HAMLET

The Annotated Shakespeare Series allowsreaders to fully understand and enjoy the rich plays of the worlds greatest dramatist"If any work deserves a students closest attention, it is Hamlet. Burton Raffels fully annotated edition is a teachers and students dream: the words are fully explained, and they get a wonderful essay by Harold Bloom as well."-George Soule, Carleton College One of the most frequently read and performed of all stage works, Shakespeares Hamlet isunsurpassed in its complexity and richness. Now the first fully annotated version of Hamlet makesthe play completely accessible to readers in the twenty-first century. It has been carefully assembled with students, teachers, and the general reader in mind. Eminent linguist and translator Burton Raffel offers generous help with vocabulary and usage of Elizabethan English, pronunciation, prosody, and alternative readings of phrases and lines. His on-page annotations provide readers with all the tools they need to comprehend the play and begin to explore its many possible interpretations. This version of Hamlet isunparalleled for its thoroughness and adherence to sound linguistic principles. In his Introduction, Raffel offers important background on the origins and previous versions of the Hamlet story, along with an analysis of the characters Hamlet and Ophelia. And in a concluding essay, Harold Bloom meditates on the originality of Shakespeares achievement. The book also includes a careful selection of items for "Further Reading."