Medieval English Literature

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is a play written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1602. Set in Denmark, the play dramatizes the murder of king Claudius by his nephew, Hamlet, who desired to avenge the death of his father. Hamlet is generally considered to be one of the most powerful and influential works of world literature. However, despite its literary and dramatic accolades, the play is not the result of Shakespeare’s original creativity. The story of Hamlet originally appeared in ancient Scandinavian folklore, which was passed down by word of mouth for generations. The first known physical copy of the story in writing appeared in the 12th century AD, by Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, in his