Hamlet - William Shakespeare - A Short Summary and Review
Hamlet - William Shakespeare - A Short Summary and Review
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review
A short summary:
In Hamlet, William Shakespeare tells the story of a Danish prince thrown into moral and psychological chaos after the ghost of his murdered father demands revenge. As Hamlet navigates grief, suspicion, and political corruption, the court of Denmark becomes a stage for deception, betrayal, and spiraling violence.
What begins as a command for vengeance quickly deepens into an inquiry into truth, loyalty, madness, and conscience. Hamlet’s hesitation, often mistaken for weakness, is instead the engine of the play, forcing every character (and reader) to confront the cost of action versus the cost of delay.
My favorite quote from the play:
Questions to ponder while reading?
My review:
Hamlet endures because it refuses simplicity. The imagery alone, the graveyard, the skull, the rot beneath the throne, the poisoned cup, lingers long after the curtain falls. Shakespeare’s prose is rich, layered, and endlessly quotable, inviting rereading rather than resolution.
The royal family dynamics are brutal and fascinating. This is a household built on secrets, where ambition masquerades as stability and love is frequently conditional. Claudius’s crime poisons everything it touches, while Gertrude’s silence becomes its own form of complicity.
What struck me most is how haunting family secrets can be. The play suggests that unspoken truths don’t disappear—they rot, surface, and demand reckoning. Hamlet isn’t just about revenge; it’s about what knowing the truth costs, and whether living with it is harder than acting on it.
This is tragedy at its most thoughtful, violent, philosophical, and deeply human.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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