Prince Hamlet is a fictional character, the protagonist in Shakespeare's
tragedyShakespeare wrote tragedies from the beginning of his career. One of his earliest plays was the Roman tragedy Titus Andronicus, which he followed a few years later with Romeo and Juliet. However, his most admired tragedies were written in a seven-year period between 1601 and 1608...
HamletThe Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then...
. He is the Prince of
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
, nephew to the usurping
ClaudiusKing Claudius is a fictional character and the antagonist from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle to Hamlet. He obtained the throne by murdering his own brother with poison and then marrying the late king's widow...
and son of the previous King of Denmark,
Old HamletKing Hamlet is a character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, also known as The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. He should not be confused with his son, Prince Hamlet, who is the central figure of the play...
. Throughout the play he struggles with whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and struggles with his own
sanitySanity refers to the soundness, rationality and reasonableness of the human mind. A person is sane if they are rational. In modern society, the terms have become exclusively synonymous with compos mentis , in contrast with non compos mentis, or insane.- Legal status :In criminal and mental health...
along the way. By the end of the tragedy, Hamlet has caused the deaths of Claudius,
PoloniusPolonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is King Claudius's chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet...
,
LaertesLaertes is a character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. His name is taken from the father of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia...
and his two childhood friends
Rosencrantz and GuildensternRosencrantz and Guildenstern are fictional characters, a pair of courtiers appearing in William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. They are also major characters in Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and W. S...
.
Prince Hamlet is a fictional character, the protagonist in Shakespeare's
tragedyShakespeare wrote tragedies from the beginning of his career. One of his earliest plays was the Roman tragedy Titus Andronicus, which he followed a few years later with Romeo and Juliet. However, his most admired tragedies were written in a seven-year period between 1601 and 1608...
HamletThe Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then...
. He is the Prince of
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
, nephew to the usurping
ClaudiusKing Claudius is a fictional character and the antagonist from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle to Hamlet. He obtained the throne by murdering his own brother with poison and then marrying the late king's widow...
and son of the previous King of Denmark,
Old HamletKing Hamlet is a character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, also known as The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. He should not be confused with his son, Prince Hamlet, who is the central figure of the play...
. Throughout the play he struggles with whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and struggles with his own
sanitySanity refers to the soundness, rationality and reasonableness of the human mind. A person is sane if they are rational. In modern society, the terms have become exclusively synonymous with compos mentis , in contrast with non compos mentis, or insane.- Legal status :In criminal and mental health...
along the way. By the end of the tragedy, Hamlet has caused the deaths of Claudius,
PoloniusPolonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is King Claudius's chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet...
,
LaertesLaertes is a character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. His name is taken from the father of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia...
and his two childhood friends
Rosencrantz and GuildensternRosencrantz and Guildenstern are fictional characters, a pair of courtiers appearing in William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. They are also major characters in Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and W. S...
. He is also indirectly involved in the deaths of his love Ophelia (drowning) and of his mother
GertrudeIn William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and Queen of Denmark. Her relationship with Hamlet is somewhat turbulent, since he resents her for marrying her husband's brother Claudius after he murdered the King...
(poisoned by mistake). Hamlet himself is the final character to die in the play.
Views of Hamlet
Perhaps the most straightforward view sees Hamlet as seeking truth in order to be certain that he is justified in carrying out the revenge called for by a ghost that claims to be the spirit of his father. The 1948 movie with
Laurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Alec Guinness and Ralph Richardson...
in the title role is introduced by a voiceover: "This is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind."
T. S. EliotThomas Stearns Eliot, OM , was a poet, playwright, and literary critic. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Among his most famous writings are The Love Song of J...
offers a similar view of Hamlet's character in his critical essay, "Hamlet and His Problems" (
The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism). He states, "We find Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' not in the action, not in any quotations that we might select, so much as in an unmistakable tone...".
Others see Hamlet as a person charged with a duty that he both knows and feels is right, yet is unwilling to carry out. In this view, all of his efforts to satisfy himself of Claudius' guilt, or his failure to act when he can, are evidence of this unwillingness, and Hamlet berates himself for his inability to carry out his task. After observing a play-actor performing a scene, he notes that the actor was moved to tears in the passion of the story and compares this passion for an
ancient GreekAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
character,
HecubaThe Trojan Women is a tragedy by the Greek playwright Euripides. Produced during the Peloponnesian War, it is often considered a commentary on the capture of the Aegean island of Melos and the subsequent slaughter and subjugation of its populace by the Athenians earlier in 415 BC , the same year...
, in light of his own situation:
- "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
- Is it not monstrous that this player here,
- But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
- Could force his soul so to his own conceit
- That from her working all his visage wan'd;
- Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
- A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
- With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing!
- For Hecuba?
- What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
- That he should weep for her?" […]
Etymology of Hamlet
Hamlet’s name is filled with meaning and controversy. The name Hamlet occurs as early as the 10th century. His name is easily derived in form from Belleforest and the lost play from Amlethus of
SaxoSaxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :...
, and remaining in this form is then derived from its Latin form of the old Jutish Amlethoe. From this point the name can be divided into sections with common meanings. In terms of etymology the root name of Hamlet is an Icelandic noun, Amlooi, meaning ‘fool.’ However, this name is derived from the way that Hamlet acts in the play and is not in all actuality the true
etymologyEtymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and...
of the name. The second way of translating the name is by analyzing the
nounIn linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition....
aml-ooi into ‘raving mad’ and the second half, amla into ‘routine’. Later these names were incorporated into
Irish dialectIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
as Amlodhe. As phonetic laws took their course the name’s spelling changed eventually leaving it as Amlaidhe. This Irish name was given to a hero in a common folk story. The root of this name is ‘furious, raging, wild.’ These are all meanings Shakespeare would have been aware of when deciding on the name for his longest play.
Shakespeare had a son named Hamnet, who died at age 11, about four years before the play was written.
Asimov
Another view of Hamlet, advanced by
Isaac AsimovIsaac Asimov , was an American author and professor of biochemistry, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books...
in his
Guide to Shakespeare, holds that his actions are attributable not to indecision, but to multiple motivations: his desire to avenge the wrong done to his father, coupled with his own ambition to succeed to the throne. The tragic error committed by Hamlet, in Asimov's view, is his overreaching wish to see Claudius damned, and not merely dead, which prevents him from killing Claudius at the opportune moment.
Influence of the Reformation
It has also been suggested that Hamlet's hesitations may also be rooted in the religious beliefs of Shakespeare's time. The
Protestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
had generated debate about the existence of
purgatoryPurgatory is the condition or process of purification in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven. This is an idea that has ancient roots and is well-attested in early Christian literature, while the conception of purgatory as a geographically situated place is...
(where King Hamlet claims he currently resides). The concept of purgatory is a
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
one, and was frowned on in
ProtestantProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
England. Hamlet says that he will not kill his uncle because death would send him straight to
heavenHeaven may refer to the physical heavens, the sky or the seemingly endless expanse of the universe beyond. This is the traditional literal meaning of the term in English...
, while his father (having died without foreknowledge of his death) is in purgatory doing
penancePenance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox Christian Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in the Lutheran Divine Service...
for his. Hamlet's opportunity to kill his uncle comes just after the uncle has supposedly made his peace with
GodGod is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
. Hamlet says that he would much rather take a stab at the murderer while he is frolicking in the "
incestIncest is any sexual activity between close relatives irrespective of the ages of the participants and irrespective of their consent, that is illegal or socially taboo. The type of sexual activity and the nature of the relationship between persons that constitutes a breach of law or social taboo...
uous sheets", or
gamblingGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period....
and drinking, so he could be sure of his going straight to
hellIn many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless...
.
Freudian interpretation
Ernest JonesAlfred Ernest Jones Welsh neurologist, psychoanalyst and Sigmund Freud’s official biographer. As the first English-language practitioner of psychoanalysis and as President of both of the British Psycho-Analytical Society and the International Psychoanalytic Association in the 1920s and 1930s,...
, following the work of
Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud , Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology...
, held that Hamlet suffered from the '
Oedipus complexThe Oedipus complex, in psychoanalytic theory, is a group of largely unconscious ideas and feelings which centre around the desire to possess the parent of the opposite sex and eliminate the parent of the same sex....
'. He said in his essay "The Oedipus-Complex as An Explanation of Hamlet's Mystery: A Study in Motive":
- His moral fate is bound up with his uncle's for good or ill. The call of duty to slay his uncle cannot be obeyed because it links itself with the call of his nature to slay his mother's husband, whether this is the first or the second; the latter call is strongly "repressed," and therefore necessarily the former also.
Interestingly,
Harold BloomHarold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, currently Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University...
did a "Shakespearean Criticism" of Freud's work in response.
As a mirror of the audience
It has also been suggested that Hamlet, who is described by Ophelia as "th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state, / The glass of fashion and the mould of form" (Act III, Scene i, lines 148-9), is ultimately a reflection of all of the interpretations possessed by other characters in the play—and perhaps also by the members of an audience watching him.
PoloniusPolonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is King Claudius's chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet...
, most obviously, has a habit of misreading his own expectations into Hamlet’s actions ("Still harping on my daughter!"), though many other characters in the play participate in analogous behaviour.
Gertrude has a similar tendency to interpret all of her son’s activities as the result of her "o’erhasty marriage" alone.
Rosencrantz and GuildensternRosencrantz and Guildenstern are fictional characters, a pair of courtiers appearing in William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. They are also major characters in Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and W. S...
tend to find the stalled ambitions of a courtier in their former schoolmate’s behaviour, whereas Claudius seems to be concerned with Hamlet’s motivation only so far as it reveals the degree to which his nephew is a potential threat. Ophelia, like her father, waits in vain for Hamlet to give her signs of affection, and Horatio would have little reason to think that Hamlet was concerned with anything more pressing than the commandment of the ghost. And the First Gravedigger seems to think that Prince Hamlet, like that "whoreson mad fellow” Yorick, is simply insane without any need for explanation. Several critics, including
Stephen BoothStephen Booth is a professor of English literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He first attracted attention with his controversial 1969 essays On the Value of Hamlet and An Essay on Shakespeare's Sonnets, in which he reread the works in a manner considerably different from...
and
William EmpsonSir William Empson was an English literary critic and poet.He is sometimes praised as the greatest English literary critic after Samuel Johnson and William Hazlitt, and widely influential for his practice of closely reading literary works, fundamental to the New Critics...
have further investigated the analogous relationship between
Hamlet, the play, and its audience.
Hamlet's parallels with other characters
One aspect of Hamlet's character is the way in which he reflects other characters, including the play's primary
antagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or an institution, who represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
, Claudius. In the play within a play, for instance, Gonzago, the king, is murdered in the garden by his
nephew, Lucianus; although King Hamlet is murdered by his brother, in
The Murder of Gonzago - which Hamlet tauntingly calls "The Mousetrap" when Claudius asks "What do you call the play?" - the
regicideThe broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after alleged due process of law....
is a nephew, like Prince Hamlet. However, it is also worth noting that each of the characters in the play-within-a-play maps to two major characters in
Hamlet, an instance of the play's many doubles:
- Lucianus, like Hamlet, is both a regicide and a nephew to the king; like Claudius, he is a regicide that operates by pouring poison into ears.
- The Player King, like Hamlet, is an erratic melancholic
Melancholia , also lugubriousness, from the Latin lugere, to mourn; moroseness, from the Latin morosus, self-willed, fastidious habit; wistfulness, from old English wist: intent, or saturnine, , in contemporary usage, is a mood disorder of non-specific depression,...
; like King Hamlet, his character in The Murder of Gonzago is poisoned via his ear while reclining in his orchard.
- The Player Queen, like Ophelia, attends to a character in The Murder of Gonzago that is "so far from cheer and from [a] former state"; like Gertrude, she remarries a regicide.
Hamlet is also, in some form, a reflection of most other characters in the play (or perhaps vice versa):
- Hamlet, Laertes, Fortinbras and Pyrrhus are all avenging sons. Hamlet and Laertes
In Greek mythology, Laërtes was the son of Arcesius and Chalcomedusa. He was the father of Odysseus and Ctimene by his wife Anticlea, daughter of the thief Autolycus. Laërtes was an Argonaut and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar...
both blame Claudius for the death of their fathers. Hamlet and Pyrrhus are both seized by inaction at some point in their respective narratives and each avenges his father. Hamlet and Fortinbras both have plans that are thwarted by uncles that are also kings.
- Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Osric and Polonius are all courtiers.
- Hamlet, his father, Bernardo, Marcellus, Francisco, Fortinbras and several other characters are all soldiers.
- Hamlet and his father share a name (as do Fortinbras and his father).
- Hamlet, Horatio, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Laertes are all students.
- Hamlet, his father, Gertrude and Claudius are all members of the Royal Family. Each of them is also killed by poison -- poison that Claudius is responsible for.
- Hamlet and Ophelia are each rebuked by their surviving parent in subsequent scenes; the surviving parent of each happens to be of the opposite gender. Both also enter scenes reading books and there is a contrast between the (possibly) pretend madness of Hamlet and the very real insanity of Ophelia.
- Hamlet, Horatio, Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Claudius are each "lawful espials" at some point in the play.
Performers
Below are listed some of the notable acting portrayals of Hamlet.
Stage
- Richard Burbage
Richard birdbidge was an actor and theatre owner. He was the younger brother of Cuthbert Burbage. They were both actors in drama....
originated the role of Hamlet at the Globe TheatreThe Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.A modern...
.
- David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
made the role one of the centerpieces of his repertory in the 18th century.
- Master Betty
William Henry West Betty was by far the most popular child actor of the nineteenth century, billed as the "Young Roscius" for his performances in adult roles like Hamlet, Romeo, Rolla in Pizarro and Norval in Douglas for two seasons from 1804 to 1806 at Covent Garden Theatre...
played the role at the height of his popularity in 1805, and the House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
once adjourned early so that members of ParliamentThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary sovereignty, conferring upon it ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories...
could see him play it.
- Edwin Booth
Edwin Thomas Booth was a famous 19th century American actor. He was born near Bel Air, Maryland into the English American theatrical Booth family. Booth toured throughout America and to the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespeare; in 1869 he founded Booth's Theatre in New York, a...
was famous for the role in New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in the 1860s and 1870s.
- Sir Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
, the first actor to be knighted, played Hamlet for an unprecedented 200 consecutive performances at the Lyceum Theatre in London in 1874.
- Johnston Forbes-Robertson
Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson was an English actor and theatre manager. He was considered the finest Hamlet of the nineteenth century and one of the finest actors of his time, despite his dislike of the job and his lifelong belief that he was temperamentally unsuited to acting.-Early life:Born in...
played the role in 1898.
- John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth Barrymore was an American actor, frequently called the greatest of his generation. He first gained fame as a stage actor, lauded for his portrayals of Hamlet and Richard III...
created a sensation with his performance on BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
in 1922 and again when he took it to London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in 1925.
- John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor/director/producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
played Hamlet over 500 times between 1930 and 1945.
- Gustav Gründgens played Hamlet in the Staatliches Schauspielhaus in Berlin in 1936.
- Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Alec Guinness and Ralph Richardson...
first played Hamlet at the Old VicThe Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
in 1937, later performing the production at Elsinore Castle.
- Maurice Evans
Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters.-Early years:Evans was born in Dorchester, England to Laura Turner and Alfred Herbert Evans, an analytical chemist...
first played the part at the Old Vic Theatre in 1935 and had a triumph on BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
in 1938 and 1945.
- Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award and was at one time the highest-paid actor in Hollywood...
first played the role at the Old Vic Theatre in 1953 and returned to it in a 1964 BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
production that became notorious when he married Elizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE , also known as Liz Taylor, is an English-born British-American actress. Known for her acting skills and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, including many marriages...
during its out-of-town tryout.
- David Warner
David Warner is an English actor, who is known for playing sinister or villainous characters.-Early life:Warner was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, the son of Doreen and Herbert Simon Warner, who was a nursing home proprietor...
starred in Peter Hall's Hamlet in the RSC's August 1965 production at Stratford-Upon-Avon.
- Richard Chamberlain
Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...
was the first American actor to play the role in London since John BarrymoreJohn Sidney Blyth Barrymore was an American actor, frequently called the greatest of his generation. He first gained fame as a stage actor, lauded for his portrayals of Hamlet and Richard III...
. This occurred in the late 1960's, immediately after the run of Dr. KildareDr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show...
, the TV-series in which Chamberlain first made his name, ended.
- Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was an iconic Soviet and Russian singer, songwriter, poet, and actor of mixed Jewish and Russian descent whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture...
played Hamlet in MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
's Taganka TheatreTaganka Theatre is a theater located in the Art Nouveau building on Taganka Square in Moscow. The theatre was founded in 1964 by Yuri Lyubimov and continued the traditions of his alma mater, the Vakhtangov Theatre, while also exploring the possibilities of Bertolt Brecht's "epic theatre".Under...
between 1971 and 1980.
- Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi CBE is an English actor and film director. Like Laurence Olivier, he bears the distinction of holding two knighthoods, Danish and British.-Early life:...
played the role for the Prospect Theatre Company in 1978.
- Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is an American actor of stage and screen. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New York, Batman Returns, True Romance, Catch Me If You Can,...
played the role for the American Shakespeare TheatreThe American Shakespeare Theatre was a theater company based in Stratford, Connecticut, United States. It was formed in 1955 by Lawrence Langner, Lincoln Kirstein, and Joseph Verner Reed. Plays were produced at the Festival Theatre in Stratford from 1955 until the company ceased operations in...
in 1982.
- Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is a Northern Irish actor and film director.- Early life :Branagh, the second of three children, was born and brought up in Belfast to working class Protestant parents Frances and William Branagh, a plumber and joiner who ran a company that specialised in fitting...
played the role for the Royal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company. Located primarily at Stratford-upon-Avon, with bases also in London and Newcastle upon Tyne, it is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly-funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal National Theatre.-The early...
in 1992
- Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, known simply as Ralph Fiennes , is an English actor. He has appeared in films such as Schindler's List, The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Maid in Manhattan and the Harry Potter films...
won the Best Actor Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are for Broadway productions and...
in 1995 for his portrayal.
- Samuel West
Samuel West is a British actor and theatre director.-Early life:West is the son of actors Prunella Scales and Timothy West. He was educated at Alleyn's School, a co-educational independent school in Dulwich, London, and later studied English Literature at Lady Margaret Hall at the University of...
played Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company. Located primarily at Stratford-upon-Avon, with bases also in London and Newcastle upon Tyne, it is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly-funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal National Theatre.-The early...
in 2001-2 and won the Critic's Circle Award.
- Toby Stephens
Toby Stephens is an English stage, television and film actor, best known for playing supervillain Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day and Edward Fairfax Rochester in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre .-Biography:Stephens, the son of actors Maggie Smith and Robert...
played the role for the Royal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company. Located primarily at Stratford-upon-Avon, with bases also in London and Newcastle upon Tyne, it is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly-funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal National Theatre.-The early...
in 2004.
- David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in the theatre, Tennant is best known for his roles in Doctor Who as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor, in Casanova as the title character, and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
played the role for the Royal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company. Located primarily at Stratford-upon-Avon, with bases also in London and Newcastle upon Tyne, it is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly-funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal National Theatre.-The early...
in 2008-9.
- Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
is currently playing the role for the Donmar West End
Film
- Johnston Forbes-Robertson
Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson was an English actor and theatre manager. He was considered the finest Hamlet of the nineteenth century and one of the finest actors of his time, despite his dislike of the job and his lifelong belief that he was temperamentally unsuited to acting.-Early life:Born in...
immortalized scenes from his performance in a highly truncated silent film made in 1913.
- Danish actress Asta Nielsen
Asta Nielsen , was a Danish silent film actress who was one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1910s and one of the first international movie stars. Seventy of Nielsen's 74 films were made in Germany where she was known simply as Die Asta...
portrayed Hamlet in a loose 1921 adaptation which re-imagines Hamlet as a woman.
- Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Alec Guinness and Ralph Richardson...
directed himself as Hamlet in the 1948 film.
- Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award and was at one time the highest-paid actor in Hollywood...
portrayed Hamlet in a 1964 filmed version of the stage play.
- Nicol Williamson
Nicol Williamson is a Scottish-born British actor who was described by English playwright John Osborne as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando".-Early life:...
portrayed Hamlet in Tony Richardson's 1969 version.
- Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American Australian actor, film director and producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in the Mad...
played Hamlet in Franco ZeffirelliFranco Zeffirelli is an Italian film director. He is also an opera director, designer and producer of opera, theatre, film and television, and a politician....
's 1990 versionHamlet is a 1990 film based on the Shakespearean play of the same name. Mel Gibson has the title role as the young Prince Hamlet, Glenn Close plays his mother, Queen Gertrude, Alan Bates plays his uncle, the now King Claudius, Paul Scofield appears as the ghost of Hamlet's Father, Ian Holm plays...
.
- Iain Glen
Iain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004. They have one son, Finlay...
portrayed Hamlet in the 1990 film Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are DeadRosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a 1990 film written and directed by Tom Stoppard based on his play of the same name. Like the play, the film depicts two minor characters from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who find themselves on the road to Elsinore Castle...
, directed by Tom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright. He has written plays such as The Coast of Utopia, Arcadia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and Rock 'n' Roll...
and based on his play.
- Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is a Northern Irish actor and film director.- Early life :Branagh, the second of three children, was born and brought up in Belfast to working class Protestant parents Frances and William Branagh, a plumber and joiner who ran a company that specialised in fitting...
directed himself as Hamlet in a 1996 film versionHamlet is a 1996 film version of William Shakespeare's classic play of the same name, adapted and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars in the title role as Prince Hamlet. It is set in the 19th century, and uses Blenheim Palace for exterior scenes...
, which is the only full length version of the play on film.
- Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and film director. He made his feature film debut in 1985, opposite River Phoenix in the movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...
played Hamlet in an adaptationHamlet, also referred to as Hamlet 2000, is an American film by Michael Almereyda, released in 2000, set in contemporary New York City, and based on the Shakespeare's play of the same name...
released in 2000.
Television
- Maurice Evans
Maurice Evans may refer to:*Maurice Evans , English actor*Maurice Evans , American basketball player*Maurice Evans , British football player and manager...
was the first to play the role on American television, in 1953 on the Hallmark Hall of FameHallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television. It has had a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and still continuing today. From 1954 onward, all of their productions have been shown in color, although color television productions were extremely rare in 1954...
.
- Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer, CC is a Canadian theater, film and television actor. In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theater, Plummer is perhaps best known for the role of Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music...
received an Emmy AwardThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
nomination for a television version filmed at Elsinore Castle in 1964.
- Richard Chamberlain played Hamlet in a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation in 1970.
- Derek Jacobi played Hamlet in the 1980 BBC Television Shakespeare
The BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985. It was a project completed by corporations in the United Kingdom and the United States.-Production:...
production.
- Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre and film actor. He has won one Academy Award, two Tony Awards and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2009.-Early years:...
played the role in a 1990 PBS television production which he also directed, and which originated at the New York Shakespeare FestivalNew York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of a sequence of shows organized by the Public Theater in New York City, most often being held at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park...
.
- Campbell Scott
Campbell Whalen Scott is an American actor, director, producer, and voice artist.-Life and career:Scott was born in New York City, New York, the son of George C. Scott, an actor, director, and producer, and Colleen Dewhurst, a Canadian-born actress. He graduated from Lawrence University in 1983. ...
played the role in a U.S. 2000 television production set during the American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, in which Polonius, Ophelia, and Laertes were portrayed as an (African-American) family.
External links