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  • Published: 15 October 2019
  • ISBN: 9789381182512
  • Imprint: Steerforth Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 90
  • RRP: $26.00

Hamlet

Staged: the origins of YA’s greatest tropes




A concise, highly enjoyable adaptation of the classic Shakespeare drama; one of more than 85 titles Campfire has published since their introduction to North America in 2010.

A concise, highly enjoyable adaptation of the classic Shakespeare drama; one of more than 85 titles Campfire has published since their introduction to North America in 2010.

Once upon a time on a dark winter night, a ghost appears on the ramparts of Castle Elsinore in Denmark. It closely resembles the recently deceased king of Denmark. The guards see it first, and then the scholar Horatio confronts it. But it doesn't speak to them. Impatient to know what the ghost's appearance means, they summon Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. Hamlet has returned to Denmark to attend his father's funeral. Yet, he finds himself also attending his mother Gertrude's wedding to his uncle Claudius, who has inherited the throne. What will the ghost tell Hamlet?
One of the most intense and intriguing tragedies of all time is built upon the answer to this question. William Shakespeare's Hamlet is not just a story of a mad prince out to avenge his father's death. It is also the story of the struggle of a nation against Fate. It is the story of human willpower battling the odds. It is not only the story of a man at war with the world around him, but also the story of a man in conflict with his own mind. It is the story of a time when something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

  • Published: 15 October 2019
  • ISBN: 9789381182512
  • Imprint: Steerforth Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 90
  • RRP: $26.00

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About the author

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glove maker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a well-to-do local land owner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford’s grammar school. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, and the couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585.

Shakespeare’s theatrical life seems to have commenced around 1590. We do know that he was part of the Lord Chamberlain’s Company, which was renamed the King’s Company in 1603 when James I succeeded to the throne. The Company acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.

Shakespeare’s poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare’s sonnets were probably written at this time as well.

Records of Shakespeare’s plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include Henry VI and Titus Andronicus. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Richard II all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s; these include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Antony & Cleopatra. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include The Tempest.

Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as ‘the First Folio’.

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