剧本主人翁哈姆雷特是位丹麦王子。他在剧中第三幕第一场的经典独白“生存还是毁灭，这是个问题”（英语：To be, or not to be; that's the question）是戏剧史上流传最广的台词之一，也是许多现代演员恶梦般的表演难点。在剧场中，哈姆雷特是在西方各国扮演最多的角色之一，也对成熟的男演员提出了巨大挑战，因为哈姆雷特在剧中是一个初出茅庐的年轻人。
哈姆雷特式的传奇广泛存在（如在意大利、西班牙、拜占庭、阿拉伯等地），其核心主题“英雄是傻瓜”可能发源于印欧地区[11] 。一些前哈姆雷特的古代作品可以找到。第一个是匿名人所著的斯堪的纳维亚《赫罗尔夫与卡其色传奇》[12]。其中，被谋杀的国王有两个儿子——赫罗尔夫与卡其色——他俩在故事中隐姓埋名，而不是像莎士比亚戏剧中的那样假装癫疯[13]。第二个是罗马布鲁图斯传奇(legend of Brutus)，出现于两个独立的拉丁作品当中。故事的主角卢修斯[14]，改名为布鲁图斯（愚钝的），来躲避父兄们所遭遇的不幸，并最终杀死家族的凶手国王塔克文[15]。十七世纪北欧学者托夫斯(Torfaeus)将冰岛英雄阿姆罗德(Amlodi)、西班牙王子阿姆巴勒斯[16]与莎士比亚的《哈姆雷特》作了对比。类似的地方包括王子装疯，意外地在母亲卧室里误杀国王的大臣，最终杀死自己的叔叔。[17]
学者们常常猜测《哈姆雷特》中的波隆尼尔的原型可能来自伯利爵士威廉·塞西尔[34]。他是高级财务主管，伊丽莎白一世的大顾问。钱伯斯[35]认为波隆尼尔对雷尔提的建议可以映照伯利爵士对他儿子罗伯特·塞西尔的建议。约翰·威尔逊[36]认为波隆尼尔的原型就是伯利，而劳斯(A. L. Rowse)则猜测波隆尼尔文绉绉的口舌类似伯利爵士。[37]莉莲·温斯坦莱 认为《第一四开本》中的名字"Corambis"暗示了塞西尔和伯利。[38]哈罗德·詹金(Harold Jenkins)则批评道对他人名字的直接引述或讽刺“不是莎士比亚的风格”，[39]而希波德[40]则假设《第一四开本》与其它版本中名字的不同[41]可能是由于作者不想冒犯牛津大学的学者而做的改动。[42]
就独白“生存还是毁灭”而言，早期三版本中的文字出入巨大，而1823年意外发现的一本Q1激起人们的许多兴趣，以及对编辑活动的质疑和重新解释。学者们立即从Q1中发现了明显的瑕疵，并导致了“坏四开本”这一概念的出现[74]。然而，Q1有它的价值：文本中包含了许多舞台指令，反映出当时戏剧的真实运作情况，这在Q2和F1中是不存在的；文本中的4.6幕在Q2或F1中不存在[75] ；文本对比较之后版本十分有帮助。该版本中场次顺序更为连贯，不像Q2和F1中换场时出现的犹豫与踌躇。Q1的主要瑕疵在于语言：特别是著名的“生存还是毁灭”那句："To be, or not to be, aye there's the point. / To die, to sleep, is that all? Aye all: / No, to sleep, to dream, aye marry there it goes."
所有关于《哈姆雷特》的引述，除非另加注释，否者都来自于Arden Shakespeare Q2 (Thompson and Taylor, 2006a)。在他们的引述系统下，3.1.55 意思是 act 3, scene 1, line 55. 对《第一四开本》和《第一对开本》中各自简写为Hamlet Q1 和 Hamlet F1，来源于Arden Shakespeare "Hamlet: the texts of 1603 and 1623" (Thompson and Taylor, 2006b)。他们的引述系统Q1 中没有act breaks, 所以 7.115 意思是scene 7, line 115.
See Taylor (2002, 4); Banham (1998, 141); Hattaway asserts that "Richard Burbage ... played Hieronimo and also Richard III but then was the first Hamlet, Lear, and Othello" (1982, 91); Peter Thomson argues that the identity of Hamlet as Burbage is built into the dramaturgy of several moments of the play: "we will profoundly misjudge the position if we do not recognise that, whilst this is Hamlet talking about the groundlings, it is also Burbage talking to the groundlings" (1983, 24); see also Thomson on the first player's beard (1983, 110).
In his 1936 book The Problem of Hamlet: A Solution Andrew Cairncross asserted that the Hamlet referred to in 1589 was written by Shakespeare; Peter Alexander (1964), Eric Sams (according to Jackson 1991, 267) and, more recently, Harold Bloom (2001, xiii and 383; 2003, 154) have agreed. Harold Jenkins, the editor of the second series Arden edition of the play, dismisses the idea as groundless (1982, 84 n4).
Polonius was close to the Latin name for Robert Pullen, founder of Oxford University, and Reynaldo too close for safety to John Rainolds, the President of Corpus Christi College. G.R.Hibbard (ed.) Hamlet, Oxford University Press, 1987, pp.74–5.
MacCary suggests 1599 or 1600 (1998, 13); James Shapiro offers late 1600 or early 1601 (2005, 341); Wells and Taylor suggest that the play was written in 1600 and revised later (1988, 653); the New Cambridge editor settles on mid-1601 (Edwards 1985, 8); the New Swan Shakespeare Advanced Series editor agrees with 1601 (Lott 1970, xlvi); Thompson and Taylor, tentatively ("according to whether one is the more persuaded by Jenkins or by Honigmann") suggest a terminus ad quem of either Spring 1601 or sometime in 1600 (2001a, 58–59).
Hamlet F1 2.2.337. The whole conversation between Rozencrantz, Guildenstern and Hamlet concerning the touring players' departure from the city is at Hamlet "F1" 2.2.324–360.
Thompson and Taylor published Q2, with appendices, in their first volume (2006a) and the F1 and Q1 texts in their second volume (2006b). Bate and Rasmussen (2007) is the F1 text with additional Q2 passages in an appendix. The New Cambridge series has begun to publish separate volumes for the separate quarto versions that exist of Shakespeare's plays (Irace 1998).
This is widely interpreted as having a double meaning, since 'nunnery' was slang for a brothel. Pauline Kiernan, Filthy Shakespeare, Quercus, 2006, p. 34. This interpretation has been challenged by Jenkins (1982, 493–495; also H. D. F. Kitto) on the grounds of insufficient and inconclusive evidence of a precedent for this meaning; Jenkins states that the literal meaning is better suited to the dramatic context.
Hamlet has 208 quotations in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations; it takes up 10 of 85 pages dedicated to Shakespeare in the 1986 Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (14th ed. 1968). For examples of lists of the greatest books, see Harvard Classics, Great Books, Great Books of the Western World, Harold Bloom's The Western Canon, St. John's College reading list, and Columbia College Core Curriculum.
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