Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)

Hamlet cares little for his revenge, he has no real passion or drive concerning Claudius – an eggshell, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing. The play’s the thing, and Hamlet, the true writer of ‘Hamlet’, is the greatest playwright of all time precisely because he is the greatest, most encompassing of all audiences. As the most observant, intelligent audience...more

Hamlet cares little for his revenge, he has no real passion or drive concerning Claudius – an eggshell, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing. The play’s the thing, and Hamlet, the true writer of ‘Hamlet’, is the greatest playwright of all time precisely because he is the greatest, most encompassing of all audiences. As the most observant, intelligent audience of himself, he is able to beautify every word and every scene to full effect, ensuring the play’s immortality and thus his own immortality – he transcends Shakespeare, usurping death, nature, all. One must only consider his unlimited influence on humanity today to understand that he has forged for himself a Godhood.   hide

What can be said about it that hasn't been said? He's charismatic, cool, acerbic, angst-ridden, clever, and wears black... what's not to like? And don't give me that crap about being indecisive. I can't believe people give him a hard time because he wants to be sure of his "intel" before he strikes down the head of state. If you ask me, we need MORE of that kind...more

What can be said about it that hasn't been said? He's charismatic, cool, acerbic, angst-ridden, clever, and wears black... what's not to like? And don't give me that crap about being indecisive. I can't believe people give him a hard time because he wants to be sure of his "intel" before he strikes down the head of state. If you ask me, we need MORE of that kind of fact checking when it comes to important decisions, foreign or domestic. Sometimes he just wants to be sure he is doing the right thing-- that's his tragic flaw.   hide

I like the fact that there is still controversy over this play. I think people forget that the idea of ghosts at that the time was that they were as real as bridges and the main question was whether the ghost was who (or what) it claimed to be, as an evil spirit or demon could have assumed Hamlet's father's form. And for the people who think he was whining, how would you feel if...more

I like the fact that there is still controversy over this play. I think people forget that the idea of ghosts at that the time was that they were as real as bridges and the main question was whether the ghost was who (or what) it claimed to be, as an evil spirit or demon could have assumed Hamlet's father's form. And for the people who think he was whining, how would you feel if the supreme ruler of your country murdered your father and shacked up with your mother, and quite possibly could have your head cut off at any time? Hamlets fears are quite justified, as he is murdered by the king's poison in the end.   hide

FAVORITE QUOTES: "Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel..." "Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, while, like a puffed and reckless libertine, himself the primrose path of dalliance treads and recks not his own reed." "Ay, springes to catch woodcocks!" ...more

FAVORITE QUOTES: "Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel..." "Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, while, like a puffed and reckless libertine, himself the primrose path of dalliance treads and recks not his own reed." "Ay, springes to catch woodcocks!" "I am but mad north-north-weat. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw." "Purpose is but a slave to memory, of violent birth, but poor validity, which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree, but fall unshaken, when they mellow be..." "'Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes between the pass and fell incensed points of mighty opposites."   hide

Whilst younger in my mid teens I remember being very troubled and somewhat puzzled by this story as I had never found any final, complete, and unambiguous meaning to it. As I started to read the story I didn’t think to begin with that Hamlet was a particularly sad Prince and he didn’t seem to me as a teenager very lonely and he certainly wasn’t mad…until one day that...more

Whilst younger in my mid teens I remember being very troubled and somewhat puzzled by this story as I had never found any final, complete, and unambiguous meaning to it. As I started to read the story I didn’t think to begin with that Hamlet was a particularly sad Prince and he didn’t seem to me as a teenager very lonely and he certainly wasn’t mad…until one day that all changed! (after his fathers’ ghost, demanding revenge came to visit him). And so, revenge was certainly the dish of the day as Hamlet invited the wandering actors to perform for the ‘new’ King and Queen a play in which he re-created his fathers’ murder. And do you know what it took me years and years to realise that it was the ghost of his father that eventually, (after becoming totally mad), killed him. For he allowed the spirit of trauma into himself, he allowed the demon to invade his memory (with the hurt of his father’s death) which in turn became a part of himself. He was lost I guess…to a very hungry ghost! (Alas Orphelia!) I believe Shakespeare certainly understood the battle to 'let go' and the madness it creates when one fails to do so…By allowing ourselves to be haunted by the past, maybe haunted by our childhood trauma and the emotional difficulties that arise from these times, we inevitably become affected to varying ways of being, and those ways, well I guess they impact upon us, in particular upon our souls. And now twenty-five years later, I can see that Hamlet was without doubt, Shakespeare's MASTERPIECE too! AWESOME!!...xx   hide

this is the novel which is more of live, meaning lie is worthless without a conscience

my favorite piece to teach!! i love hamlet's complexity and temperament-- his intelligence, emotional vulnerability, drive for justice, and struggle to avoid becoming that which he despises most (which of course, he must if he is to revenge the death of his father). "Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not 'seems.' 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor...more

my favorite piece to teach!! i love hamlet's complexity and temperament-- his intelligence, emotional vulnerability, drive for justice, and struggle to avoid becoming that which he despises most (which of course, he must if he is to revenge the death of his father). "Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not 'seems.' 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly: these indeed seem, For they are actions that a man might play: But I have that within which passeth show; These but the trappings and the suits of woe."   hide

Since it’s debut before an English audience, which chose to watch it rather than visit the bear pits next door, Hamlet has become known as an unsolvable enigma of father-son conflict, guilt, rage and vengeance. “The happy hunting ground of many an unbalanced mind” a character in Joyce’s Ulysses calls it, and that book’s hero Stephen Dedalus develops arcane theories that seem to prove...more

Since it’s debut before an English audience, which chose to watch it rather than visit the bear pits next door, Hamlet has become known as an unsolvable enigma of father-son conflict, guilt, rage and vengeance. “The happy hunting ground of many an unbalanced mind” a character in Joyce’s Ulysses calls it, and that book’s hero Stephen Dedalus develops arcane theories that seem to prove the point while foreshadowing the psychological discoveries of Freud. No work more strikingly traces the woven strands of mind and soul than Hamlet.   hide

Finally understood it.