A morbid tragedy about mortality, madness, and murder, Hamlet follows the eponymous Prince of Denmark as he plots to avenge his father’s murder at the hands of Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle and the current king, who married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Shakespeare homepage | Hamlet | Entire play Hamlet is a tragedy in five acts written by William Shakespeare about 1599–1601 and published in a quarto edition in 1603 from an unauthorized text. Often considered the greatest drama of all time, the play tells the story of the troubled titular prince of Denmark. Hamlet is Shakespeare's most popular, and most puzzling, play. It follows the form of a revenge tragedy, in which the hero, Hamlet, seeks vengeance against his father's murderer, his uncle Claudius, now the king of Denmark. Hamlet is Shakespeare's most popular, and most puzzling, play. It follows the form of a revenge tragedy, in which the hero, Hamlet, seeks vengeance against his father's murderer, his uncle Claudius, now the king of Denmark. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. The story of Hamlet is based on a Danish revenge story first recorded by Saxo Grammaticus in the 1100s. In these stories, a Danish prince fakes madness in order to take revenge on his uncle, who had killed the prince's father and married his mother.