Hamlet

Hamlet is a play by notable 17th century English playwright, William Shakespeare. Some consider it his most important play.

Plot

Hamlet, the son of the King of Denmark has been away at school, and returns to find that Danish nobles have elected his uncle Claudius to be the new King. To solidify his claim Claudius has married Hamlet's mother. Hamlet may have been elected, if he had been home, at the time of the election. As a potential rival, potential usurper, Hamlet's life is at risk. In order to ease the risk he faces Hamlet pretends he has gone mad.

Ophelia, his abandoned fiance, kills herself, in despair.

As stress forces Hamlet to undergo significant character growth, he finds himself compelled to fight a duel with a protege of his uncle. He defeats him, but his opponent's blade was poisoned, and he too dies, since he has been nicked.

Legacy

Shakespeare is honored for his gift for coining memorable phrases, and Hamlet is full of phrases people borrow and re-use today, including:

quote	notes
To be, or not to be, that is the question.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be...
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.	Sometimes repeated in any situation where there is a suspicious element.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.	Frequently paraphrased as "There is method in his madness."
The lady protests too much, methinks.
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: A fellow of infinite jest.	Frequently paraphrased as "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well!"