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William Shakespeare 's ' Hamlet '

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William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” is the most famous Shakespeare play (Frequently Asked Questions). It is set in 1600’s Denmark. There is a big complaint by high school and college students that the play is too hard to read due to the language used by William Shakespeare. However, there are many adaptations that have been made using this play. One of these adaptations is called “Thug Notes” and is on YouTube. This adaptation uses very informal language, but is able to convey the most important plot points found in the play. Adaptations are great formats to help students better understand a written work, but sometimes the adaptations differs from the original piece.
The main character in the play is Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. His father, Hamlet senior, dies before the play’s beginning. Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, somehow took over the kingdom when Hamlet was the rightful heir. He also marries his sister-in-law, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. When the play begins, soldiers who are guarding the castle see a ghost in the distance. They both agree that the ghost remarkably looks like the dead king, Hamlet Sr. They both agree that they should probably tell Hamlet about this ghost. In the “Thug Notes” version of the summarization, Sparky Sweets (I’m not joking, that’s his name) says things like, “The s***’s goin’ wack up in the kingdom of Elsinore” and, “The old King’s brother Claudius is about to marry his brother’s old breezy, Gertrude” (ThugNotes). While using very

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