Larger	SparkNotes No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet Author: SparkNotes Editors, William Shakespeare
	Book Information Publisher: SparkNotes Book Type: Paperback Members Wishing: 0 Rating: 12 ISBN-13: 9781586638443 - ISBN-10: 1586638440 Publication Date: 4/15/2003 Pages: 337

SparkNotes: Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare)

No Fear Shakespeare puts Shakespeare's language side-by-side with a facing-page translation into modern English - the kind of English people actually speak today.

Hamlet
The prince of Denmark, and a student at the University of Wittenberg. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, has recently died, and his mother, Queen Gertrude, has married the new king, Hamlet's uncle Claudius. Hamlet is melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle and disgust at his mother for marrying him. When the ghost of Hamlet's father appears and claims to have been murdered by Claudius, Hamlet becomes obsessed with avenging his father's death but keeps thinking of reasons why he should wait before killing Claudius-then chastizes himself for failing to act boldly. Hamlet is a character of contradictions. He admires characters like Fortinbras and the Player King, who behave passionately and even violently for no good reason, but is himself thoughtful, reflective, and philosophical. At times Hamlet is indecisive and hesitant, but at other times he is prone to rash and impulsive acts of violence.