Hamlet is Shakespeare’s longest play, written between 1599 and 1602, and is considered as the most powerful and influential works of world literature. It was one of Shakespeare’s most famous arts during his whole life and still said to be the most acted, crossing the edge of the performance list of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
| TABLE OF CONTENTS About the author Summary Characters |
Summary
There was a very dark winter night; a ghost walks over the barricade of Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Found first by a pair of watchmen, then by the intellectual Horatio, the ghost simulates the recently departed King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has rooted the throne and married the widow of the king, Queen Gertrude. When scholar Horatio and the gate keeper bring Prince Hamlet, the boy of Queen Gertrude and the king who is already dead, to find out the spirit, it speaks to him, announcing that it is indeed his father’s spirit and that he was killed by no one other than Claudius. Commanding Hamlet to seek revenge on that person who given away his power and married his wife, the ghost fade away with the dawn.
Prince Hamlet allots himself to take revenge for his dead father, but, because he is introspective and astute by nature, he postponed, coming into a deep gloomy and even apparent absurdity. Claudius and Gertrude concern about the prince’s abnormal behavior and try to find out its cause. They appoint a pair of friends of Hamlet, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, to watch over him. When Polonius, the boastful Lord Chamberlain, says that Hamlet might be crazy with love for his daughter, Ophelia, Claudius admits keeping an eye on Hamlet in talking with the girl. But still, Hamlet certainly seems crazy, he does not look to love Ophelia: he commands her to come nunnery and states that he wishes to restrict marriages.
Hamlet goes to make Claudius dead but saw him praying. Since he considers that killing Claudius during prayer will send the soul of Claudius to heaven, Hamlet admits that it would be incomplete revenge and conclude to wait. Claudius, now afraid of Hamlet’s craziness and anxious for the safety of himself, orders that Hamlet must be sent to England at once.
Hamlet was going to defy his mother, in whose bedroom Polonius was hiding behind the curtain. After hearing a noise from behind the curtain, Hamlet supposes that the king is hiding there. Hamlet draws his sword and twinge through the curtain, killing Polonius. He is immediately sent to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for this crime. As he has given Rosencrantz and Guildenstern fixed commands for the King of England asking that Hamlet must be put to death.
As the outcome of her father’s death, Ophelia goes insane with grief and drowns in the river. Laertes, son of Polonius has been staying in France, returns to Denmark in a fury. Claudius assures him that Hamlet is to be responsible for his father’s and sister’s deaths. Hamlet sent a letter was showing that the prince has returned to Denmark after pirates assaulted his ship en route to England, which was received by Horatio and king. Claudius contrives a plan to use Laertes’ wish for revenge to protect Hamlet’s death. Laertes will block with Hamlet in legitimate sport, but Claudius will give poison to Laertes’ blade so that if he bleeds out, Hamlet will be dead. As a backup plan, the king chose to venom a goblet, which he will give to Hamlet to drink should Hamlet score the first or second hits of the match.
Now the fighting of swords begins. Hamlet got the first hit but refused to drink from the king’s propounding goblet. Instead, Gertrude takes a sip from it and got killed quickly by the poison in the drink. Laertes got to succeed in harming Hamlet, but Hamlet does not die of the poison instantly. First, Laertes got cut by the blade of his own sword, and, after disclosing the fact to Hamlet that Claudius is the reason behind the queen’s death, he got dead from the poison of the blade. Then Hamlet stabs Claudius through the poisoned sword and leans him to drink the rest of the venomous wine. After that, Claudius dies as well as Hamlet also dies after taking his revenge.
At this point in time, a Norwegian prince named Fortin bras, who has sent an army to Denmark and assaulted Poland prior in the play, ambassadors from England entered, who reported that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have died. Fortin bras were shocked by the frightful sight of the whole royal family lying lifeless on the floor. He comes forward to become the powerful king of that kingdom. In order to fulfill Hamlet’s last wish, Horatio tells about Hamlet’s tragic story.
About the Characters in the play
HAMLET: Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark and the hero of the play. Queen Gertrude and Late king Hamlet had a son named Hamlet and the nephew of the present ruling king. Hamlet is full of hatred for his uncle’s scheming and distaste for his mother’s sexuality.
CLAUDIUS: He is the king of Denmark and the uncle of Hamlet. He acts like an opponent in the play. Claudius is a powerful politician, who is hungry for power but, he also repents and shows some human feelings in the play. Also,, he is the lover of the Gertrude.
GERTRUDE: Being the wife of Claudius, she is also Queen of Denmark and the mother of Hamlet. She loves Hamlet from the bottom of her heart. She’s a fragile woman.
HORATIO: Horatio is a trustworthy friend of Hamlet. He is quite faithful to Hamlet, who coordinates Hamlet throughout the play. Horatio is the one who tells the reason for Hamlet’s death.
OPHELIA: Ophelia was the one who was loved by Hamlet deeply. She is a young and innocent girl who is quite sincere towards her father and brother. Later, she commits suicide and jumped into the river because of her father’s evil deeds.
LAERTES: A young man who plays his much role in France, who is the son of Polonius and also the brother of Ophelia.
FORTINBRAS: Fortin bras was a young prince whose father was killed by Hamlet’s father in the play. He takes revenge for his father’s death in the play by assaulting Denmark.
The GHOST: He is the spirit of Hamlet’s deceased father. Who claims that he had been killed by Claudius and now he wants Hamlet to take revenge for his death. However, Hamlet is also unsure about the Ghost because it can also be miraj to deceive him.
About the Author
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford, Warwickshire, England and baptized in 1564.He was the son of a glove maker. Most biographers agree that Shakespeare was probably educated at the King’s New School in Stratford. He is also known as England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”. He wrote 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 long narrative poems. His plays have been translated into many languages and are performed everywhere. Until about 1608, he wrote mainly tragedies, among them Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy in his lifetime. His plays remain popular and are studied, performed, and reinterpreted through various cultural and political contexts around the world.