A companion to volume 1, Hamlet: Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition, Volume 2 presents key critical accounts of Hamlet from 1885-1964. The volume offers, in separate sections, both critical opinions about the play across the centuries and an evaluation of their positions within and their impact on the reception of the play.

The volume features criticism from leading literary figures, such as Sigmund Freud, T.S. Eliot, A.C. Bradley, Helena Faucit Saville and Matthew Arnold. The chronological arrangement of the text-excerpts engages the readers in a direct and unbiased dialogue, whereas the introduction offers a critical evaluation from a current stance, including modern theories and methods. The volume makes a major contribution to our understanding of the play and of the traditions of Shakespearean criticism surrounding it as they have developed from century to century.