Rating: 
Summary: Hamlet is a very difficult but excellent book
Review: Hamlet is a very intricate book that requires very in-depth reading or even a little help from essays written on Hamlet or something of that nature. It is a very good book with a nice blend of puns and paradoxes to foreshadowing. It is a story of a Danish prince caught in the middle of an uncle who recently became king at the death of Hamlet's father, a mother who married Hamlet's uncle after Hamlet's father's death, and a girlfriend who is a bit crazy. This all sets up a Shakespeare's classic. It is a reference of the monarchies of the late 1500's early 1600's when family members killed other family members for the monarchy. Their is the outside conflict Hamlet has with his mother and uncle but also their is the intricate inner conflict in Hamlet of what to do. This discussion leads to the question is Hamlet crazy. This all sets up one of the most famous speech in literature, "To be or not to be? That is the question."
Rating:
Summary: Hamlet is a very difficult but excellent book
Review: Hamlet is a very intricate book that requires very in-depth reading or even a little help from essays written on Hamlet or something of that nature. It is a very good book with a nice blend of puns and paradoxes to foreshadowing. It is a story of a Danish prince caught in the middle of an uncle who recently became king at the death of Hamlet's father, a mother who married Hamlet's uncle after Hamlet's father's death, and a girlfriend who is a bit crazy. This all sets up a Shakespeare's classic. It is a reference of the monarchies of the late 1500's early 1600's when family members killed other family members for the monarchy. Their is the outside conflict Hamlet has with his mother and uncle but also their is the intricate inner conflict in Hamlet of what to do. This discussion leads to the question is Hamlet crazy. This all sets up one of the most famous speech in literature, "To be or not to be? That is the question."
Rating:
Summary: Hamlet the best Shakespeare
Review: Hamlet is arguably the best play that Shakespeare ever wrote. This play has intrigue and misery and death everything that makes it Shakespeare but not only that it is more interesting not only in plot but in language than all the other plays. If you are not use to reading Shakespeare then you may have trouble understanding everything that is going on in this play. The character of Hamlet is so interesting because his misery can be interpreted in so many different forms. Hamlet's misery can be construed as his frustration over his father's death or his love for Ophelia, or just adolescent misery in general. The fact that it can be all of these things just makes it more interesting because in each way the play can be read in different ways. Hamlet seems so noble in his efforts to expose his uncle as a murderer but he is also a murderer because he murders Polonias. This event in turn makes Ophelia mad and she then commits suicide and therefore her brother blames Hamlet so there is double guilt for Hamlet. In the end of the play I believe that Hamlet is so tortured not only with his own guilt but also his misery of all of the other factors such as his mother that he actually wants to die. But he had to kill Claudius in order to feel ready to die because then he would have done his duty and avenged his father's death.
My favorite part in the play is where Hamlet devises the play to his own benefit to confirm that Claudius is really the killer and that the ghost was really his father and not the devil. This play is great fun to read and play out in your mind. If you want to see a good video version of this play rent the version that stars Mel Gibson. This is my favorite Shakespeare play and always will be.
Rating:
Summary: Hamlet the best Shakespeare
Review: Hamlet is arguably the best play that Shakespeare ever wrote. This play has intrigue and misery and death everything that makes it Shakespeare but not only that it is more interesting not only in plot but in language than all the other plays. If you are not use to reading Shakespeare then you may have trouble understanding everything that is going on in this play. The character of Hamlet is so interesting because his misery can be interpreted in so many different forms. Hamlet's misery can be construed as his frustration over his father's death or his love for Ophelia, or just adolescent misery in general. The fact that it can be all of these things just makes it more interesting because in each way the play can be read in different ways. Hamlet seems so noble in his efforts to expose his uncle as a murderer but he is also a murderer because he murders Polonias. This event in turn makes Ophelia mad and she then commits suicide and therefore her brother blames Hamlet so there is double guilt for Hamlet. In the end of the play I believe that Hamlet is so tortured not only with his own guilt but also his misery of all of the other factors such as his mother that he actually wants to die. But he had to kill Claudius in order to feel ready to die because then he would have done his duty and avenged his father's death.
My favorite part in the play is where Hamlet devises the play to his own benefit to confirm that Claudius is really the killer and that the ghost was really his father and not the devil. This play is great fun to read and play out in your mind. If you want to see a good video version of this play rent the version that stars Mel Gibson. This is my favorite Shakespeare play and always will be.
Rating:
Summary: branagh's hamartia: "Hamlet" version
Review: kenneth branagh, genius. tragic flaw...same as greatest asset...the dual nature of innovation. when you cast mega stars is mini roles, some things dont exactly match up. fodder happens. in much ado...keanu reeves? ugh. hamlet...jack lemmon. oh well. an amazing film. if you can find "the heart of hamlet, the play shakespeare wrote" by professor bernard grebanier buy it. learn something...change the universe, at least your little portion of it by having an understanding of the greatest single literary achievement in the history of man. got something better to do?
Rating: 
Summary: For the general reader, Hamlet is an exciting read.
Review: One of my favorite Shakespearean plays is Hamlet. While I enjoyed reading Kenneth Branagh's screenplay adaptation of Hamlet, at first, I found the script hard to read with the italicized "stage directions", I did not know if the italicized words were directions or additions to the dialogue for the characters in the movie. But then, I realized that the "stage directions" were put in to aid the reader in an understanding the play, Hamlet. Bravo, Branagh! This screenplay is a must for any Shakespeare buff whose favorite Shakespeare play is Hamlet!
Rating: 
Summary: The Art of Tart
Review: really, aren't we all just so sick and tired of this whole 'Shakespeare' craze that's been going on for the past four hundred years. Isn't it time we moved on to some more modern books like Wuthering Heights or the Great Fruit Bat? Yes, Shakespeare may ahve had an affinity for language, but with lines like, "My zipper is down, oh me oh my, I wish I could find a suitable fly!" or "The wombat is dead! The wombat is dead! We've all begun to shave her head!," you have to begin questioning the integrity of this so called 'playwright.' Call me a tart, but these books are silly and outdated. Go read some Tolstoy.
Rating:
Summary: The Art of Tart
Review: really, aren't we all just so sick and tired of this whole 'Shakespeare' craze that's been going on for the past four hundred years. Isn't it time we moved on to some more modern books like Wuthering Heights or the Great Fruit Bat? Yes, Shakespeare may ahve had an affinity for language, but with lines like, "My zipper is down, oh me oh my, I wish I could find a suitable fly!" or "The wombat is dead! The wombat is dead! We've all begun to shave her head!," you have to begin questioning the integrity of this so called 'playwright.' Call me a tart, but these books are silly and outdated. Go read some Tolstoy.
Rating:
Summary: Book is lightweight in comparison to the film
Review: Relatively, the screenplay is 173 pages and the film diary by Russell Jackson (not Branagh) is 34 pages. Branagh does furnish a short introduction. In addition there are about 30 pages of absolutely beautiful stills from the film and the filming. There are certainly better reading versions of Hamlet available, the screenplay is the full Shakespeare play so there's not much to analyze as regards to editing, the diary is not from a prominent member of the cast or crew (a filmographer I think but I am not sure of his role in this specific film), the color photographs included are spectacular and leave me wanting more but they generally are on the small side. Maybe it is handy to mark lines or scenes that are of particular interest... Mostly, I like it more for the memory of the movie (spectacular!!!) than for the book itself so unless you are an equally avid fan the book may disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: Book is lightweight in comparison to the film
Review: Relatively, the screenplay is 173 pages and the film diary by Russell Jackson (not Branagh) is 34 pages. Branagh does furnish a short introduction. In addition there are about 30 pages of absolutely beautiful stills from the film and the filming. There are certainly better reading versions of Hamlet available, the screenplay is the full Shakespeare play so there's not much to analyze as regards to editing, the diary is not from a prominent member of the cast or crew (a filmographer I think but I am not sure of his role in this specific film), the color photographs included are spectacular and leave me wanting more but they generally are on the small side. Maybe it is handy to mark lines or scenes that are of particular interest... Mostly, I like it more for the memory of the movie (spectacular!!!) than for the book itself so unless you are an equally avid fan the book may disappoint.
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