Book Review: Hamlet by William Shakespeare

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“Hamlet” by William Shakespeare is truly a play everyone must-read at least once. Although it is not my personal favourite of Shakespeare but I highly enjoyed it!

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“Hamlet” follows the story of the young prince of Denmark – Hamlet – as he seeks revenge for the murder of his father. However, things are not always as they seem and the young prince’s life is in danger!

I was very excited to read Hamlet for the first time but I was, unfortunately, let down after the first act.

In my opinion, this play is mostly interesting due to its revenge plots and its play-within-play plot. Even these two interesting plot points weren’t sufficient enough to grasp my interest.

Admittedly, Hamlet is pretty clever. Leaving the readers unsure if he’s mad or just acting. Also, it was cheap for him to use the appeal to madness to justify his actions.

For those reasons, I don’t like Hamlet the hero much. I neither liked the other characters. Their actions, speeches, and interjections weren’t marking compared to other plays.

Furthermore, I don’t understand the Hamlet hype. The universally known “To Be or Not To Be” speech is surely the highlight due to its ambiguity and the lack of answer it proposes to its question.

I might not have liked the play as much but I liked the ending. All the characters annoyed me so much I wasn’t even upset, but relieved, that they were all gone. They were all treacherous, merciless, and hypocritical. I was like BYE.

Overall, Hamlet still remains a must-read.

“Doubt thou the stars are fire;

Doubt that the sun doth move;

Doubt truth to be a liar;

But never doubt I love.”

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

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