Shakespeare’s combination of violence, introspection, dark humour and rich language in Hamlet is intoxicating. It remains the world's most widely studied and performed play, and is a cornerstone of world literature. A young prince meets with his father's ghost, who alleges that his own brother, now married to his widow, murdered him. The prince devises a scheme to test the truth of the ghost's accusation, feigning wild madness while plotting a brutal revenge until his apparent insanity begins to wreak havoc on innocent and guilty alike.