Hamlet
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 17+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Hamlet is a prince in Denmark. His father's ghost tells him that his uncle murdered the king and stole the crown. Hamlet tries to find out the truth and set things right, but many people die along the way. This is one of the greatest plays ever written, and it takes sin, death and judgment seriously. The ghost speaks of purgatory. The guilty king tries to pray and cannot repent. But the story runs on revenge, and the hero thinks about ending his own life. A teen needs a parent or teacher alongside to sort the true from the false. Catholic educators assign it in high school.
For parents
Read in parts together from about fifteen. Independent reading from seventeen. The Cardinal Newman Society lists it for grades 9 to 12. Know before you hand it over: there are eight deaths, a ghost who asks for revenge, a young woman who goes mad and drowns in a way that may be suicide, and a hero who weighs killing himself. Ask: the ghost says he is in purgatory and that he died without the last rites. What does the Church teach about purgatory and praying for the dead? Is revenge the same as justice, and whose job is justice? Why does Hamlet fear what comes after death? How should he have treated Ophelia? Correct one thing clearly. Despair is never the answer, and life is God's to give and take.