悲剧《哈姆雷特》代表莎士比亚的最高戏剧成就，成为世界各国人民最喜欢的文学作品之一。描述丹麦王驾崩后，守夜卫兵看见老王幽魂出现。告知哈姆雷特王子。而王子的叔父服丧未满，即娶其嫂继承王位。王子与幽魂对话，获知叔父谋害父王之真相。王子为证实真相装疯卖傻，导演了一出老王被毒杀的短剧，请新王与新后观赏。新王当即脸色大变，被哈姆雷特看穿，确信了父亲的灵魂所言属实。新王把哈姆雷特送到了英国，暗中拜托英皇杀了他。哈姆雷特的情人饱受失恋之苦加上父亲被王子误杀，精神崩溃坠入湖中溺死。而她的哥哥想为父妹报仇，与哈姆雷特比剑，用一把毒剑伤了哈姆雷特；后者剑术超他一等，最终击败了他，在临死前，他道出了新王的阴谋。事实揭穿后，皇后慌乱中饮鸩而亡。哈姆雷特杀了新王，自己也因剑毒发作而死。

List of illustrations

General editors' preface

Preface

Introduction

  The challenges of Hamlet

 The challenge of acting Hamlet

 The challenge of editing Hamlet

 The challenge to the greatness of Hamlet:Hamlet versus Lear

  Hamlet in our time

 The soliloquies and the modernity of Hamlet

 Hamlet and Freud

 Reading against the Hamlet tradition

  Hamlet in Shakespeare's time

 Hamlet at the turn of the century

 The challenge of dating Hamlet

   Was there an earlier Hamlet play?

   Are there any early references to Shakespeare's play?

   Can we date Hamlet in relation to other contemporary plays?

   Hamlet's first performances

The story of Hamlet

 Murder most foul

 An antic disposition

 ‘Sentences', speeches and thoughts

The composition of Hamlet

  The quartos and the Folio

   The quartos

   The First Folio

   The relationship of Q2 to Q1

   The relationship ofF to Q2

   What, then, of Q1 ?

  Editorial practice

   Why a three-text edition?

  Hamlet on stage and screen

Hamlet and his points

Enter the director

Hamlet and politics

 Novel Hamlets

Hamlet meets Fielding, Goethe, Dickens and

  others

Hamlet and women novelists

Prequels and sequels

  The continuing mystery of Hamlet

  THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF

HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK

     The Second Quarto (1604-5)

Appendices

1 Folio-only passages

2 The nature of the texts

The early printed texts

  The early quartos

  The First Folio

  The quartos and folios after 1623

Modern editors at work

  The written text

  The performed text

  The printed text

  The multiple text

  A common position?

  Our procedure as editors of Hamlet Determining transmission

  Editorial principles Lineation and punctuation

Textual tables

3 Editorial conventions and sample passages

Conventions

  Proper names

  Act and scene numbers

  Commentary

  Textual notes

Sample passages

4 The act division at 3.4/4.1

  The editorial tradition

  The theatrical tradition

  Our decisions for the new Arden Hamlet

5 Casting

6 Music

Abbreviations and references

  Abbreviations used in notes

  Works by and partly by Shakespeare

  Editions of Shakespeare collated

  Other works cited

Index