Key Facts

• Full Title: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
• Playwright: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
• When Written: Likely between 1599 and 1602
• Where Written: Stratford-upon-Avon or London, England
• When Published: First Quarto in 1603; Second Quarto in 1604; First Folio in 1623
• Literary Period: Renaissance
• Genre: Tragic Play; Revenge Play
• Setting: Elsinore Castle, Denmark, during the late Middle Ages
• Antagonist: Claudius
• Perspective and Narrator: “Hamlet” is written in an objective third-person point of view. To give audiences some insight into the characters' inner thoughts, Shakespeare uses short speeches (asides) and longer speeches (soliloquies) in which characters speak their thoughts aloud.

• Structure: The play is divided into 5 acts.