Short answers, pulled from the story.
Scholars identify the 13th-century Life of Amleth by Saxo Grammaticus as the primary source for Hamlet. This Latin text describes a prince who feigns madness to survive after his father is murdered by his uncle.
The First Quarto appeared in 1603 under the title The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke. It contains just over half the lines found in later editions and includes unique stage directions such as Ophelia entering with a lute and her hair down.
Shakespeare likely wrote the role of Hamlet for Richard Burbage, chief tragedian of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Early performances included tours in Germany within five years of Shakespeare's death and shows before James I in 1619 and Charles I in 1637.
Sigmund Freud published thoughts on Hamlet in The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) suggesting an unconscious Oedipal complex caused hesitation. Ernest Jones expanded these ideas in Hamlet and Oedipus (1949), influencing productions that portrayed the closet scene sexually.
Gu Wuwei transformed Hamlet into The Usurper of State Power attacking Yuan Shikai in China during 1916. Jiao Juyin staged it inside a Confucian temple in Sichuan Province in 1942 as government retreated from advancing Japanese forces.