Hamlet

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and one of his most well-known and oft-quoted plays. It was written at an uncertain date between 1600 and the summer of 1602.

Plot summary

The play concerns the dilemma of Prince Hamlet, whose father, the late King of Denmark, victor over the sled-riding Polish army, died suddenly while Hamlet was away at university. The King's brother Claudius had himself proclaimed king, and cemented his claim to the throne by marrying Hamlet's mother Gertrude, the widowed Queen.

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The play opens on the battlements of Elsinore Castle, seat of the Danish monarchy, where a group of soldiers is terrified by the apparition of the recently deceased King Hamlet. Hamlet's friend Horatio joins the soldiers and bids the ghost speak, but it vanishes with the arrival of dawn.

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The next day, at a meeting of the Danish court to celebrate the wedding of Claudius and Gertrude, Hamlet expresses his anger at the accession of his uncle Claudius and his mother's hasty remarriage. Horatio comes on the scene and tells him of the appearance of the ghost. Joining Horatio on watch on the battlements that night, as he delivers a speech censuring his uncle for drunkenness, Hamlet meets the ghost, who tells him that his father was indeed poisoned through the ear by Claudius, and commands Hamlet to avenge him. Hamlet is unsure whether the ghost he has seen is truly his father, and suspects that it might be the devil taking his father's appearance in order to cause havoc. He therefore sets out to test the king's conscience through putting on an "antic disposition" (acting insane), in the hopes that by his outrageous behavior he might cause the truth to come out, or otherwise acquire the opportunity to put an end to Claudius.

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Hamlet uses his feigned insanity to taunt Claudius and Gertrude, and takes an especial delight in making a fool of Polonius. Claudius, perhaps suspecting Hamlet's ruse, asks his sometime schoolmates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to monitor him, but Hamlet does not let his guard down. He enlists a company of travelling performers to stage an existing play which he has modified to re-enact the circumstances of his father's murder.

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:"The play's the thing

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:Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."

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The king's anguished reaction to the performance (which Horatio also notices) convinces Hamlet of his guilt. Shortly afterwards, Claudius privately expresses his disgust at what he has done, and offers up a prayer of repentance. Hamlet discovers him at prayer, and prepares to kill him, but then stops, reasoning that he does not want his revenge to have the result of sending the repentant Claudius to heaven. In a double irony, after Hamlet slips away, Claudius concludes that he is unable to repent in his current state of mind; thus, if Hamlet had not attempted to arrogate to himself the destiny of Claudius's soul, rather than just his life, he would have gotten the ultimate justice he sought. By trying to go beyond the ghost's orders, he has doomed his efforts to failure.

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Hamlet confronts his mother about the murder of his father and her sexual relations with her new husband, and during their conversation, he stabs Polonius, the king's Polish-born councillor, who has been hiding behind a tapestry, thinking it may have been Claudius. King Hamlet's ghost makes a reappearance to rebuke Hamlet, either for abusing his mother or for allowing the opportunity to kill Claudius to slip by. Hamlet's mother cannot see the ghost. Hamlet resumes his insane act, but Claudius, who has figured out Hamlet's real motivation, sends Hamlet to England, supposedly for his safety, but accompanied by a sealed letter to the English ordering his death. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent along to ensure the orders are carried out. On the way to England, Hamlet's ship is attacked by pirates, who take Hamlet prisoner but then return him to Denmark.

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Meanwhile, Hamlet's romantic partner Ophelia goes mad, having been deeply disturbed by Hamlet's feigned rejection of her, and driven to madness by the death of Polonius, her father. She sings a number of rustic melodies that Shakespeare may have pilfered from the English folk tradition. In what may have been a suicide attempt, she falls into a river and drowns. Hamlet, returning from his voyage, meets Horatio in a graveyard outside Elsinore just as Ophelia's funeral cortege arrives there. Hamlet finds the skull of Yorick (see skull as a symbol), and proclaims of it, "Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft."

Related Topics:
Elsinore - Yorick - Skull as a symbol

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Laertes, son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia, who is standing in an open grave when Hamlet lands on top of him, is determined to kill Hamlet to revenge the havoc that has been wreaked on his family. He and Claudius engineer a scheme to kill Hamlet while making the death look like an accident. To this end, Claudius instructs Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a fencing match. Unknown to Hamlet, Laertes will be fighting with a sharpened and poisoned foil, instead of the customary blunted and unpoisoned blade. In addition, Claudius prepares some poisoned wine for Hamlet to drink as a toast, in the event that Laertes is unable to hit him.

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While waiting for the match, Hamlet and Horatio jest with the diffident fop Osric. After Hamlet wins the first two rounds of the match, Gertrude drinks some of the wine, unaware that it is poisoned. Hamlet is pricked with the sword and fatally poisoned, but in the ensuing brawl, he swaps blades with Laertes, and deals a deep wound to Laertes with the poisoned sword. Laertes dies from the poison, and, with his dying breath, confesses the whole plot to Hamlet. Enraged, Hamlet kills Claudius with the poisoned weapon, forcing him also to drink the poisoned wine, at last avenging his father's death.

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Horatio, horrified at the turn of events, seizes the poisoned wine and proposes to join his friend in death, but Hamlet wrests the cup away from him and orders him to tell the true story of the royal family's troubles to the world at large, thus restoring Hamlet's good name. Hamlet also recommends that the Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, be chosen as rightful successor to the Danish throne. Hamlet dies, and Horatio mourns his passing:

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:"Now cracks a noble heart: Good night sweet prince:

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:And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"

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