Hamlet - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853260096 ISBN 13: 9781853260094

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions, 1992

Synopsis

Edited, Introduced and Annotated by Cedric Watts, Professor of English Literature, University of Sussex.

The Wordsworth Classics' Shakespeare Series presents a newly-edited sequence of William Shakespeare's works. The Textual editing takes account of recent scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal.

Hamlet is not only one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, but also the most fascinatingly problematical tragedy in world literature.

First performed around 1600, this a gripping and exuberant drama of revenge, rich in contrasts and conflicts. Its violence alternates with introspection, its melancholy with humour, and its subtlety with spectacle. The Prince, Hamlet himself, is depicted as a complex, divided, introspective character. His reflections on death, morality and the very status of human beings make him 'the first modern man'.

Countless stage productions and numerous adaptations for the cinema and television have demonstrated the continuing cultural relevance of this vivid, enigmatic, profound and engrossing drama.

About this title

Review:

Undoubtedly the most famous of all of Shakespeare's plays, Hamlet remains one of the most enduring but also enigmatic pieces of western literature. The story of Hamlet, the young Prince of Denmark, his tortured relationship with his mother, and his quest to avenge his father's murder at the hand of his brother Claudius has fascinated writers and audiences ever since it was written around 1600.

For many years interest focused on both Hamlet's inability to avenge his father's death, claiming that "the native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought", and, according to none other than Freud, his oedipal fixation with his mother. However, more recently critics have turned their attention to Hamlet's bold theatrical self-reflexivity (most famously reflected in the performance of "The Mousetrap"), its fascination with issues of theology and Renaissance humanism, and its dense, complex poetic language. What is so remarkable about the play is the way in which it tends to uncannily reflect the concerns of different epochs. As a result, Hamlet has been at different moments defined as a romantic rebel, an angst-ridden existentialist, a paralysed intellectual and an ambivalent New Man. Whatever subsequent generations make of Hamlet, they are unlikely to exhaust the possibilities of this most extraordinary play. --Jerry Brotton

Review:

'These tapes are invaluable not just because of the quality of the diction and presentation but because they are based on the complete text as established by Philip Edwards for the New Cambridge Shakespeare edition of the plays. They may be used in conjunction with the plays or simply listened to for the sheer joy of hearing Shakespeare's wonderful language without having to endure the absurdities of so many modern productions.' --Contemporary Review

'Well worth acquiring for any good audio collection.' --AVL-Multimedia Information

'The play's the thing here - no tricks or special effects, just lots of lovely Shakespeare, acted with punch and panache ... an impressive treat - and, at not much more than a tenner for a full text on four CDs, an affordable one.' --The Irish Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 1853260096
• ISBN 13: 9781853260094
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192
• Editor: Watts M.A. Ph.D. Professor Cedric