Author: William Shakespeare married to Anne Hathaway. He may have written this play in honor of his dead son.
Setting: 1600 or earlier, in Elsinore a castle in Denmark
Characters:
Hamlet:
- Main character 30 years old
- Prince of Denmark
- Intelligent but acts mad
- Suicidal
- Wants to avenge his father’s death
Horatio:
- Trusted by all
- Hamlet’s best friend
- maybe Hamlet’s lover
- Wise
Gertrude
- Queen of Denmark
- Hints of her cheating on Hamlet’s father with Claudius befor Old Hamlet’s death
- Married to Claudius
- May have a special relationship with Hamlet as lovers
Claudius
- King of Denmark
- Married to Gertrude
- Killed Old Hamlet for power and Gertrude
- Afraid of Hamlet’s influence on the people
- Hamlet’s Uncle and now father
Polonius
- King’s adviser
- Ophelia’s father
- Power hungry
- Likes to spy
Laertes
- Son of Polonius
- In France most of the play except to warn Ophelia against Hamlet and to kill Hamlet at the end
Ophelia
- Daughter of Polonius
- Loves Hamlet but helps her father and the king spy on him
- Kills herself due to pregnancy and father’s death
Fortinbras
- Hamlet’s foil
- Achieves his father’s goals
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
- Hamlet’s “friends” were most likely taken in to the castle at a young age for reassurance that their families were loyal
- Die due to the king and
Summary
Act I
- Bernardo, Horatio, and Marcellus takes over the guard from Francisco. The guards try to persuade Horatio there is a ghost
- Ghost appears and is mute
- Decide to tell Hamlet as it looks like his late father
- Horatio tells the story about Old Hamlet and Fortinbras
- King and Queen talk to courtiers, they allow Laertes to go back to school in France and reject Hamlet’s request to go back to school (they do this in a rude manner and tell him to get over his father’s death)
- Horatio and Marcellus tell Hamlet of the ghost and beg him to stand watch with them
- Laertes and Ophelia discuss waiting to bed Hamlet until marriage if they even get married
- Polonius disregards Ophelia and tells her not to talk to Hamlet
- Ghost appears and begs Hamlet to go with him alone
- Ghost tells Hamlet that he (his father) was murdered by Claudius in the form of poison. He also says that Gertrude has nothing to do with his murder so when Hamlet takes revenge spare her.
- Hamlet forces his friends to secrecy
Act II
- Polonius sends a spy to France to spy on Laertes
- Ophelia comes in and said that Hamlet came to her closet acting mad
- Polonius goes to the King and tells them Hamlet is mad for Ophelia
- The king and queen recruit Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on him to discover the cause of his madness.
- Hamlet tells his old friends nothing as he can tell they were sent for to spy on him
- Hamlet hears bits of old plays from the players
- To be or not to be
Act III
- King and Polonius decide to employ Ophelia to talk to Hamlet as they spy on the two love birds
- Hamlet realises that he is being spied on and says nothing
- Hamlet insults Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Polonius, organises a play and tells Horatio to join him in watching the kings reaction
- At the play Claudius leaves and Hamlet follows to find him praying so he decides to not kill him, yet
- Hamlet goes to his mother’s closet to talk and kills spying Polonius
- Hamlet convinces his mom he is not mad and that her new husband is a murder
Act IV
- Claudius and Gertrude discuss Hamlet and send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to retrieve Polonius’ body
- King sends Hamlet to England to be killed secretly (Hamlet is escorted by R and G)
- As Hamlet leaves he sees Norway’s army “going to Poland”
- Horatio tells queen of Ophelia’s madness then Ophelia comes in and sings and hints at her love with Hamlet
- Laertes comes back and blames the king for his father’s death but then is convinced that it was Hamlet’s fault
- Ophelia drowns herself
- Horatio gets a letter from Hamlet talking about pirates and coming back to Elsinore
- King and Laertes find out and decide to poison Hamlet in a duel
Act V
- Hamlet and Horatio visit Ophelia’s grave site and speak to grave digger
- Ophelia’s funeral starts and Hamlet and Laertes jump into Ophelia’s grave and fight over her dead body
- Hamlet talks to Horatio about life and gets summoned to a duel with Laertes and Hamlet accepts saying it is God’s will
- Hamlet starts the duel with hitting Laertes twice and king tries and fails to get Hamlet to drink poisoned wine
- Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine and falls
- Laertes hits Hamlet with poisoned foil
- Hamlet hits Laertes with poisoned foil
- Laertes confesses his act in this hectic scene and HAmlet takes revenge of Claudius as both Gertrude and Laertes die
- King Dies
- Hamlet says goodbye to Horatio and dies
- Fortinbras takes over the castle and Horatio tells him that he will recount the events
- Hamlet is honored with a soldier’s funeral
Style
Ambiguous
Hamlet's capture by pirates which creates perfect ambiguity of whether Hamlet outsmarted Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or whether he was truly captured by pirates
All the lies in Elsinore make it confusing as to whether characters truly feel what they say or of they are all just plotting to gain something
Tone
With little stage directions it is hard to tell but I believe it is a dark and strange tone as everything seems to be amiss and many characters die and talk about death
Point of View
Audience as it is a play and there is no narrator all we read are the lines
Imagery
Cold and dark beginning sets the mood for a dark story that is unsettling .
Symbolism:
Yorick's Skull
The skull Hamlet finds in the graveyard represents his fear and wonder about death. The skull represents everything that he has philosophized about death throughout the play and what remains of someone's body and soul after death.
Flowers:
Flowers symbolize innocence in the play, especially when relating to Ophelia, who is commonly associated with violets. She is frequently compared with a flower, and describes for herself what the different flowers symbolize during the flower scene.
Quotes
"To be or not to be."-This quote from Hamlet's soliloquy summarizes his internal conflict throughout the play. He consistently wonder whether he should kill the king, kill himself, or do a number of other things. His indecision is the central internal conflict of the play.
Theme
Shakespeare warns that the desire for power (to usurp) can destroy one’s sense of morality, and can bring about destruction of the community involved. This is seen on multiple occasions as everybody usurps each other including Hamlet (steals God’s power avoiding death), Claudius (killing Hamlet for power), and Polonius (using Ophelia to get ahead in life) . A;ll of these characters die due to their sneaky ways teaching them that power is not something achieved when it is desired but is given to you by God.
