Hamlet

One of the four great tragedies by the British playwright and poet Shakespeare, written in 1601. The story is based on the revenge story of a prince in "History of Denmark" by the Danish historian Saxo in the 12th century. The protagonist, Prince Hamlet of Denmark, is studying at Wittenberg University, the center of German humanism. His uncle Claudius usurped the throne by marrying his brother-in-law. After Hamlet returned home, his father's ghost told him the cause of his death and asked him to take revenge. At the same time, Claudius suspected that Hamlet knew the true love, and sent Hamlet's lover Ophelia and others to test him, but he found out. Hamlet used a "play within a play" to confirm the words of his father's ghost and determined to avenge his father. He mistook Ophelia's father, Polonius, for the king and killed him. The king sent him on a business trip to England and wanted to kill him with the help of the British king, but he discovered the conspiracy and turned back midway. Ophelia committed suicide because of her father's murder. The king provoked Ophelia's brother to compete with Hamlet and wanted to stab him to death with a poisonous sword. In the last game, the king, queen, Hamlet and Ophelia's brother died together. The struggle between Hamlet and Claudius is a struggle between emerging bourgeois humanists and representatives of the increasingly reactionary feudal royal power. The characters in the play have distinctive personalities, the plot is twists and turns, and the language is beautiful. Heshlett, a British literary critic in the 19th century, pointed out in "A Theory of Shakespeare's Drama Characters" that among the four major tragedies, "Hamlet takes the lead in the exquisite development of thoughts and feelings."