Who is’t that can inform me?

    HORATIO

    That can I;

    At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,

    Whose image even but now appear’d to us,

    Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,

    Thereto prick’d on by a most emulate pride,

    Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet—

    For so this side of our known world esteem’d him—

    Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal’d compact,

    Well ratified by law and heraldry,

    Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands

    Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror:

    Against the which, a moiety competent

    Was gaged by our king; which had return’d

    To the inheritance of Fortinbras,

    Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant,

    And carriage of the article design’d,

    His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,

    Of unimproved mettle hot and full,

    Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there

    Shark’d up a list of lawless resolutes,

    For food and diet, to some enterprise

    That hath a stomach in’t; which is no other—

    As it doth well appear unto our state—

    But to recover of us, by strong hand

    And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands

    So by his father lost: and this, I take it,

    Is the main motive of our preparations,

    The source of this our watch and the chief head

    Of this post-haste and romage in the land.

    BERNARDO

    I think it be no other but e’en so:

    Well may it sort that this portentous figure

    Comes armed through our watch; so like the king

    That was and is the question of these wars.

    HORATIO

    A mote it is to trouble the mind’s eye.

    In the most high and palmy state of Rome,

    A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,

    The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead

    Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets:

    As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,

    Disasters in the sun; and the moist star

    Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands

    Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse:

    And even the like precurse of fierce events,

    As harbingers preceding still the fates

    And prologue to the omen coming on,

    Have heaven and earth together demonstrated

    Unto our climatures and countrymen.

    But soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!

    Re-enter Ghost

    I’ll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion!

    If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,

    Speak to me:

    If there be any good thing to be done,

    That may to thee do ease and grace to me,

    Speak to me:

    Cock crows

    If thou art privy to thy country’s fate,

    Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, O, speak!

    Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life

    Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,

    For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,

    Speak of it: stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus.

    MARCELLUS

    Shall I strike at it with my partisan?

    HORATIO

    Do, if it will not stand.

    BERNARDO

    ’Tis here!

    HORATIO

    ’Tis here!

    MARCELLUS

    ’Tis gone!

    Exit Ghost

    We do it wrong, being so majestical,

    To offer it the show of violence;

    For it is, as the air, invulnerable,

    And our vain blows malicious mockery.

    BERNARDO

    It was about to speak, when the cock crew.

    HORATIO

    And then it started like a guilty thing

    Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,

    The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,

    Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat

    Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,

    Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,

    The extravagant and erring spirit hies

    To his confine: and of the truth herein

    This present object made probation.

    MARCELLUS

    It faded on the crowing of the cock.

    Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes

    Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated,

    The bird of dawning singeth all night long:

    And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;

    The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,

    No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,

    So hallow’d and so gracious is the time.

    HORATIO

    So have I heard and do in part believe it.

    But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,

    Walks o’er the dew of yon high eastward hill:

    Break we our watch up; and by my advice,

    Let us impart what we have seen to-night

    Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,

    This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.

    Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,

    As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?

    MARCELLUS

    Let’s do’t, I pray; and I this morning know

    Where we shall find him most conveniently.

    Exeunt

    SCENE II. A room of state in

    the castle.

    Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants

    KING CLAUDIUS

    Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death

    The memory be green, and that it us befitted

    To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom

    To be contracted in one brow of woe,

    Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature

    That we with wisest sorrow think on him,

    Together with remembrance of ourselves.

    Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,

    The imperial jointress to this warlike state,

    Have we, as ’twere with a defeated joy,

    With an auspicious and a dropping eye,

    With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,

    In equal scale weighing delight and dole,

    Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr’d

    Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone

    With this affair along. For all, our thanks.

    Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,

    Holding a weak supposal of our worth,

    Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death

    Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,

    Colleagued with the dream of his advantage,

    He hath not fail’d to pester us with message,

    Importing the surrender of those lands

    Lost by his father, with all bonds of law,

    To our most valiant brother. So much for him.

    Now for ourself and for this time of meeting:

    Thus much the business is: we have here writ

    To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,

    Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears

    Of this his nephew’s purpose,

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