Illustrated by “At the Fountain” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius for murdering the old King Hamlet, Claudius’s own brother and Prince Hamlet’s father, and then succeeding to the throne and marrying Gertrude, the King Hamlet’s widow and mother of Prince Hamlet. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness-from overwhelming grief to seething rage-and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.1600/England