Winter's Tale

It is cold; and it is midnight. Enter Barnardo and Francisco, two sentinels. Barnardo. Who's there? The scene represents a platform before the castle of Elsinore, the royal seat of the Kings of Denmark. Elsinore. A Platform before the Castle. There is an aura of unreality about the plays of Shakespeare, and students feel this, although they may not be able to express their reactions precisely. BARNARDO Who's there? [Enter two Sentinels first, Francisco, who paces up and down at his post; then Bernardo, who approaches him.] Bernardo Who's there? Darkness. Uneasy siIence. This volume of William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark consists of two versions of the play. UP to the end of the First World War and for some time thereafter, Hamlet was generally regarded as the greatest of all Shakespeare's plays, the most exciting, absorbing, and profound drama ever written. William Shakespeare, or the "Bard" as people fondly call him, permeates almost all aspects of our society.