Hamlet

With his adaptation of the Hamlet story, Shakespeare created one of the most well-known plays of all time, presented here in the standard German translation by August Wilhelm von Schlegel: The Danish Prince Hamlet is tasked by the ghost of his father to avenge his murder by his own brother Claudius – Hamlet's uncle. Claudius has since married Hamlet's mother and rules over Denmark. Although Hamlet vows revenge, he hesitates throughout the entire play to actually carry it out. This inner conflict, expressed in Hamlet's monologues, is the central theme of Shakespeare's longest play. It is intertwined with Hamlet's attempts to protect himself through feigned madness and to expose Claudius for his crime. When the revenge is finally executed in the last act, not only has the royal family met its end, but also that of the courtier Polonius, whose daughter Ophelia was Hamlet's beloved.