The Elsinore Appeal

the long version

The night of 11 October 1994, before a packed house of law and literature buffs, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York retried the late prince of Denmark before a three-judge appellate panel. The case was an attempt to overturn Hamlet's original conviction for no fewer than six homicides (those of Claudius, Polonius, Laertes, Rosenkrantz, Guildenstern, and Ophelia) following his recovery from the poisoned sword wound received in his duel with Laertes. Already having served four hundred years of a life sentence, the melancholy Dane was ultimately acquitted of some of his charges - but not until the American justice system had battled wits with Shakespeare in a hilarious yet illuminating examination of one of literature's most beloved and perplexing characters. The Elsinore Appeal: People v. Hamlet contains all transcripts and briefs relating to the hearing, as well as the most incriminating document in the case: the complete text of Shakespeare's play.