Hamlet

Author: (English) William Shakespeare, translated by Song Wu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: This book is a revenge tragedy. The story of Prince Hamlet avenging his father is an ancient tale from Northern Europe. More than a decade before Shakespeare wrote this masterpiece, a revenge tragedy based on the life of Hamlet had already been performed on the London stage. Revenge tragedies were very popular among London audiences at the time, but Shakespeare's masterpiece cannot be summarized solely as a revenge tragedy due to its immense ideological depth.
Highlights: The sudden death of King Hamlet, the father of the Danish prince, strikes the young prince with unbearable spiritual blows. His mother forgets her marital vows and hastily marries her brother-in-law—Claudius, a man of low character whom the prince deeply despises. These successive events lead the prince to view the world as a desolate wasteland overgrown with thorns and brambles, expressing his world-weariness: "Would to God that this flesh and blood would melt away and turn into a single drop of dew!"