Hamlet és una de les obres més conegudes de Shakespeare i un dels clàssics de la literatura universal. Sembla que recull una llegenda danesa recollida per Saxo Grammaticus i adaptada per reflectir la realitat anglesa de l'època.
As Shakespeares play opens, Hamlet is mourning his father, who has been killed, and lamenting the behaviour of his mother, Gertrude, who married his uncle Claudius within a month of his fathers death. The ghost of his father appears to Hamlet, informs him that he was poisoned by Claudius, and commands Hamlet to avenge his death. Though instantly galvanized by the ghosts command, Hamlet decides on further reflection to seek evidence in corroboration of the ghostly visitation, since, he knows, the Devil can assume a pleasing shape and can easily mislead a person whose mind is perturbed by intense grief. Hamlet adopts a guise of melancholic and mad behaviour as a way of deceiving Claudius and others at courta guise made all the easier by the fact that Hamlet is genuinely melancholic.
