Hamlet | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

At a glance:

Author: William Shakespeare
First Published: 1603
Type of Work: Drama
Type of Plot: Tragedy
Time of Work: c. 1200
Setting: Elsinore, Denmark
Principal Characters: Hamlet, The Ghost, Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, Laertes, Horatio
Genres: Drama, Tragedy
Subjects: Ghosts or apparitions, Incest, Revenge, Kings, queens, or royalty, Denmark or Danish people, Scandinavia or Scandinavians, Duels or dueling, Thirteenth century
Locales: Elsinore, Denmark

Three times the ghost of Denmark’s dead king had stalked the battlements of Elsinore Castle. On the fourth night Horatio, Hamlet’s friend, brought the young prince to see the specter of his father. Since his father’s untimely death two months earlier, Hamlet had been grief-stricken and exceedingly melancholy. The mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of his father perplexed him, and his mother had married Claudius, the dead king’s brother, much too hurriedly to suit Hamlet’s sense of decency.

Hamlet | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

At a glance:

The Story:

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