Hamlet Parallel Text (The Shakespeare Parallel Text Series) - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0789122499 ISBN 13: 9780789122490

Publisher: Perfection Learning, 1998

Synopsis

Many consider the tragedy of "Hamlet" to be Shakespeare's masterpiece and one of the greatest plays of all time. It has entertained audiences for centuries and the role of Hamlet is one of the most sought after by actors. It is the story of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark who learns of the death of his father at the hands of his uncle, Claudius. Claudius murders Hamlet's father, his own brother, to take the throne of Denmark and to marry Hamlet's widowed mother. Hamlet is sunk into a state of great despair as a result of discovering the murder of his father and the infidelity of his mother. Hamlet is torn between his great sadness and his desire for the revenge of his father's murder. "Hamlet" is a work of great complexity and as such has drawn many different critical interpretations. Hamlet has been seen as a victim of circumstance, as an impractical idealist, as the sufferer of an Oedipus complex, as an opportunist wishing to kill his Uncle not for revenge but to ascend to the throne, as the sufferer of a great melancholy, and as a man blinded by his desire for revenge. The true motivations of Hamlet are complex and enigmatic and have been debated for centuries. Read this classic tragedy and decide for yourself where Hamlet's true motivations lie and how they influence his ultimate demise.

About this title

Review

An extraordinary achievement and milestone in the recent history
of version-based editing... Indeed, this is version-based editing at its
best. -- Eric Rasmussen, Shakespeare Survey

Hamlet's latest editors have undertaken a heroic task with great
skill and thoroughnesss -- Stanley Wells, The Observer

Stunning! There is absolutely no doubt about this being the text
to buy if you are studying the play at A Level. And the same stands for
those students who will be studying the play at university. This critical
edition gives the reader the Second Quarto Text (1604-1605), annotated with
intelligence and care, a wealth of historical and cultural references and a
survey of different critical approaches to the play. -- The Use of English, The English Association

The new Arden Hamlet is a pathbreaking edition, one that promises
to change irrevocably our understanding of Shakespeare's greatest play -- Professor James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare

From the Back Cover

THE CRITICAL EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE

With a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary, this edition of Hamlet
provides:

* The Second Quarto Text (1604-1605), edited to the highest standards of
scholarship

* Additional passages found only in the 1623 Folio text

* Detailed notes and commentary on the same page as the text

* A full, illustrated introduction to the play's historical, cultural and
performance contexts

* An in-depth survey of critical approaches to the play

* A full index to the introduction and notes

* A select bibliography of references and further reading

This is a fully self-contained free-standing volume which includes in its
Introduction and Appendices all the supporting materials that a reader
would expect to find in an Arden edition.
It forms the core of a ground-breaking edition of three Hamlet texts. A
companion volume contains the fully annotated texts of the 1603 First
Quarto and the 1623 Folio.

Readers of both editions have, for the first time, a unique opportunity to
study the three surviving texts of Hamlet experienced by Shakespeare's
contemporaries, fully modernized and edited by leading scholars.

Edition details

• Publisher: Perfection Learning
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0789122499
• ISBN 13: 9780789122490
• Binding: Paperback