"Faint and Imperfect Stamps": The Problem with Adaptations of Shakespeare for Children‪.‬

Despite the numerous reasons against adapting Shakespeare's works for young children--including the difficult language and mature subject matter of the plays--many authors have done so over the past two hundred years. Why is this? How do authors deal with the difficulties of Shakespeare's texts? What is lost and gained by these adaptations? This article examines the various justifications for presenting Shakespeare to children, from the Lambs' Tales from Shakespeare to the present. It points to the problems inherent in some of these explanations, and suggests that adults must be critical of their motives for, and methods of, presenting Shakespeare to children. To illustrate this claim, the article provides a comparative analysis of a selection of Hamlets for children. **********