Hamlet by William Shakespeare - Unabridged Audio CD
Brand New : Unabridged 3 Audio CDs 3.4 Hours
The protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the newly deceased King Hamlet. After the death of King Hamlet, the King's brother Claudius hastily marries King Hamlet's widow (and Prince Hamlet's mother) Gertrude. In the background is Denmark's long-standing feud with neighbouring Norway, and an invasion led by the Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, is expected. The play opens on a cold evening at Elsinore, the Danish royal castle. Francisco, a sentinel, is relieved of his observe by Bernardo, another sentinel, and exits while Bernardo remains. A 3rd sentinel, Marcellus, enters with Horatio, the number one friend of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The sentinels try to persuade Horatio that they have enjoyed King Hamlet's ghost, when it appears again. After hearing from Horatio of the Ghost's appearance, Hamlet resolves to find the Ghost himself. That evening, the Ghost appears to Hamlet. He informs Hamlet that he is the spirit of his dad, and discloses that Claudius murdered King Hamlet by pouring poison in his ears. The Ghost demands that Hamlet avenge him; Hamlet agrees and chooses to fake madness to avert suspicion. He is, but, unsure of the Ghost's dependability.
Busy with matters of state, Claudius and Gertrude try to avert an invasion by Prince Fortinbras of Norway. Perturbed by Hamlet's continuing deep mourning for his dad and his increasingly erratic behaviour, they send 2 student neighbors of his—Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—to discover the cause of Hamlet's changed behaviour. Hamlet greets his neighbors warmly, but rapidly discerns that they have been transferred to spy on him. Polonius is Claudius's trusted chief counsellor; his son, Laertes, is returning to France, and his daughter, Ophelia, is courted by Hamlet. Neither Polonius nor Laertes thinks Hamlet is severe about Ophelia, plus they both inform her off. Shortly afterwards, Ophelia is alarmed by Hamlet's unusual behaviour and reports to her dad that Hamlet rushed into her space but stared at her and mentioned nothing. Polonius assumes that the "ecstasy of love"[7] is responsible for Hamlet's madness, and he informs Claudius and Gertrude. Together, Claudius and Polonius set up Ophelia to spy on him. When she returns his letters and he silently guesses what exactly is going on, he furiously rants at her, and insists she go "to a nunnery" (a slang expression at the time for a brothel).
Hamlet remains unconvinced that the Ghost has told him the truth, but the arrival of the troupe of actors at Elsinore presents him with a answer. He can stage a play, re-enacting his father's murder, and determine Claudius's guilt or innocence by studying his response. The court assembles to observe the play; Hamlet offers a running commentary throughout. The alternative significant event in this scene is the arrival of the players. The presence of players and play-acting in the play points to an significant theme: that real existence is in certain methods like play-acting. When the murder scene is presented, Claudius abruptly rises and leaves the space, which Hamlet sees as proof of his uncle's guilt. Claudius, fearing for his lifetime, banishes Hamlet to England on a pretext, carefully watched by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with a letter instructing that the bearer be killed. Gertrude summons Hamlet to her closet to demand an explanation. On his technique, Hamlet passes Claudius in prayer but hesitates to kill him, reasoning that death in prayer would send him to paradise. In the bedchamber, an argument erupts between Hamlet and Gertrude. Polonius, spying hidden behind an arras, makes a noise; and Hamlet, believing it is very Claudius, stabs wildly, killing Polonius. The Ghost appears, urging Hamlet to treat Gertrude gently but reminding him to kill Claudius. Unable to find or hear the Ghost herself, Gertrude takes Hamlet's conversation with it as further evidence of madness. Before embarking for England, Hamlet hides Polonius's body, eventually telling its place to the King and Gertrude.
Demented by grief at Polonius's death, Ophelia wanders Elsinore singing bawdy songs. Her brother, Laertes, arrives back from France, enraged by his father's death and his sister's madness. She comes onstage quickly to provide out herbs and flowers. Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet is only responsible; then news arrives that Hamlet remains at large—his ship was attacked by pirates found on the method to England, and he has returned to Denmark. Claudius fast concocts a plot. He proposes a fencing match between Laertes and Hamlet in which Laertes might fight with a poison-tipped sword, but tacitly plans to provide Hamlet poisoned wine if that fails. Gertrude interrupts to report that Ophelia has drowned. We upcoming see 2 gravediggers discuss Ophelia's obvious suicide, while digging her grave. Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with a gravedigger, who unearths the skull of the jester from Hamlet's childhood, Yorick. Ophelia's funeral procession approaches, led by Laertes. Hamlet declares that he has usually liked Ophelia, and he and Laertes grapple, but the brawl is broken up. Back at Elsinore, Hamlet informs Horatio how he escaped and that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been delivered to their deaths. A courtier, Osric, interrupts to ask Hamlet to fence with Laertes. With Fortinbras's army closing on Elsinore, the match starts. Laertes pierces Hamlet with a poisoned blade but is fatally wounded by it himself. Gertrude refreshments the poisoned wine and dies. In his dying moments, Laertes is reconciled with Hamlet and reveals Claudius's murderous plot. In his own last moments, Hamlet manages to kill Claudius and names Fortinbras as his heir. When Fortinbras arrives, Horatio recounts the story and Fortinbras orders Hamlet's body borne off in honour.
About the Author William Shakespeare
(baptised April 26 1564 - died April 23 1616)
William Shakespeare (moreover spelled Shakspere, Shaksper, Shaxper, and Shake-speare, because that spelling in Elizabethan occasions was not fixed and absolute[8]) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, the son of John Shakespeare, a lucrative glover and alderman from Snitterfield, and of Mary Arden, a daughter of the gentry. His birth is assumed to have happened at the family home on Henley Street. Shakespeare's christening record dates to April 26 of that year. Because christenings were done within a limited days of birth, custom has settled on April 23 as his birthday. This date delivers a advantageous symmetry because Shakespeare died found on the same day, April 23 (May 3 found on the Gregorian calendar), in 1616.
Shakespeare possibly attended King Edward VI Grammar School in central Stratford. While the standard of Elizabethan-era grammar universities was uneven, the school possibly would have provided an intense knowledge in Latin grammar and literature. It is presumed that the young Shakespeare attended this school, since because the son of the prominent town official he was entitled to do thus for free (although his attendance cannot be confirmed because the school's records have not survived). At the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, who was twenty-six, on November 28, 1582. One document identified her as being "of Temple Grafton," near Stratford, and the wedding could have happened there. Two neighbours of Anne posted bond that there were no impediments to the wedding. There appears to have been some haste in arranging the ceremony, presumably because Anne was 3 months expecting.
After his wedding, Shakespeare left limited traces in the historic record until he appeared found on the London theatrical scene. Indeed, the late 1580s are well-known as Shakespeare's "lost years" because no evidence has survived to show where he was or why he left Stratford for London. On May 26, 1583, Shakespeare's initially child, Susanna, was baptised at Stratford. Twin youngsters, a son, Hamnet, along with a daughter, Judith, were baptised on February 2, 1585. Hamnet died in 1596.
London and theatrical career
By 1592 Shakespeare was a playwright in London; he had enough of the standing for Robert Greene to denounce him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is too capable to bombast out a blanke verse as the number one of you: and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey." (The italicised line parodies the phrase, "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" which Shakespeare wrote in Henry VI, piece 3.)
By late 1594 Shakespeare was an actor, author and part-owner of the playing firm, well-known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men - the business took its name, like others of the period, from its aristocratic sponsor, in this case the Lord Chamberlain. The group became common enough that after the death of Elizabeth I and the coronation of James I (1603), the brand-new monarch adopted the firm and it became well-known as the King's Men. Shakespeare's composing shows him to indeed be an actor, with various words, words, and references to acting, but there isn't an educational approach to the art of theatre that may be expected.
By 1596 Shakespeare had moved to the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, and by 1598 he appeared at the best of the list of actors in Every Man in His Humour created by Ben Jonson. Also by 1598 his name started to appear found on the title pages of his plays, presumably as a marketing point.
There is a custom that Shakespeare, in addition to composing various of the plays his business enacted, and being worried as part-owner of the business with company and financial details, continued to act in numerous components including the ghost of Hamlet's dad, Adam in ""As You Like It"", and as the Chorus in ""Henry V"".
He appears to have moved across the Thames River to Southwark sometime around 1599. By 1604, he had moved again, north of the river, where he lodged simply north of St Paul's Cathedral with a Huguenot family called Mountjoy. His house there is value noting because he helped arrange a wedding amongst the Mountjoys' daughter and their apprentice Stephen Bellott. Bellott later sued his father-in-law for defaulting on piece of the guaranteed dowry, and Shakespeare was called as a witness.
Various documents recording legal matters and commercial transactions show that Shakespeare grew wealthy enough during his remain in London to purchase a property in Blackfriars, London and own the second-largest apartment in Stratford, New Place.
Later years
Shakespeare's last 2 plays were created in 1613, after which he appears to have retired to Stratford. He died on April 23 1616, at the age of fifty-two, found on the same date (though not same day for England was nevertheless working under the Julian calendar) as Spanish author and poet Miguel de Cervantes. He moreover died on his birthday, if the speculation that he was born on April 23 is correct. He was married to Anne until his death and was survived by his 2 daughters, Susanna and Judith. Susanna wedded Dr John Hall, but there are no direct descendants of the poet and playwright alive now.
Shakespeare is buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was granted the honour of burial in the chancel not on account of his fame as a playwright but for buying a share of the tithe of the church for £440 (a considerable sum of cash at the time). A monument placed by his family found on the wall nearest his grave attributes a bust of him posed in the act of composing. Each year on his said birthday, a fresh quill pen is placed in the composing hand of the bust.
He is believed to have created the epitaph on his tombstone:
Great friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest become the guy that spares these stones,
But cursed be he that moves my bones.
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