Hamlet's story is far older than Shakespeare, perhaps older than Europe itself
Shakespeare wrote his longest play between 1599 and 1601, but the prince who pretends to be mad in order to avenge his father was already ancient. Versions of that clever-fool hero turn up from Scandinavia to Arabia, so widely that the core idea may reach back to Indo-European roots.
The setup is simple and poisonous. King Hamlet of Denmark has died, and his brother Claudius has taken both the crown and the widow, Gertrude. The late king's ghost appears to his son, names Claudius as his murderer and demands revenge. Meanwhile Denmark worries about Fortinbras, the son of Norway's king, who seems poised to invade.
Much of the drama comes from delay and disguise. The prince feigns madness, spots that his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been sent to spy on him, and has a visiting troupe perform The Murder of Gonzago, a play that mirrors his father's death. When Claudius storms out mid-performance, Hamlet takes it as proof. Yet he spares the king when he finds him praying, reasoning that death at prayer would send him to heaven. He then kills Polonius by mistake, hidden behind a tapestry, which drives Ophelia to madness and turns her brother Laertes into an enemy. A rigged fencing match with poisoned wine and a poisoned blade ends with nearly the whole royal household dead.
The borrowed bones of the story show up in several older texts. The anonymous Saga of Hrolf Kraki features a murdered king whose two sons, Hroar and Helgi, must survive their uncle. Closer still is the Life of Amleth, written in Latin in the thirteenth century by Saxo Grammaticus as part of his Gesta Danorum. It already has a prince playing mad and a mother who marries the usurper too quickly, and it was easy to find in Shakespeare's time.
Three early texts survive, the First Quarto of 1603, the Second Quarto of 1604 and the First Folio, and they differ in ways editors still weigh. The play is routinely ranked among the greatest ever written and among the most influential tragedies in English, and its plot has proved endlessly open to retelling.
Source: Hamlet
