Hamlet (Shakespeare Made Easy: Modern English Version Side-By-Side With Full Original Text)

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Summary: Scott's Hamlet Reveiw
Review: I felt that Hamlet Prince of Denmark was a very interesting book. I had a hard time understanding some parts because the subject matter was hard to follow. I believe that Shakespeares work is unparallel to any other. I didn't enjoy it because of the use of the "old" English. Some parts of the story were hard to follow because of this English. Other than that i felt the plot was good and had much information expressed. Almost too much information to the point of confusion.

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Summary: The Folger Version of Hamlet was easy to follow.
Review: Overall, I believe that this version was pretty easy to follow. As far as I can tell, it pretty closely followed other versions I looked at. The notes on every page greatly contributed to my understanding of the play. Hamlet kept my interest throughout the whole play. The only other tragedy that I've read of Shakespeare's is Romeo and Juliet. I liked Romeo and Juliet better than I liked Hamlet but I still thought that it was a good play. I think that I understood this version as well as could be suspected, considering that Shakespeare can be very difficult to read. My favorite character in Hamlet was Ophelia. I think that she best represented any person in the world today. She had qualities that almost anyone could relate to. In conclusion, I feel that the Folger version of Hamlet was very helpful in the understanding of Hamlet.

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Summary: Beyond rating
Review: This is Shakespeare's greatest play. Shakespeare is the greatest playwright the world has ever seen. Enough.

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Summary: it was one of shakespeares best plays
Review: I cried and I hated it to end. it was well ploted and it had a under handed character that does so well in this time period.

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Summary: A great book to use with students!
Review: I used, and will continue to use, this version of Shakespeare's Hamlet with my 10th grade literature students and had much success. The summaries of the acts and scenes are thorough and the wording of the play itself is easier to understand. The footnotes and side notes are handy for the students. I highly recommend this version to use in high school classrooms.

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Summary: Mousetrap
Review: Hamlet and his family have lived in Denmark. They stay in a castle at Elsinore. A short distance on the estate is an orchard with cool shade. The time is the afternoon. The king leaves to get some rest in the orchard. Time passes, and he does not return. The family becomes worried. Someone goes to the orchard and finds the king. The rumor is that he has been killed by a poisonous snake. A madness has fallen on Hamlet. Thus the deceased king's apparition is clearly seen and heard. For a time members of the family and others detect Hamlet's queer demeanor. As time passes, it is seen more frequently. It sounds as though he spent much of his salad days with the jester. A reader is not as easily mousetrapped as other readers about Hamlet's motives. The historical record shows that Emperor Claudius was poisoned by his wife so that her son, Nero, would inherit a throne.

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Summary: Original Shakespeare text with a translator!
Review: We used this book in a drama class I took, and I fell in love with it! The orginial Shakespeare text on one side and modern English on the other is like a translator right there for you! It makes it easier to understand what is going on and what is being said in the story! Anyone who has to use Shakespeare can benefit from this line of books!

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Summary: A fab read!
Review: Okay, the first time I read this book, I HATED it. It was a part of my English course, and I dreaded even referring to it. As the year went on, my friends and I made so much fun of it, and we'd write so many parodies, that I got to know the book really well....and I started liking it. Whenever I read it now, I honestly find it sadistically funny! (the nunnery scene, and the duel in particular) I think it's a good book if you take your time with it.

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Summary: Unworthy of Shakespeare
Review: This has to be one of the worst plays ever written, Shakespeare or no Shakespeare. While the Bard was the master of English drama, he really slipped up here. The plot makes no sense, the characters motivations are contrived, and the jokes fall flat. I have read this play hundreds of times, seen umpteen productions and films, and am astonished at the plaudits universally accorded to it. The modern English translation by Daniel Nystedt, however, corrects many of these flaws (by eliminating the ghost and such unneccesary characters as Claudius, etc.) and overall is much more worthwhile.

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Summary: Very Rad
Review: Although it is considered a tragedy, it has a kind of grim satirical humour I enjoyed. How can a book with lines like, "Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind away," not be seen as humorous. It is almost lightly, though somewhat bitterly, mocking the futile achivements of human kind. It had a different flavor than a tragedy like Macbeth, in which the only humourous part is Banquo's remark about the witches' beards. Oddly, I think the humour gives Hamlet more depth and meaning.