# Hamlet

**Author:** William Shakespeare
**Grade range:** Grades 11–12
**Age range:** 16–18
**First published:** 1603
**Page count:** 384
**Genre:** Tragedy
**ISBN-13:** `9780743477123`
**ISBN-10:** `074347712X`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/hamlet
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Prince Hamlet of Denmark is visited by the ghost of his murdered father and charged with avenging his death on his uncle Claudius, the new king. Shakespeare's longest and most philosophically complex play — a cornerstone of 11th-12th grade English and AP Literature curricula.

## Themes

- revenge
- madness
- mortality
- deception
- indecision

## Content notes

- murder
- suicide
- violence
- mental illness

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 14+

## Where this book is assigned

### AP English Literature & Composition

- **required** · 12th grade — [source: AP Lit — one of the most frequently cited FRQ3 texts](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-literature-and-composition)

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 11-CCR drama exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 12th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 11-CCR drama exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)

### IB Diploma Programme — English A: Literature

- **required** · 12th grade — [source: IB DP English A Literature Prescribed Reading List](https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/)

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