What Happens in Hamlet

John Dover Wilson’s What Happens in Hamlet is a classic of Shakespeare criticism. First published in 1935, it is still being read today throughout the English-speaking world and has been widely translated. Hamlet has excited more curiosity and aroused more debate than any other play ever written. Is Hamlet really mad? Does he really see his father’s ghost, or is it an illusion? Is the ghost good or bad? What does it all mean? Dover Wilson brings out the significance of each part of the complex action, against the background. His analysis of the play emphasises Shakespeare’s dramatic art and shows how the play must be seen and heard to be understood. This is a readable, entertaining and scholarly book.