Sjömansbiblioteket

'To be, or not to be, that is the question.'
If you’ll only ever read one Shakespeare play, let it be Hamlet. It tells the story of the young Prince of Denmark whose father visits him in ghost form to reveal that it was Hamlet’s uncle who murdered him. Hamlet appears to succumb to madness. Being thoughtful by nature, he tests what the ghost has told him by setting up a play that portrays the circumstances around his father’s death to see if his uncle will give himself away.
Hamlet is widely regarded as one of, if not the, greatest piece of literature ever written in the English language. No wonder actors such as Ethan Hawke, Jude Law and Jonathan Pryce have all lined of to play him. Read it for its beautiful language and angsty monologues.


William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Regarded as the greatest playwright in the world and the greatestEnglish languagewriter, her wrote poems and sonnets, and also comedic, tragic and historical plays such as "Hamlet", "Othello", "King Lear", "Much Ado About Nothing", "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Macbeth". Incredibly influential and popular, he also invented numerous words and phrases.