John William Waterhouse's painting Ophelia (1894)

Ophelia is a fictional character in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, Polonius' daughter, Laertes' sister, and Prince Hamlet's sweetheart. Image File history File links Ophelia_1894. ... Image File history File links Ophelia_1894. ... John William Waterhouse. ... Alice, a fictional character based on a real character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and one of his most well-known and oft-quoted plays. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Polonius is a character from William Shakespeares Hamlet. ... Laertes is a character from William Shakespeares play, Hamlet. ... Hamlet and Ophelia, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Prince Hamlet is the main character in Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet. ...

Plot

In Ophelia's first speaking appearance in the play,^[1] we see her with her brother, Laertes, who is leaving for France. Laertes lectures Ophelia against getting involved with Hamlet. He warns her that Hamlet does not have his free will as he is the heir of Denmark so does not have freedom to marry whomever he wants. Ophelia's father, Polonius, enters while Laertes is leaving, and Polonius also admonishes Ophelia against Hamlet, because he fears Hamlet is not earnest about her. Polonius concludes by forbidding Ophelia to have any further communication with Hamlet. She agrees to obey her father and to avoid Hamlet entirely.

In Ophelia's next appearance,^[2] she tells Polonius that Hamlet rushed into her room with his clothing askew, and with a 'hellish' expression on his face, and only stared at her, without speaking to her. Based on what Ophelia tells him, about Hamlet acting in such a "mad" way, Polonius concludes that he was wrong to forbid Ophelia to see Hamlet, and that Hamlet must be mad because of lovesickness for Ophelia. Polonius immediately decides to go to Claudius (the new King of Denmark, and also Hamlet's uncle and stepfather) about the situation, since Claudius is both the King and Hamlet's stepfather. We later^[3] see Polonius suggest to Claudius that they can hide behind an arras to overhear Hamlet speaking to Ophelia, when Hamlet thinks the conversation is private. Since Polonius is now sure Hamlet is lovesick for Ophelia, he thinks Hamlet will express love for Ophelia. Claudius agrees to try the eavesdropping plan later. The plan leads to what is commonly called the 'Nunnery Scene'. ^[4] This article is about an abbey as a religious building. ...

In the 'Nunnery Scene' Polonius instructs Ophelia to stand in the lobby of the castle, while he and Claudius hide behind. Hamlet enters the room, in a different world from the others, and recites his "To be, or not to be" soliloquy. Hamlet approaches Ophelia and talks to her. He famously tells her "get thee to a nunnery." Hamlet becomes angry, realizes, he's gone too far, and says "there should be no more marriage", and exits. Ophelia is left bewildered, scared, and heartbroken, sure that Hamlet is crazy. After Hamlet storms out, Ophelia makes her "O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown" soliloquy. At this point, alone on stage without any male influence, she is finally able to express her emotions unlike at any other time in the play. The nunnery quotation can be interpreted in two very different way, the reader is unable to clarify whether Hamlet, by mentioning the nunnery, is commenting on the chastity and virginity of Ophelia, or whether, contrastingly, he implies the original shakesperian slang word nunnery meaning a brothel. This, coupled with the scene where Hamlet lies upon Ophelias lap in a highly sexual nature, leaves the reader dubious of Ophelia's purity. Along with the highly intimate action of lying upon Ophelia's lap, Ophelia chooses to play along with Hamlets sexual taunt with the quotation "i think nothing, my lord," Hamlet: "Why, that would be a fine sight between a maidens legs." Here, the use of yet another shakesperian slang without doubt emphasises Ophelia's impurity, since "nothing" had a former meaning of female genitalia. For the Ernst Lubitsch film, see To Be or Not to Be (1942 film). ...

Ophelia by John Everett Millais (1852) is part of the Tate Gallery collection. His painting influenced the image in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet

The next time Ophelia appears is at the 'Mousetrap Play'^[5] which Hamlet has arranged to try to prove that Claudius killed King Hamlet. Hamlet sits with Ophelia and makes sexually suggestive remarks, also saying that woman's love is brief. Download high resolution version (1600x1164, 503 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1600x1164, 503 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Ophelia is a painting by John Everett Millais, painted in 1852. ... Sir John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA (June 8, 1829 – August 13, 1896) was a British painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. ... The Tate Gallery in the United Kingdom is a network of four galleries: Tate Britain (opened 1897), Tate Liverpool (1988), Tate St Ives (1993), Tate Modern (2000), with a complementary website Tate Online (1998). ... Kenneth Charles Branagh (born December 10, 1960) is an Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated Northern Irish-born actor and film director. ...

Later that night, after the 'Mousetrap Play,' Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius,^[6] during a private meeting between Hamlet and his mother, Queen Gertrude, in Gertrude's "closet" (parlour). At Ophelia's next appearance,^[7] after her father's death, she has gone mad, due to what the other characters interpret as grief over her father. Ophelia sings some "mad" little songs, about death and a maiden losing her virginity. She then says "good night" and exits. In William Shakespeares play Hamlet, Gertrude is Hamlets mother and Queen of Denmark. ...

Ophelia appears again later, after Laertes comes to the castle to challenge Claudius over the death of his father, Polonius. Ophelia sings more songs, and hands out flowers, citing their symbolic meanings, although interpretations of the meanings differ. Ophelia then blesses everyone, and exits for the last time.

Ophelia by Alexandre Cabanel

In Act 4 Scene 7, Queen Gertrude, in a famous monologue (There is a willow grows aslant the brook), reports that Ophelia had climbed into a willow tree, and then a branch broke and dropped Ophelia into the brook, where she drowned. Gertrude says that Ophelia appeared "incapable of her own distress" like a mad person would be. Gertrude's announcement of Ophelia's death is one of the most poetic death announcements in literature.^[8] Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 516 pixelsFull resolution (1195 × 771 pixel, file size: 216 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Alexandre Cabanel, Ophelia (1883) Faithful reproductions of two-dimensional original works cannot attract copyright in the U.S. according to the rule in Bridgeman Art... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 516 pixelsFull resolution (1195 × 771 pixel, file size: 216 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Alexandre Cabanel, Ophelia (1883) Faithful reproductions of two-dimensional original works cannot attract copyright in the U.S. according to the rule in Bridgeman Art... Alexandre Cabanel, Self Portrait (1847). ... A monologue, pronounced monolog, is a speech made by one person speaking his or her thoughts aloud or directly addressing a reader, audience, or character. ...

We later see a sexton at the graveyard insisting Ophelia must have killed herself,^[9] however, although the sexton attempts to argue the point logically and legally, he never says how he would know it as a fact. The cleric who presides at Ophelia's funeral later asserts that she should have been buried in unsanctified ground as a suicide, but he doesn't say how he knows facts about it, either. Laertes is outraged by what the cleric says, and replies that Ophelia will be an angel in heaven when the cleric "liest howling" (with the fiends in hell). The remarks by the sexton and the cleric have naturally led to a great deal of discussion of whether Ophelia committed suicide. Between Gertrude's report of an accident, and the later talk of suicide, the suicide issue is left unclear in the play, so that even after four centuries since the play was written, the issue is still a topic of debate.

At Ophelia's funeral, Queen Gertrude sprinkles flowers on Ophelia's grave ("sweets to the sweet,") and says she wished Ophelia could have been Hamlet's wife. Laertes then jumps into Ophelia's grave excavation, and proclaims how much he loved her. Hamlet, nearby, then challenges Laertes, and claims that he loved Ophelia more than "forty thousand" brothers could. After her funeral scene, there is no further mention of Ophelia.

Critical analysis

Ophelia by Arthur Hughes

Some critics argue that Hamlet's angry behaviour toward Ophelia in the 'Nunnery Scene' is due to Hamlet's resentment of womankind, when Hamlet realizes Ophelia is cooperating in her father's scheme to spy on him.^[10] This interpretation casts Ophelia as a scapegoat, a victim of Hamlet's anger with his mother and with women as a whole. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... April Love, 1856. ...

The 1996 Kenneth Branagh film makes Ophelia and Hamlet sexual lovers, but this is not stated in the original play, in which there are several references to her claimed virginity. During her madness, however, Ophelia makes many sexual comments and sings a bawdy Valentine song^[11] that includes the line, "quoth she, before you tumbled [had sex with] me, you promised me to wed". Kenneth Charles Branagh (born December 10, 1960) is an Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated Northern Irish-born actor and film director. ... William Shakespeares Hamlet is a 1996 film version of William Shakespeares classic play of the same name, adapted and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also starred in the title role. ...

In an essay on the representation of Ophelia, Elaine Showalter offers a survey of feminist approaches to the questions that the character and her history in performance and criticism raise. She organizes them into three broad strands: the first offers to advocate for Ophelia by telling her story; the second, under the influence of French feminist theory, reads Ophelia's story as a cipher of female sexuality that exists as an horrific "nothing" in patriarchal discourse and representation; the third reads her story as the repressed subtext of Hamlet's tragedy, insofar as it acts as a cathexis for all the strong emotions and qualities that the men wish to deny.^[12] Elaine Showalter (1941- ) is an American literary critic, feminist, and writer on cultural and social issues. ... Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory, or by the politics of feminism more broadly. ... Advocacy is the act of arguing on behalf of a particular issue, idea or person. ... French feminism (which is a phrase mostly used in English-speaking countries) refers to the work of a group of feminists in France from the 1970s to the early 1990s. ... This article is about the issues and phenomena pertaining to sexual function and behavior of human females. ... Patriarchy is an important concept in feminism. ... Discourse is a term used in semantics as in discourse analysis, but it also refers to a social conception of discourse, often linked with the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) and Jürgen Habermas The Theory of Communicative Action (1985). ... It is generally agreed that people know and understand the world and reality through the act of naming it; thus, through language and representations (Oxford English Dictionary, cited in Vukcevich 2002). ... Psychological repression, or simply repression, is the psychological act of excluding desires and impulses (wishes, fantasies or feelings) from ones consciousness and attempting to hold or subdue them in the subconscious. ... Subtext is content of a book, play, film or television series which is not announced explicitly by the characters (or author) but is implicit or becomes something understood by the reader / viewer as the production unfolds. ... For other uses, see Tragedy (disambiguation). ... Cathexis is the libidos charge of energy. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

As an alternative to these three strands, Showalter proposes to narrate the history of Ophelia's representations; "the representation of Ophelia changes independently of theories of the meaning of the play or the Prince," she argues, "for it depends on attitudes towards women and madness."^[13] Noting a contrast between the paucity of commentary on Ophelia within the history of criticism and an abundance of representations of her in the wider cultural history, she argues that it is necessary to pursue an "interdisciplinary contextualization" of "the complexity of attitudes towards the feminine" in order to expose the ideologies that have shaped the specific representations of Ophelia on the stage, in criticism and in the culture at large (its paintings, novels, fashions).^[14] There is "no 'true' Ophelia" of whom a feminist critic might speak, she argues, only "a Cubist Ophelia of multiple perspectives".^[15] Political Ideologies Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ... Pablo Picasso, Le guitariste, 1910 Juan Gris, Portrait of Picasso, 1912, oil on canvas Georges BraqueWoman with a guitar, 1913 Juan Gris, Still Life with Fruit Dish and Mandolin, 1919, oil on canvas Cubist villa in Prague, Czech Republic Cubist House of the Black Madonna, Prague, Czech Republic, 1912 Cubism...

Portrayal

While it is known that Richard Burbage played Hamlet in Shakespeare's time, there is no evidence of who played Ophelia; since there were no professional actresses on the public stage in Elizabethan England, however, we may be certain that she was played by a boy.^[16] Unknown artist: Portrait of Richard Burbage, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London Richard Burbage (July 7, 1568 – March 13, 1619) was an actor and theatre owner. ... The Elizabethan Era is the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. ...

The early modern stage in England had an established set of emblematic conventions for the representation of female madness: disheveled hair worn down, dressed in white, bedecked with wild flowers, Ophelia's state of mind would have been immediately 'readable' to her first audiences.^[17] "Colour was a major source of stage symbolism", Andrew Gurr explains, so the contrast between Hamlet's "nighted colour" (1.2.68) and "customary suits of solemn black" (1.2.78) and Ophelia's "virginal and vacant white" would have conveyed specific and gendered associations.^[18] Her action of offering wild flowers to the court suggests, Showalter argues, a symbolic deflowering, while even the manner of her 'doubtful death', by drowning, carries associations with the feminine (Laertes refers to his tears on hearing the news as "the woman"). The early modern period is a term used by historians to refer to the period in Western Europe and its first colonies, between the Middle Ages and modern society. ... An emblem consists of a pictorial image, abstract or representational, that epitomizes a concept - often a concept of a moral truth or an allegory. ... A dramatic convention is a set of rules which both the audience and actors are familiar with and which act as a useful way of quickly signifying the nature of the action or of a character. ... In Greek mythology, Laërtes (Greek: Λαέρτης) was the son of Arcesius and Chalcomedusa. ...

Gender structured, too, the early modern understanding of the distinction between Hamlet's madness and Ophelia's: melancholy was understood as a male disease of the intellect, while Ophelia would have been understood as suffering from erotomania, a malady conceived in biological and emotional terms.^[19] This discourse of female madness impacted on Ophelia's representation on stage from the 1660s, when the appearance of actresses in the English theatres first began to introduce "new meanings and subversive tensions" into the role: "the most celebrated of the actresses who played Ophelia were those whom rumor credited with disappointments in love."^[20] Showalter relates a theatrical anecdote that vividly captures this sense of overlap between a performer's identity and the role she plays: Melancholy redirects here. ... Erotomania is a rare disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that another person, usually of a higher social status, is in love with him or her. ... Discourse is a term used in semantics as in discourse analysis, but it also refers to a social conception of discourse, often linked with the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) and Jürgen Habermas The Theory of Communicative Action (1985). ...

Mary Catherine Bolton (afterwards Lady Thurlow) (1790-1830) as Ophelia in 1813, opposite John Philip Kemble's Hamlet

The greatest triumph was reserved for Susan Mountfort, a former actress at Lincoln's Inn Fields who had gone mad after her lover's betrayal. One night in 1720 she escaped from her keeper, rushed to the theater, and just as the Ophelia of the evening was to enter for her mad scene, "sprang forward in her place ... with wild eyes and wavering motion." As a contemporary reported, "she was in truth Ophelia herself, to the amazement of the performers as well as of the audience—nature having made this last effort, her vital powers failed her and she died soon after."^[21] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 288 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1949 × 4056 pixels, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 288 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1949 × 4056 pixels, file size: 1. ... John Philip Kemble (February 1, 1757 - February 26, 1823), was an English actor. ... // Events January 6 - The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings February 11 - Sweden and Prussia sign the (2nd Treaty of Stockholm) declaring peace. ...

During the 18th century, the conventions of Augustan drama encouraged far less intense, more sentimentalized and decorous depictions of Ophelia's madness and sexuality. From Mrs Lessingham in 1772 to Mary Bolton, playing opposite John Kemble in 1813, the familiar iconography of the role replaced its passionate embodiment. Sarah Siddons played Ophelia's madness with "stately and classical dignity" in 1785.^[22] Augustan drama can refer to the dramas of Ancient Rome during the reign of Caesar Augustus, but it most commonly refers to the plays of Great Britain in the early 18th century, a subset of 18th-century Augustan literature. ... Etiquette is the code that governs the expectations of social behavior, the conventional norm. ... John Kemble was an English martyr. ... Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse by Sir Joshua Reynolds (The Huntington, San Marino, California) Sarah Siddons (July 5, 1755 – June 8, 1831) was a British actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. ...

Since that time, Ophelia has been a frequent subject in artwork, often in a Romantic or Classical style, as the images on this page show. Romantics redirects here. ... Classicism door in Olomouc, The Czech Republic Teatr Wielki in Warsaw Church La Madeleine in Paris Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicist seeks to emulate. ...

Many great actresses have played Ophelia on stage over the years. In the 19th century she was portrayed by Helen Faucit, Dora Jordan, Frances Abington, and Peg Woffington, who won her first real fame by playing the role.^[23] Helena Saville Faucit (1817 - 31 October 1898) was an English actress. ... Frances Abington (1737-March 4, 1815) was an English actress. ... Margaret Peg Woffington (c. ...

Ophelia has been portrayed in movies since the days of early silent films. Dorothy Foster played Ophelia opposite Charles Raymond's Hamlet in 1912. Jean Simmons played Ophelia opposite Lawrence Olivier's oscar-winning Hamlet performance in 1948; Simmons was also nominated for an oscar as best supporting actress, but didn't win. More recently, Ophelia has been portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter (1990), Kate Winslet (1996), and Julia Stiles (2000). Themes associated with Ophelia have led to movies such as Ophelia Learns to Swim (2000), and Dying Like Ophelia (2002).^[24] The following is a list of minor characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1992, by order of first appearance. ... Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons in Angel Face Jean Merilyn Simmons (born January 31, 1929 in Crouch Hill, London, England, United Kingdom) is a British actress. ... Laurence Olivier, as photographed in 1939 by Carl Van Vechten Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (May 22, 1907 – July 11, 1989) was an English actor and director, esteemed by many as the greatest actor of the 20th century. ... Hamlet is a 1948 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Hamlet. ... Helena Bonham Carter (born May 26, 1966) is an Academy Award-nominated British actress, known for her roles in the films A Room with a View, Howards End, and Fight Club. ... Hamlet is a 1990 film based on the Shakespearean play of the same name. ... Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born October 5, 1975) is a five time Academy Award-nominated Emmy Award-nominated BAFTA, Grammy and Screen Actors Guild Award winning English actress. ... William Shakespeares Hamlet is a 1996 film version of William Shakespeares classic play of the same name, adapted and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also starred in the title role. ... Julia OHara Stiles (born March 28, 1981) is an American stage and screen actress. ... Hamlet, also referred to as Hamlet 2000, is a film by Michael Almereyda, released in 2000, set in contemporary New York City, and based on the Shakespeare play. ... Julia Lee in Ophelia Learns to Swim Ophelia Learns to Swim is the debut feature of Jürgen Vsych. ... Karyn Dwyer Dying Like Ophelia is an award winning six-minute drama directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly, based on an excerpt of the awarding play, Lion In The Streets, by 2 time Govenor General Award winning playwright Judith Thompson. ...

Footnotes

Richard III may refer to: King Richard III of England Richard III, a play by William Shakespeare about the king Richard III may also refer to motion pictures based on the Shakespeare play: Richard III, 1995 (UK/USA), starring Ian McKellen Richard III, 1986 (Soviet Union) Richard III, 1980 (France... British Library main building, London The British Library (BL) is the national library of the United Kingdom. ... The Life and Death of King John is one of the Shakespearean histories, plays written by William Shakespeare and based on the history of England. ...

References

• Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521434378.
• Charney, Maurice. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Lust. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231104294.
• Gurr, Andrew. 1992. The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642. Third ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052142240X.
• Hattaway, Michael. 1982. Elizabethan Popular Theatre: Plays in Performance. Theatre Production ser. London and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul. ISBN 0710090528.
• Showalter, Elaine. 1985. "Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism." In Shakespeare and the Question of Theory. Ed. Patricia Parker and Geoffrey Hartman. New York and London: Methuen. ISBN 0416369308. p.77-94.
• Taylor, Gary. 2002. "Shakepeare Plays on Renaissance Stages". In Wells and Stanton (2002, 1-20).
• Thomson, Peter. 1983. Shakespeare's Theatre. Theatre Production ser. London and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul. ISBN 0710094809.
• Wells, Stanley, and Sarah Stanton, eds. 2002. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage. Cambridge Companions to Literature ser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052179711X.

Andrew John Gurr (born December 23, 1936) is a contemporary literary scholar who specializes in William Shakespeare and English Renaissance theatre. ... Elaine Showalter (1941- ) is an American literary critic, feminist, and writer on cultural and social issues. ... For other uses, see Gary Taylor (disambiguation). ... Stanley Wells is a Shakespeare scholar, who was Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham from 1988-1997, and is now emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies. ...

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ophelia

• References to Ophelia

v • d • e A series on Shakespeare's Hamlet
Characters	Hamlet • Claudius • Gertrude • Ghost • Polonius • Laertes • Ophelia Horatio • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern • Fortinbras • Yorick • Others Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Ophelia is often refered to in litrature and the arts, often with connection to suicide. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... Hamlet and Ophelia, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Prince Hamlet is the main character in Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet. ... Claudius is a fictional character from William Shakespeares play Hamlet. ... In William Shakespeares play Hamlet, Gertrude is Hamlets mother and Queen of Denmark. ... King Hamlet is a character from William Shakespeares play Hamlet, also known as The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. ... Polonius is a character from William Shakespeares Hamlet. ... Laertes and Ophelia Laertes is a character from William Shakespeares play, Hamlet. ... Horatio is Hamlets friend from university in William Shakespeares play. ... A lithograph of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the flute scene from Hamlet Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are minor fictional characters from William Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet. ... Fortinbras is a minor fictional character from William Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet. ... Yorick was the deceased court jester whose skull is exhumed by the gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of Shakespeares Hamlet. ... For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ...
Speeches	"To be, or not to be" • "What a piece of work is a man" • "Speak the speech"
Sources & Criticism	Legend of Hamlet • The Spanish Tragedy • Ur-Hamlet • Critical approaches to Hamlet
References	Phrases from Hamlet in common English • References to Hamlet • References to Ophelia
Performances	Hamlet in performance • Moscow Arts Theatre (1911)
Adaptations	The Lion King • Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead • Hamletmachine • Hamlet (opera) • Strange Brew
Hamlet on screen	Hamlet (1920 film) • Hamlet (1948 film) • Hamlet (1964 film) Hamlet (1969 film) • Hamlet (1990 film) • Hamlet (1996 film) • Hamlet (2000 film) Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... For the Ernst Lubitsch film, see To Be or Not to Be (1942 film). ... The phrase What a piece of work is a man! comes from Shakespeares Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act II, scene II, and it is often used in reference to the whole speech containing the line. ... Speak the speech is a famous speech from Shakespeares Hamlet (1601). ... For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... Hamlet and Ophelia, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti From its premiere at the turn of the seventeenth century, Hamlet has been one of Shakespeares best-known, most-imitated, and most-analyzed plays. ... Hamlet is a striking figure in Scandinavian romance and the hero of Shakespeares tragedy, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. ... Title page of the Quarto edition (1615) The Spanish Tragedie: or, Hieronimo is Mad Againe is an Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd between 1587-1590 and first performed in London around 1590. ... Ur-Hamlet was the name given by nineteenth century German scholars to a pre-Shakespearean Hamlet written before 1589. ... Hamlet and Ophelia, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti From its premiere at the turn of the seventeenth century, Hamlet has been one of Shakespeares best-known, most-imitated, and most-analyzed plays. ... For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... William Shakespeares play Hamlet has contributed many phrases to common English, from the famous To be, or not to be to a few less known, but still in everyday English. ... Numerous references to Hamlet in popular culture (in film, literature, arts, etc. ... Ophelia is often refered to in litrature and the arts, often with connection to suicide. ... French actress Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet, in a publicity postcard from the end of the 19th century. ... French actress Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet, in a publicity postcard from the end of the 19th century. ... Nikolai Massalitinov as Claudius and Olga Knipper as Gertrude. ... For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... This article is about Disneys 1994 film. ... This article is about the play. ... Die Hamletmaschine is a play by East German author and theatre director Heiner Müller. ... Hamlet is an opera in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas. ... Strange Brew is also the title of a song by the band Cream (released on their 1967 album Disraeli Gears), and of a compilation album - Strange Brew: The Very Best of Cream Strange Brew is a 1983 film starring the popular SCTV characters Bob & Doug McKenzie, played by Dave Thomas... In putting Hamlet on screen, directors invariably place it within a film genre: Oliviers Hamlet, for example, is a film noir; Zeffirellis version is, to some, an action adventure and Branaghs is an epic. ... Hamlet is a 1920 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Hamlet starring Danish silent film legend Asta Nielsen. ... Hamlet is a 1948 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Hamlet. ... Hamlet is a 1964 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Hamlet based on the Russian translation of Boris Pasternak. ... Hamlet is a 1969 film of the play by Shakespeare, starring Nicol Williamson as the Dane. ... Hamlet is a 1990 film based on the Shakespearean play of the same name. ... William Shakespeares Hamlet is a 1996 film version of William Shakespeares classic play of the same name, adapted and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also starred in the title role. ... Hamlet, also referred to as Hamlet 2000, is a film by Michael Almereyda, released in 2000, set in contemporary New York City, and based on the Shakespeare play. ...