Claim: Ralph Fiennes has been in a play.

The Tragedy of Hamlet , Prince of Denmark , often shortened to Hamlet -LRB- -LSB- ˈhæmlᵻt -RSB- -RRB- , is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602 . Set in Denmark , the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle , Claudius , by the ghost of Hamlet 's father , King Hamlet . Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne , also marrying his deceased brother 's widow .   Hamlet is Shakespeare 's longest play , and is considered among the most powerful and influential works of world literature , with a story capable of `` seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others '' . The play likely was one of Shakespeare 's most popular works during his lifetime , and still ranks among his most performed , topping the performance list of the Royal Shakespeare Company and its predecessors in Stratford-upon-Avon since 1879 . It has inspired many other writers -- from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and Iris Murdoch -- and has been described as `` the world 's most filmed story after Cinderella '' .   The story of Shakespeare 's Hamlet was derived from the legend of Amleth , preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum , as subsequently retold by 16th-century scholar François de Belleforest . Shakespeare may also have drawn on an earlier -LRB- hypothetical -RRB- Elizabethan play known today as the Ur-Hamlet , though some scholars believe he himself wrote the Ur-Hamlet , later revising it to create the version of Hamlet we now have . He almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor , Richard Burbage , the leading tragedian of Shakespeare 's time . In the 400 years since its inception , the role has been performed by numerous highly acclaimed actors in each successive century .   Three different early versions of the play are extant : the First Quarto -LRB- Q1 , 1603 -RRB- ; the Second Quarto -LRB- Q2 , 1604 -RRB- ; and the First Folio -LRB- F1 , 1623 -RRB- . Each version includes lines and entire scenes missing from the others . The play 's structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny . One such example is the centuries-old debate about Hamlet 's hesitation to kill his uncle , which some see as merely a plot device to prolong the action , but which others argue is a dramatisation of the complex philosophical and ethical issues that surround cold-blooded murder , calculated revenge , and thwarted desire . More recently , psychoanalytic critics have examined Hamlet 's unconscious desires , while feminist critics have re-evaluated and attempted to rehabilitate the often maligned characters of Ophelia and Gertrude .