Hamlet's combination of violence and introspection is unusual among Shakespeare's tragedies. It
is also full of curious riddles and fascinating paradoxes making it one of his most widely
discussed plays.Professor Hibbard's illuminating and original introduction explains the process
by which variant texts were fused together in the eighteenth century to create the most
commonly used text of today. Drawing on both critical and theatrical history he shows how this
fusion makes Hamlet seem a much more `problematic' play than it was when it originally appeared
in the First Folio of 1623.The Oxford Shakespeare edition presents a radically new text based
on that First Folio which printed Shakespeare's own revision of an earlier version. The result
is a `theatrical' and highly practical edition for students and performers alike.
