Hamlet (MAXNotes Literature Guides) [Paperback]

Joanne K. Miller (Author), English Literature Study Guides (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 087891952X | ISBN-13: 978-0878919529 | Publication Date: October 26, 1994

MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work. MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independent thought about the literary work by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions. MAXnotes cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an overall summary, character lists, an explanation and discussion of the plot, the work's historical context, illustrations to convey the mood of the work, and a biography of the author. Each chapter is individually summarized and analyzed, and has study questions and answers.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The big H comes to Penguin's great revamped "Pelican Shakespeare" line. What else do you need to know? Buy it!
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

- The Annotated Shakespeare General Editor: Burton Raffel --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Research & Education Association (October 26, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087891952X
• ISBN-13: 978-0878919529
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (209 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #830,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > History

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Golden Gate to Shakespeare, January 24, 2006

By 

Night Owl - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare) (Paperback)

Bravo to the writers, editors, and publishers of the entire No Fear Shakespeare series. Rendering Shakespeare into prosaic, colloquial American English not only explains what Shakespeare was saying, but reveals how much better he said it! Here's a few examples from HAMLET:

Hamlet sees the Ghost, but his mother doesn't. In modern lingo, she says, "This is only a figment of your imagination." That's a cliche. In the original, she says, "This is the very coinage of your brain." That's vivid.

Rosencrantz tells Hamlet in modern lingo, "You're not doing yourself any good by refusing to tell your friends what's bothering you." Sounds like a reprimand. The original line sounds like a threat: "You do surely bar the door upon your own liberty if you deny your griefs to your friend."

Hamlet remembers his mother's relationship with his father: "She would hang on to him, and the more she was with him the more she wanted to be with him; she couldn't get enough of him." Sounds good, but the original sounds disturbing: "Why, she would hang on him / As if increase of appetitite had grown / By what it fed on . . ." Change the word "she" to "it" and you have the image of a parasite. That alone says a lot about Hamlet's view of women and sex.

I know of no better guide to reading, understanding, and appreciating Shakespeare than Spark Notes' No Fear Shakespeare series.

47 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Key Tool for Students and Teachers, January 4, 2000

By 

Dr. Patrick D. Enright (Tahlequah, OK, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hamlet (Shakespeare Made Easy) (Paperback)

All in all (not all and all, as one reviewer has it; people who write such things [and then place unnecessary commas between subjects and verbs] have no credibility), "Hamlet" is one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, a sophisticated play which, among many other things, casts an ironic eye on those tragedy-of- blood conventions which the Bard had embraced wholeheartedly in "Titus Andronicus." Its witty, urbane, generous hero, whose struggle to balance his father's demand for bloody revenge (one of those conventions) with his own humanistic sensibilities forms a major conflict of the play, has intrigued audiences and readers for four centuries. Unfortunately for Shakespeare and his creations, the English language has changed over the past four hundred years, and people have gotten out of the habit of reading and understanding poetry. This is where Alan Durband's edition of "Hamlet" in the Barron's Books "Shakespeare Made Easy" series comes to the rescue of the inexperienced reader. Its modern "translation" of Shakespeare's text is readable and clear, making this masterpiece approachable for those who find Elizabethan English too thorny. Having watched college freshmen struggle with "Hamlet" for some twelve years, and having discovered the Barron's edition during the summer, I strongly recommended the book this past fall as a supplement to the assigned literature anthology. About half the students in my Freshman Comp classes bought the book, either from the university book store or from amazon.com. (Amazon's price was better.) To my great pleasure, I found that more students than at any time before were asking questions in class, answering my own questions with knowledge and insight, and even debating points of interpretation among themselves. It was the most fun I have ever had teaching "Hamlet," outside of a Shakespeare course. So now my syllabus suggests this book as an important supplement, and now I look forward to teaching "Hamlet" with confidence that many of the students will be able to experience the enthusiasm for literature that educators so dearly love to communicate. Any book that can facilitate such enthusiasm is high on my list, and I hope it will be high on yours as well.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Performance....., November 19, 2003

By 

L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (Huntington Beach,CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hamlet (Audio Cassette)

This review refers to the Caedmon Audio/Full Cast Recording edition(HarperCollins) of "Hamlet"....

The first thing I need to clarify is exactly which audio edition this is. If you are on the product page with a light purple box pictured, this is the 1963, full cast recording, complete play in 5 acts, starring Paul Scofield as "Hamlet.It is not, as the audio file editorial states the one with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. And if the Scofield performance is what you'd like to hear, you are in for a real treat.(You can enlarge the product picture to see a better view of the box)

The entire cast including Diana Wynyard as Gertrude,Roland Culver as Claudius, Donald Houston as Laertes and Zena Walker as Ophelia turn in powerful performances and will captivate your imagination no matter how many versions of this brilliant play you have heard, or seen. Paul Scofield("A Man For All Seasons") is masterful as the complex Hamlet, wanting revenge for his father's death, yet torn by his own conscience.

There are so many different versions of Shakespeare's "Hamlet", and on this taped set you will find a performance worthy of his genius.It is one you will want to listen to many times and well worth the price. After listening to it at home, I now bring it with me in my car to keep me company in traffic and on long trips.

This three tape set(6 sides) has the entire play, Ronsencrantz and Guildenstern included,in five acts. The entire play runs about 3 1/2 hours, each side of the tapes running between 30 to 45 minutes. The scenes are nicely seperated by music and the sound quality remastered(1995) in Dolby B is excellent.Although the tapes are not enclosed in their own cassette cases, there are individual cardboard holders inside the box for each.

A brilliant performance that you will remember, and one we are fortunate to have on these fabulous recordings.

more great audio book experiences:
Great Expectations (The Classic Collection)
The London Tapes (City Tapes)
Carrie
The Shipping News
A Christmas Carol
Les Miserables (Focus on the Family Radio Theatre)



Enjoy...Laurie