This self-contained, free-standing volume gives readers the Second Quarto text.  In his illustrated introduction to the plays historical, cultural, and performance contexts, Neil Taylor presents a thorough survey of critical approaches to the play.  He addresses the challenges faced in reading, editing, or acting a play with the depth of content and tradition that Hamlet possesses.  He also establishes the historical and cultural context in which the play was written and explains the arguments about the merits and deficiencies of the First and Second Quarto and the First Folio.  Taylor points to the many novelists, both men and women, whose work refers to or bears commonalities with Hamlet, to suggest an ongoing to need to resolve "the continuing mystery of Hamlet" in print and on stage.  An appendix contains the additional passages found only in the 1623 text, and other appendices on the editorial process, the traditions regarding the act division at 3.4/4.1, casting, and music are also included.