Hamlet

This drama about the Danish prince Hamlet is arguably one of the most famous plays of all time. Hamlet has become the prototype of the procrastinator, whose intellect undermines action. The linguistic artist and creator Shakespeare seems to have fashioned his own likeness in Hamlet. For like no other character of Shakespeare, Hamlet knows how to play the instrument of language as if it were an organ with multiple manuals and registers. The reading booklet includes, in addition to the unabridged text translated by August Wilhelm von Schlegel (with continuous verse/line numbering), a postscript, a section on Shakespeare's biography, bibliographic references, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's essay "Shakespeare and No End," as well as notes and explanations of words and concepts.