A New Variorum Edition of Shakespeare, Volume 2

No library is complete without a copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet This edition is edited by Howard Horace Furness, the foremost Shakespeare scholar of the 19th Century. Furness's fascinating introduction explores the various editions of Hamlet which appeared in the years following Shakespeare's death. Since none of his works were published during his lifetime, scholars are always searching for the definitive version, or Rosetta stone, that represents Shakespeare's purest distillation of his work.

Hamlet opens with a grieving Hamlet, whose father, the King of Denmark, has recently died. Hamlet is confronted with all manner of unseemly things; his mother's quick remarriage to Hamlet's uncle; the appearance of his father, now a ghost; the compromises made by good men which lead to evil. Hamlet begins to go mad as he ponders the meaning of revenge and the inevitability of fate.

Hamlet's soliloquy on the revenge code that plagues him is the most famous monologue in all of literature. (Act 4). In it Hamlet rages at his own inaction in taking the appropriate revenge. This soliloquy is the reason that playing Hamlet is considered something of a holy grail for actors. The most famous quotes from Hamlet all hint at the play's psychological struggle, including "To be, or not to be: that is the question" and " "This above all: to thine own self be true."

Furness makes the edition more than just a presentment of the play. He includes notes from hundreds of performances, critical interpretation from several scholars, and excerpts from several other famous writers like Goethe in a complete appendix. If there is a definitive volume of Hamlet, this is the one. This version of Hamlet is a must-read.

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