Hamlet

Tragedy by William Shakespeare

Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is studying in Wittenberg. When his father dies, Hamlet returns home to the Danish royal castle of Elsinore. However, he does not find a mourning party, but a wedding party. His mother Gertrud has married Claudius, her late husband's brother. The ghost of the dead king, his father, appears to Hamlet. The ghost reveals to him that he did not die of a snakebite, as the official story goes, but was poisoned by Claudius. He asks Hamlet to avenge this murder. Hamlet doesn't actually believe in ghosts. So what can he do? He delays his act of revenge again and again. Until it is almost too late.

Shakespeare's "Hamlet", one of the most famous plays ever written, is an ingenious mixture of profound intellectual drama and lurid revenge tragedy. Eight deaths.

Recommended for ages 16 and up.