The Prince of Denmark is visited by his father's ghost, who reveals a crime and demands revenge. Torn between doubt and duty, Hamlet feigns madness while the court of Elsinore fills with suspicion.
My notes
To be or not to be: doubt paralyses more than fear does
Hamlet thinks too much and acts too little, and the delay costs everyone dearly
Feigned madness works as a mask for telling the truth
The play within the play: using art to expose guilt ("the play's the thing")
Polonius: "to thine own self be true", good advice from someone who doesn't follow it
Corruption at the top poisons the whole kingdom ("something is rotten in the state of Denmark")
Ophelia is the biggest victim of everyone else's games
Revenge breeds more revenge: by the end, almost no one is left
Yorick's skull: everyone ends up the same in the face of death
"The rest is silence"
Spoilers · hidden
More books
Fooled by Randomness
Nassim Nicholas Taleb · Reading now
“No matter how sophisticated our choices, how good we are at dominating the odds, randomness will have the last word.”
Henrique Matos