Editing Hamlet (section)

{{short description|Tragedy by William Shakespeare}}
{{About|the play by William Shakespeare|its protagonist|Prince Hamlet|the type of settlement|Hamlet (place)|other uses}}
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{{Featured article}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox play
| name       = Hamlet
| image      = Edwin Booth Hamlet 1870.jpg
| alt        =
| caption    = [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]] portrayed by [[Edwin Booth]] ({{circa|1870}})
| writer     = [[William Shakespeare]]
| chorus     =
| characters = {{plainlist}}
* [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]]
* [[King Claudius|Claudius]]
* [[Gertrude (Hamlet)|Gertrude]]
* [[Polonius]]
* [[Ophelia]]
* [[Laertes (Hamlet)|Laertes]]
* [[Horatio (Hamlet)|Horatio]]
{{endplainlist}}
| mute       =
| setting    = [[Denmark]]
| premiere   = <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| place      =
| orig_lang  = [[Early Modern English]]
| series    =
| subject    =
| genre      = [[Shakespearean tragedy]]
| web        =
}}
'''''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark''''', often shortened to '''''Hamlet''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|æ|m|l|ᵻ|t}}), is a [[Shakespearean tragedy|tragedy]] written by [[William Shakespeare]] sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in [[Denmark]], the [[play (theatre)|play]] depicts [[Prince Hamlet]] and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, [[King Claudius|Claudius]], who has murdered [[Ghost (Hamlet)|Hamlet's father]] in order to seize his throne and marry [[Gertrude (Hamlet)|Hamlet's mother]]. ''Hamlet'' is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others."{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|p=74}} It is widely considered one of the greatest plays of all time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Propst |first=Andy |date=2022-11-28 |title=50 Best Plays of All Time: Comedies, Tragedies and Dramas Ranked |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/best-plays-of-all-time |access-date=2024-01-06 |website=Time Out New York |language=en-US}}</ref> Three different early versions of the play are extant: the [[Hamlet Q1|First Quarto]] (Q1, 1603); the Second [[Quarto]] (Q2, 1604); and the [[First Folio]] (F1, 1623). Each version includes lines and passages missing from the others.{{sfn|Weiner|1962|pp=1–3}}

Many works have been pointed to as possible sources for Shakespeare's play, from ancient [[Greek tragedies]] to [[Elizabethan drama]]s. The editors of the Arden Shakespeare question the idea of "source hunting", pointing out that it presupposes that authors always require ideas from other works for their own, and suggests that no author can have an original idea or be an originator. When Shakespeare wrote, there were many stories about sons avenging the murder of their fathers, and many about clever avenging sons pretending to be foolish in order to outsmart their foes. This would include the story of the ancient Roman, [[Lucius Junius Brutus]], which Shakespeare apparently knew, as well as the story of [[Amleth]], which was preserved in Latin by 13th-century chronicler [[Saxo Grammaticus]] in his ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'', and printed in Paris in 1514. The Amleth story was subsequently adapted and then published in French in 1570 by the 16th-century scholar [[François de Belleforest]]. It has a number of plot elements and major characters in common with Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', and lacks others that are found in Shakespeare. Belleforest's story was first published in English in 1608, after ''Hamlet'' had been written, though it is possible that Shakespeare had encountered it in the French-language version.{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|p=59-69}}