Customer Rating: 
Summary: Utter Tripe
Comment: What kind of idiot writes this tripe? This is allegedly a "Play" by some long-dead "Master".
Well, let me tell, you: it's boring and derivative. It's about this Prince who doesn't get his father's throne, and feels all depressed about it for a while, and fights back against his uncle (who took the throne and married the prince's mother), to show everyone that it was actually the uncle who killed his father the king.
Excuse me? Haven't we heard this before?
Yep: Disney's "The Lion King".
This is "The Lion King" dressed up in period clothes. Instead of "Simba", we've got "Hamlet". Instead of "Scar", we've got "Claudius". Instead of "Nala", we've got "Ophelia".
And it's in "Denmark", instead of the African Plains. Denmark? Is that even a real country anymore? Anyways, it's called Europe, now; That's a part of London.
And don't get me started on the language this writer used! It's all like it's from the Bible and stuff. Get rid of that, and use real words: Take a lesson from someone like Stephen King.
Don't waste your time with this; watch "The Lion King", and you'll get it. And while you're at it, there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'm selling.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Methinks it is like a weasel.
Comment: I'm going to take some hits for this (by rabid Shakespeare fans mostly), but this play, whether read in a straightforward manner, or analyzed to the hilt, is just somewhat better than mediocre.
Most folks who would read this work know that Shakespeare's plays are broken down, at the top, into two groups: tragedies and comedies. Hamlet is a tragedy -- the limited humor that one finds herein is pretty darn subtle, (e.g., the comment about Englishmen all being mad). I do not criticise "Hamlet" for that actuality, in fact, I prefer the tragedies. However, the play, as plays go, is simply just so-so. I think folks get 'caught up' in the fact that this is SHAKESPEARE, and therefore, they are SUPPOSED to like it if they have an ounce of culture.
For people who wish to delve into ecclectic classic works (of all genres), "Hamlet" is difficult to read (unless you're a genius, you sort of have to stumble along and concentrate on what has been said), due mostly to the archaic language. I think, to be a fan of Shakespeare, one must assidiously STUDY Shakespeare... and for those folks who just want 'to read some Shakespeare,' I think that "Julius Caesar" is a much better place to begin.
The story about Hamlet is essentially a good tale, if a bit drawn out, but some of the details are what make it most interesting. Also, I like any story where madness is a facet of the discussion (I LOVED "The Brothers Karamazov," Dostoyevsky!)
But to assert that this work is a wonderful read just because it's Shakespeare, is why I say: Methinks it is [just a bit] like a weasel.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Shakespearen Play Ever!
Comment: Hamlet is a must read...end of review.
No, seriously who can't pass up...
"to be or not to be that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outragous fortune or to take on a sea of troubles and by opposing end them. To die to sleep..."
You'll have to read the play to find out the rest.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hamlet over Macbeth; Folgers over Free
Comment: Despite its antiquated setting, Hamlet speaks to the average individual in ways that Julius Caesar or Macbeth do not, although they are obviously very worthy in different ways. Further, if you are a teacher of students disenfranchised in some way, this can be a very liberating text--not because of the literal plot, but due to the rich discussions that it provokes around how *not* to end up like either a modern Ophelia or Hamlet. Frankly, I am mystified why Macbeth is the traditional choice in Senior-level textbooks, since Hamlet has proven to be so much more interesting to young adults in my six years of HS teaching.
Free or extremely inexpensive texts are available on-line; however, I have found the Folger edition particularly useful in helping my students (and me) appreciate the finer points. For example, it's fun to see the meanings behind the flowers that crazy Ophelia hands out, which Folger explains while others don't. Too, do *you* know what a petard is, even though you've likely been hoisted on your own? Folgers does!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Contemporary Relevance in a Four Hundred Year Old Play
Comment: Whatever your reason for picking up this book, or for wanting to re-familiarize yourself with it, you cannot help but be amazed at the contemporary relevance of a play penned with a goose quill by the light of candles four hundred years ago. Reading the text in its original language adds a special thrill. Shakespeare illustrates with dexterity and economy how our language can be employed to convey thought and action with precision, beauty, humor, and multi-layered meaning. You will see much that is familiar in Hamlet, because many lines have entered our contemporary usage:
Neither a borrower or a lender be...
To thine own self be true...
A custom more honored in the breach than the observance
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
Though this be madness, yet there is method in `t.
To be or not to be...
The lady doth protest too much...
Brevity is the soul of wit.
I must be cruel only to be kind.
...Hoist with his own petard
...the dog will have his day
Good night, sweet prince...
Even the time-honored concept of "innocent by reason of insanity" is one invented by Hamlet, in defense of his murder of Polonius, and it is now a cottage industry among trial lawyers.
It's a living play, and your fresh eyes will read fresh meaning into every line of it.
Summary: Utter Tripe
Comment: What kind of idiot writes this tripe? This is allegedly a "Play" by some long-dead "Master".
Well, let me tell, you: it's boring and derivative. It's about this Prince who doesn't get his father's throne, and feels all depressed about it for a while, and fights back against his uncle (who took the throne and married the prince's mother), to show everyone that it was actually the uncle who killed his father the king.
Excuse me? Haven't we heard this before?
Yep: Disney's "The Lion King".
This is "The Lion King" dressed up in period clothes. Instead of "Simba", we've got "Hamlet". Instead of "Scar", we've got "Claudius". Instead of "Nala", we've got "Ophelia".
And it's in "Denmark", instead of the African Plains. Denmark? Is that even a real country anymore? Anyways, it's called Europe, now; That's a part of London.
And don't get me started on the language this writer used! It's all like it's from the Bible and stuff. Get rid of that, and use real words: Take a lesson from someone like Stephen King.
Don't waste your time with this; watch "The Lion King", and you'll get it. And while you're at it, there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'm selling.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Methinks it is like a weasel.
Comment: I'm going to take some hits for this (by rabid Shakespeare fans mostly), but this play, whether read in a straightforward manner, or analyzed to the hilt, is just somewhat better than mediocre.
Most folks who would read this work know that Shakespeare's plays are broken down, at the top, into two groups: tragedies and comedies. Hamlet is a tragedy -- the limited humor that one finds herein is pretty darn subtle, (e.g., the comment about Englishmen all being mad). I do not criticise "Hamlet" for that actuality, in fact, I prefer the tragedies. However, the play, as plays go, is simply just so-so. I think folks get 'caught up' in the fact that this is SHAKESPEARE, and therefore, they are SUPPOSED to like it if they have an ounce of culture.
For people who wish to delve into ecclectic classic works (of all genres), "Hamlet" is difficult to read (unless you're a genius, you sort of have to stumble along and concentrate on what has been said), due mostly to the archaic language. I think, to be a fan of Shakespeare, one must assidiously STUDY Shakespeare... and for those folks who just want 'to read some Shakespeare,' I think that "Julius Caesar" is a much better place to begin.
The story about Hamlet is essentially a good tale, if a bit drawn out, but some of the details are what make it most interesting. Also, I like any story where madness is a facet of the discussion (I LOVED "The Brothers Karamazov," Dostoyevsky!)
But to assert that this work is a wonderful read just because it's Shakespeare, is why I say: Methinks it is [just a bit] like a weasel.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Shakespearen Play Ever!
Comment: Hamlet is a must read...end of review.
No, seriously who can't pass up...
"to be or not to be that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outragous fortune or to take on a sea of troubles and by opposing end them. To die to sleep..."
You'll have to read the play to find out the rest.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hamlet over Macbeth; Folgers over Free
Comment: Despite its antiquated setting, Hamlet speaks to the average individual in ways that Julius Caesar or Macbeth do not, although they are obviously very worthy in different ways. Further, if you are a teacher of students disenfranchised in some way, this can be a very liberating text--not because of the literal plot, but due to the rich discussions that it provokes around how *not* to end up like either a modern Ophelia or Hamlet. Frankly, I am mystified why Macbeth is the traditional choice in Senior-level textbooks, since Hamlet has proven to be so much more interesting to young adults in my six years of HS teaching.
Free or extremely inexpensive texts are available on-line; however, I have found the Folger edition particularly useful in helping my students (and me) appreciate the finer points. For example, it's fun to see the meanings behind the flowers that crazy Ophelia hands out, which Folger explains while others don't. Too, do *you* know what a petard is, even though you've likely been hoisted on your own? Folgers does!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Contemporary Relevance in a Four Hundred Year Old Play
Comment: Whatever your reason for picking up this book, or for wanting to re-familiarize yourself with it, you cannot help but be amazed at the contemporary relevance of a play penned with a goose quill by the light of candles four hundred years ago. Reading the text in its original language adds a special thrill. Shakespeare illustrates with dexterity and economy how our language can be employed to convey thought and action with precision, beauty, humor, and multi-layered meaning. You will see much that is familiar in Hamlet, because many lines have entered our contemporary usage:
Neither a borrower or a lender be...
To thine own self be true...
A custom more honored in the breach than the observance
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
Though this be madness, yet there is method in `t.
To be or not to be...
The lady doth protest too much...
Brevity is the soul of wit.
I must be cruel only to be kind.
...Hoist with his own petard
...the dog will have his day
Good night, sweet prince...
Even the time-honored concept of "innocent by reason of insanity" is one invented by Hamlet, in defense of his murder of Polonius, and it is now a cottage industry among trial lawyers.
It's a living play, and your fresh eyes will read fresh meaning into every line of it.