Alphabetically arranged entries define more than 17,000 words, terms, and unfamiliar expressions used in the works of William Shakespeare.

"Brings the Bard to the masses, makes his plays accessible, and, well, provides fun for the reader."-The New York Times.

Hamlet; Ophelia

A mysterious, melancholic, brooding Hamlet has gripped and fascinated four hundred years' of readers, trying to "find" and know him as he searches for and avenges his father's name. Setting itself apart from the usual discussions about Hamlet, Hunt here demonstrates that Hamlet is much more than we take him to be. Much more than the sum of his parts - more than just tragic, sexy youth and more than just vain cruelty - Hamlet is a reflection of our own aspirations and neuroses. Looking for Hamlet investigates our many searches for Hamlet, from their origins in Danish mythology through the complex problems of early printed texts, through the centuries of shifting interpretations of the young prince to our own time when Hamlet is more compelling and perplexing than ever before. Hunt presents Hamlet as a sort of missing person, the idealized being inside oneself. This search for the missing Hamlet, Hunt argues, reveals a present absence readers pursue as a means of finding and identifying ourselves.

Hamlet; Ghost

A Lively Compendium of Shakespeare's Wisest and Wittiest Words From the doomed Othello, who first assumed a "foregone conclusion," to the impetuous Mercutio, who went off on the first "wild-goose chase," here are several hundred of the most famous lines and newly minted words from Shakespeare's canon. Each phrase is presented with background notes, explanations, and literary anecdotes that set it in its original context. With a new filmography of the finest Shakespeare movies, Brush Up Your Shakeapeare! is an accessible and entertaining guide for Bard aficionados and amateurs alike. Did You Know? The gargantuan Sir Falstaff was the first unwelcome guest to eat his hostess "out of house and home" Juliet thought that parting from her Young Romeo was "such sweet sorrow" Macbeth believed himself to be "a sorry sight" It was Rosalind who desired "too much of a good thing" Lady Macbeth realized that "what's done is done"

Hamlet; Polonius; Claudius

Hamlet

A collection of eight critical essays on Shakespeare's play Hamlet arranged in chronological order of publication from 1951 to the present.

All characters

The purpose of this text is primarily to provide students who are studying Shakespeare's plays with an easy access to information about characters in the plays. This information includes an explanation of a given character's role in the play, as well as discussion about the character's relationship to other characters in the play; how the character's actions and choices affect the other characters in the play, and the possible motivation for the character's actions.

All - Basic

Using a variety of approaches, from postcolonialism and New Historicism to psychoanalysis and gender studies, the international contributors to Hamlet: New Critical Essays contribute major new interpretations on the conception and writing, editing, and cultural productions of Hamlet. This book is the most up-to-date and comprehensive critical analysis available of one of Shakespeare's best-known and most engaging plays.

ALL

Critical essays analyze King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, and Coriolanus, and discuss Shakespeare's use of irony and imagery.

Claudius; Gertrude; Gravedigger; Guilderstern; Hamlet; Horatio; Lartes; Ophelia; Polonius; Rosencrantz;

Instructors and students worldwide welcomed the fresh scholarship, lively and accessible introductions, helpful marginal glosses and notes, readable single-column format, all designed in support of the goal of the Oxford text: to bring the modern reader closer than before possible to Shakespeare's plays as they were first acted. Now, under Stephen Greenblatt's direction, the editors have considered afresh each introduction and all of the apparatus to make the Second Edition an even better teaching tool.

All Characters - Advanced