Hamlet

Barbara A. Mowat, Et Al.

ISBN 10: 1411403150 / ISBN 13: 9781411403154

Published by spark notes editors, 2007

About this Item

SparkNotes is a book designed to help you understand and study some of the great literature of our time. Each chapter is explained in clear language. Reliable SparkNotes edition with some shelf wear to the covers. Enjoy this USEFUL edition.

Seller Inventory # 714906202050849

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Hamlet
• Publisher: spark notes editors
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1411403150
• ISBN 13: 9781411403154
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

"SparkNotes Literature Guides" is an invaluable series tackling some of the most important novels ever written and studied. Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, these indispensable study aids are thorough and informative. They feature explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols, detailed analyses of major characters and important quotes, plot summaries and analysis, an exploration of historical context, plus key facts and potential essay topics - everything a student needs to be thoroughly prepared!

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