Product Description
Part of The Wadsworth Casebooks for Reading, Research, and Writing Series, this new title provides all the materials a student needs to complete a literary research assignment in one convenient location…. More >>
Hamlet:The Harcourt Brace Casebook Series in Literature
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#1 by Steve Rusher on January 26, 2010 - 8:53 pm
I am hardly a fan of any Shakespeare: I find that his characters overact, talk too much about nothing, and spend most of their plays inserting extra words in to sentences that could be said in four words or less.
Hamlet, however, reaches a new level of Shakespearean lackluster: This one is simply boring, with lifelessly dull characters that can never seem to figure out what they want. It follows the standard Shakespearean tragedy plotline (Guy has stuff happen to him that’s either really good or really bad, two little subplots, and then everybody dies), but this one lacks spark, or even a pulse for that matter.
Well, there’s my two cents… Go ahead, find my review unhelpful if you want… but seriously, if it’s Shakespeare you want, go buy a different play than this.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by Leonard M. Feder on January 26, 2010 - 10:38 pm
If your father’s ghost dropped by one day and told you to kill your uncle would you do it? It’s a pretty big step. Can you picture yourself killing your uncle? And he’s the king no less. Alright, there are no kings in America. So say your uncle is the governor. Would you kill him? Hamlet had a lot to think about before going into action. So would I. Well, what the hell, blow him away.
Rating: 3 / 5
#3 by Anthony Garcia (bunny@yahoo.com) on January 27, 2010 - 12:40 am
In my opinion all of Shakespeare’s writings are long winded, drawn out words with no possibility of ever coming close to being remotly interesting. Hamlet was actually one of the most terribly boring, predictable, useless book ever written. The plot had no vital juices. The charachters were devoid of all emotion and energy. Even more devastating to the book is how it all ended. I actually got to say once Hamlet,Gertrude, and Claudius died I was leaping with joy, it was impossible to contain my excitment. Why? Because it meant that if every one is dead, well, IT IS FINALLY OVER! Finally, this book not only is long, boring, and an embaressment to the whole romantic time period. It has no long lasting effect on anyone. So, what I’m trying to say is that any poor, unfortunate soul that has to read this book will never even understand let alone remember what actually went on through the course of the play.
Rating: 1 / 5
#4 by Daniel H. Lawrence dlawrence@snap.com on January 27, 2010 - 1:54 am
All and all this play is atrocious. Though it is acclaimed as the greatest work of drama ever, it is hardly that. People who say such things, have absolutely no credibility. Hamlet’s only purpose is to confuse the reader. Any intelligent person can see through his character and realize that he is little more than a feeble mind with a large vocabulary. He is almost the mirror image of Lennie in OF MICE AND MEN, Barnaby Rudge in the Dickens’ book of the same name, Benjy in THE SOUND AND THE FURY, or Dogberry in Shakespeare’s own MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. The rest of the main characters (Claudius, Gerturde, Polonius, Ophelia, Laertes, The Ghost, Horatio, Rosencrantz, Guildensern, The Player King, Fortinbras, The First Gravedigger, Barnardo, Reynaldo, and Osric) are ridiculous and annoying caricatures. HAMLET would have been a much better play had these characters been eliminated entirely. Their only contribution lies in the fustian and obfuscating nature of a horrid play. Take my advice: if you want some real entertainment, read Shakespeare’s TITUS ANDRONICUS with the great intellect Aaron the Moor, the forerunner of Iago, or THE SPANISH TRAGEDY, containing the sublime Hieronimo, the forerunner of Jane Austen’s Anne Elliot. You will find these plays far superior to the “aesthetic failure,” as T.S. Eliot commented, otherwise known as HAMLET.
Rating: 1 / 5
#5 by Anonymous on January 27, 2010 - 2:27 am
I don’t know what Willy Shakespeare was thinking when he wrote this one play tragedy, but I thought this sure was boring! Hamlet does too much talking and not enough stuff. He needs to shape up and show them who’s boss. Maybe Shakespeare fans of Hamlet should take a rest on the book tragedy! Ha ha!
Rating: 1 / 5