Hamlet (Illustrated Edition)

Author: (English) William Shakespeare
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was a great playwright and poet during the English Renaissance. His works, except for the early poems he wrote, mainly consist of 37 blank-verse tragedies. The revolutionary leaders Marx and Engels were both fond of Shakespeare's plays. They not only frequently quoted Shakespeare's dramatic works and characters in their own writings but also, when discussing the art of drama, fully recognized Shakespeare's position in the history of drama, pointed out his outstanding achievements in realistic creation, and proposed the principle of "Shakespeareanism," which means creating vivid and well-defined typical characters not from abstract concepts but from real life, through rich and engaging plots. In a letter to, Engels believed that the development of drama should be a perfect fusion of the greater ideological depth and conscious historical content that German drama possessed with the liveliness and richness of the plots in Shakespeare's works. In terms of character portrayal, Engels urged to pay more attention to the significance of Shakespeare in the history of drama and said: "I believe we should not forget the realistic aspects for the sake of abstract ideas, nor forget Shakespeare for the sake of Schiller." The two tragedies included in this book, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, represent Shakespeare's most outstanding achievements, profoundly portraying the tragedy of human nature and the fate of humanity. In terms of the depth and breadth of the social and psychological issues they raise, or in terms of the richness of thought, the refinement, and depth of character portrayal, they are among the greatest works in world literature.