Does “Hamlet” Need a Backstory?

Since it was penned more than four hundred years ago, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” has been in production nearly continuously, and has been adapted in many ways. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz consider why this story of a brooding young prince has continued to speak to audiences throughout the centuries. They discuss the new film “Hamnet,” directed by Chloé Zhao, which recasts the writing of “Hamlet” as Shakespeare’s response to the death of his child; Tom Stoppard’s absurdist play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”; Michael Almereyda’s 2000 “Hamlet,” which presents the protagonist as a melancholy film student home from college; and other adaptations. What accounts for this story’s hold over audiences, centuries after it was written? “I think it endures because every generation has its version of the incomprehensible,” Cunningham says. “It’s not just death—it’s politics, it’s society. Everybody has to deal with their own version of ‘This does not make sense and yet it is.’ ”

Read, watch, and listen with the critics:

“Hamnet” (2025)
“Hamnet,” by Maggie O’Farrell
“Hamlet,” by William Shakespeare
Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet” (1996)
Michael Almereyda’s “Hamlet” (2000)
“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” (1990)
John Gielgud’s “Hamlet” (1964)
Robert Icke’s “Hamlet” (2017, 2022)
“Every Generation Gets the Shakespeare It Deserves” by Drew Lichtenberg (The New York Times)
“Hamlet and His Problems" by T. S. Eliot

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Critics at Large is a weekly discussion from The New Yorker which explores the latest trends in books, television, film, and more. Join us every Thursday as we make unexpected connections between classic texts and pop culture.

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