Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Students’ Abridged Edition

Shakespeare’s best-known play, Hamlet is noted for its dark treatment of a sensitive soul troubled by an impossible task: avenging his father’s death without tainting his own mind. Hamlet’s vacillation, his harsh treatment of his mother and his girlfriend, and his long, introspective soliloquies have long fascinated both readers and critics. The edition given here is abridged but otherwise unmodified; the major plot moments, characters, and speeches are preserved, along with the play’s original chronology, language, and style, resulting in an authentic yet modified version that is much more manageable for both reading and production.