The play's structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny. Each version includes lines and entire scenes missing from the others. Three different early versions of the play are extant: the First Quarto (Q1, 1603) the Second Quarto (Q2, 1604) and the First Folio (F1, 1623). In the 400 years since its inception, the role has been performed by numerous highly acclaimed actors in each successive century. He almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor, Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeare's time. Shakespeare may also have drawn on an earlier Elizabethan play known today as the Ur-Hamlet, though some scholars believe Shakespeare wrote the Ur-Hamlet, later revising it to create the version of Hamlet that exists today. The story of Shakespeare's Hamlet was derived from the legend of Amleth, preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum, as subsequently retold by the 16th-century scholar François de Belleforest. It has inspired many other writers-from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and Iris Murdoch-and has been described as 'the world's most filmed story after Cinderella'. It was one of Shakespeare's most popular works during his lifetime and still ranks among his most performed, topping the performance list of the Royal Shakespeare Company and its predecessors in Stratford-upon-Avon since 1879. Hamlet is considered among the most powerful and influential works of world literature, with a story capable of 'seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others'.

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. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet ( / ˈ h æ m l ɪ t/), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 15.

King hamlet