Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Hamlet cover art

Hamlet

By: William Shakespeare
Narrated by: Geoffrey Giuliano, The Crush
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Sir John Gielgud's Guide to Hamlet cover art
Othello (Dramatised) cover art
King Lear cover art
Hamlet cover art
Troilus and Cressida cover art
The Merchant of Venice cover art
Romeo and Juliet cover art
Macbeth cover art
The Tempest cover art
Macbeth cover art
Macbeth (Dramatised) cover art
Hamlet cover art
BBC Radio Shakespeare cover art
BBC Radio Shakespeare: A Collection of Six Tragedies cover art
SmartPass Plus Audio Education Study Guide to Hamlet (Unabridged, Dramatised, Commentary Options) cover art
King Richard III cover art

Summary

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. Hamlet is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others".

There are many works that have been pointed to as possible sources for Shakespeare's play—from ancient Greek tragedies to Elizabethan plays. The editors of the Arden Shakespeare question the idea of "source hunting", pointing out that it presupposes that authors always require ideas from other works for their own, and suggests that no author can have an original idea or be an originator. When Shakespeare wrote there were many stories about sons avenging the murder of their fathers, and many about clever avenging sons pretending to be foolish in order to outsmart their foes.

Public Domain (P)2022 Icon Audio Arts

What listeners say about Hamlet

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.