Hamlet

Hamlet, often titled The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, generally dated to between 1599 and 1601, although the exact year remains debated. It is the longest of Shakespeare's plays and one of the most influential works in English literature. Three early versions survive: the First Quarto (1603), the Second Quarto (1604) and the First Folio (1623), each containing lines and passages absent from the others, which has fuelled a long scholarly debate. For its plot Shakespeare probably drew on the legend of Amleth and on a lost Elizabethan play known as the Ur-Hamlet.

The story unfolds at the castle of Elsinore. Prince Hamlet mourns his father, the late king, and is appalled that his mother, Gertrude, has quickly married his uncle Claudius, who now sits on the throne. A ghost claiming to be the dead king reveals that Claudius murdered him by pouring poison into his ear while he slept, and demands vengeance. Hamlet vows to comply, but doubts the apparition's truth and decides to feign madness while he works out how to confirm his uncle's guilt.

The play turns on the gap between action and reflection, on grief hardening into rage, and on a persistent suspicion that reality can never be fully known. Hamlet tests Claudius through a staged play that mirrors the crime, and the king's reaction seems to confirm his guilt. Yet Hamlet's delays and mistakes set off a chain of deaths: Polonius, Ophelia, who loses her reason and drowns, Laertes, Gertrude, and finally Hamlet himself, who kills Claudius before dying. The drama addresses betrayal, incest, political corruption and moral ambiguity.

It is structured in five acts, with rising tension mixed with famous soliloquies and moments of dark comedy, such as the scene with the gravediggers. The soliloquy beginning "To be, or not to be" has become a universal reference point on doubt and conscience.

Since its early performances, Hamlet has inspired countless stage productions, films and literary reworkings. It is regarded as one of the greatest achievements of Western drama, and the Danish prince has become an archetype of introspection and indecision.