First performed in 1603, Hamlet, The Prince of Denmark is probably the best known of William Shakespeare's works, and may well be the most famous English-language play ever written. Categorized as one of Shakespeare's "later tragedies," Hamlet and its namesake hero display fully the mature Bard's extraordinary talents. But while Hamlet has been the subject of admiring critical commentary since Elizabethan times, it has also developed a reputation as a difficult work to analyze, one that features a very complicated central character, addresses many complex themes, and presents the audience with a multi-layered dialog which defies easy interpretation.