Hamlet Third edition by Richard Andrews [Rare book]

Book Summary

Hamlet — Third Edition, edited by Richard Andrews, is a student-friendly edition of William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, published by Cambridge University Press in 2014. The edition contains the complete play along with notes and supporting material designed to help students understand Shakespeare’s language, characters, themes, historical context, and performance possibilities. The third edition was published in 2014, following earlier editions in 1994 and 2005.

The play tells the story of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, who learns from his father’s ghost that his father was murdered by Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, who has now become king and married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Hamlet promises to avenge his father but becomes deeply troubled by questions about truth, morality, death, and action. He pretends to be mad while investigating Claudius and eventually creates a play that imitates the murder to test the king’s guilt. His hesitation and attempts at revenge lead to a series of tragic events involving Ophelia, Polonius, Laertes, Gertrude, Claudius, and Hamlet himself. The tragedy ends with a deadly duel in which almost all the major characters die.

The major themes of the play include revenge, madness, appearance versus reality, death, corruption, betrayal, morality, and hesitation. Hamlet is particularly famous for its philosophical soliloquies, especially his reflections on existence and death. The Cambridge edition encourages students to engage actively with the play and its language rather than simply reading it as a story. The earlier Cambridge School Shakespeare edition is described as including classroom activities, notes on characters, performance, history and language, and visual material. 

About the Editor  

Richard Andrews is a British academic and Shakespeare editor associated with Cambridge University Press’s educational Shakespeare publications. He was born in 1953 and is credited as the editor of the 2014 third edition of Hamlet. Andrews has worked on editions intended to make Shakespeare more accessible to students, helping readers understand the play's language, characters, historical background, and theatrical possibilities. His edition of Hamlet presents Shakespeare's original drama together with explanatory and educational material that supports close reading and classroom study.