HAMLET

By William Shakespeare

Who Was William Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare (baptized on April 26, 1564 to April 23, 1616) was an English playwright,
actor and poet also known as the “Bard of Avon” and often called England’s national poet.

Writer/Producer/Actor/Director achieved success as an entrepreneur, and that he possessed

an acute sense of what makes good theater and good entertainment. The very prosperous
middle class that spawned him allowed William Shakespeare to parlay his sensitive

On about 1590 to 1613, he wrote a total of 37 plays revolving around several main themes:
histories, tragedies, comedies and tragicomedies.

William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582, in Worcester, in

Canterbury Province. Hathaway was from Shottery, a small village a mile west of Stratford.
William was 18 and Anne was 26, and, as it turns out, pregnant. Their first child, a daughter
they named Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. Two years later, on February 2, 1585, twins
Hamnet and Judith were born. Hamnet later died of unknown causes at age 11.

There are seven years of William Shakespeare's life where no records exist after the birth of
his twins in 1585. Scholars call this period the "lost years," and there is wide speculation on
what he was doing during this period.

On a dark winter night, a ghost walks the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark.
Discovered first by a pair of watchmen, then by the scholar Horatio, the ghost resembles the recently
deceased King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has inherited the throne and married the king’s
widow, Queen Gertrude.

Horatio is astounded to have seen the Ghost of King Hamlet dressed in the armor he wore when he
conquered old King Fortinbras and defeated the Poles. He finds the king's dress ironic because, at that
moment, young Fortinbras — the dead Norwegian king's son and namesake — has just declared war
on the Danes, seeking to avenge his father's death and take back the land King Hamlet took from old
Fortinbras. Because the Danes are preparing for war against the Norwegians, Barnardo wonders if the
Ghost foretells doom for the Danes. Horatio shudders, recalling the signs that warned Julius Caesar of
his imminent demise.

When Horatio and the watchmen bring Prince Hamlet, the son of Gertrude and the dead king, to see
the ghost, it speaks to him, declaring ominously that it is indeed his father’s spirit, and that he was
murdered by none other than Claudius.

Ordering Hamlet to seek revenge on the man who usurped his throne and married his wife, the ghost
disappears with the dawn.

Claudius and Gertrude worry about the prince’s erratic behavior and attempt to discover its cause.
They employ a pair of Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to watch him.
Rosencrantz announces the arrival of the players. Hamlet asks who the players are and why they are
on the road. Rosencrantz answers that they are on the road because a company of child actors has
usurped the London stage.

Hamlet then reveals his real intentions for The Murder of Gonzago.The players will perform the play
with an enhanced scene, which will enact the murder the Ghost has described. Hamlet hopes that
seeing his crime reenacted in front of the assembled audience will make Claudius act guilty and reveal
that he murdered King Hamlet. Such an admission will prove to Hamlet, once and for all, that the
Ghost is real and not simply a devil or the figment of his imagination.

As Lucianus, the Player King's nephew, pours poison in the ears of the sleeping Player King, Hamlet
explains that the murderer will presently win the love of the dead Player King's widow. Claudius rises
and calls for lights to be lit. Polonius repeats the order for the lights and stops the play. The King and
his court exit, leaving Hamlet and Horatio to debrief. The two agree that the King's reaction implicates
him in the murder of King Hamlet, and Hamlet says he is now convinced of the Ghost's
trustworthiness.

Fearing that Hamlet is a threat to his life and throne, the King summons Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
and instructs them to hurry and take Hamlet to England. The men agree, acknowledging that any
threat to Claudius is a threat to the people of Denmark, so they will keep Denmark safe by removing
Hamlet from its shores. They leave, and Polonius enters to inform the King that Hamlet is on his way
to Gertrude and that Polonius plans to hide there and eavesdrop on the conversation. Promising to
report back to Claudius before Claudius retires to bed, Polonius leaves.

Claudius then prays at his private altar, although he says his sin is so great that it renders him
incapable of praying. He admits before God that he has committed the "primal eldest curse" by
carrying out his "brother's murder." He admits that his contrition is unforgivable since he is unwilling
to give up the spoils of his ill-won battles. He begs instead that some divine assistance might bow his
knees and soften his heart so that he can ask for forgiveness.

Hamlet enters and sees Claudius in prayer. He recognizes his perfect opportunity to kill Claudius, but
stops himself. He remembers that Claudius killed King Hamlet without allowing him any opportunity
to make amends for his sins, and that King Hamlet now languishes in purgatory awaiting entry to
heaven. Believing that Claudius is praying for forgiveness, Hamlet knows that by killing Claudius now,
he would send the King straight to heaven. Claudius would escape the eternal punishment that is his
due.

Hamlet goes to confront his mother, in whose bedchamber Polonius has hidden behind a tapestry.
Hearing a noise from behind the tapestry, Hamlet believes the king is hiding there.

He draws his sword and stabs through the fabric, killing Polonius. For this crime, he is immediately
dispatched to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. However, Claudius’s plan for Hamlet
includes more than banishment, as he has given Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sealed orders for the
King of England demanding that Hamlet be put to death.

Hamlet leaves pulling away Polonius’ body.

Claudius’s plan for Hamlet includes more than banishment, as he has given Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern sealed orders for the King of England demanding that Hamlet be put to death.

Hamlet recounts the events leading up to his escape from the plot to kill him. On their journey, At
night he can’t sleep, so he investigated Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's cabin.

He discovered letters addressed to the English King, which he managed to open with surreptitious
skill.

To his surprise, he read that Claudius had requested the king of England to imprison and behead
Hamlet as quickly as possible.

He composed a second set of letters in the flowery style of the original ordering that Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern be killed. He sealed the letters with his father's State Seal, which he carried in his purse.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do not know that Hamlet has replaced the letters.

Ophelia goes mad with grief and drowns in the river.

Laertes, who has been staying in France, returns to Denmark in a rage. Claudius convinces him that
Hamlet is to blame for his father’s and sister’s deaths.

When Horatio and the king receive letters from Hamlet indicating that the prince has returned to
Denmark after pirates attacked his ship en route to England, Claudius concocts a plan to use Laertes’
desire for revenge to secure Hamlet’s death.

A foolish courtier named Osric arrives on Claudius’s orders to arrange the fencing match between
Hamlet and Laertes.

Laertes will fence with Hamlet in innocent sport, but Claudius will poison Laertes’ blade so that if he
draws blood, Hamlet will die. As a backup plan, the king decides to poison a goblet, which he will give
Hamlet to drink should Hamlet score the first or second hits of the match.

Hamlet scores the first hit, but declines to drink from the king’s proffered goblet. Instead, Gertrude
takes a drink from it and is swiftly killed by the poison.

Laertes succeeds in wounding Hamlet, though Hamlet does not die of the poison immediately.

First, Laertes is cut by his own sword’s blade, and, after revealing to Hamlet that Claudius is
responsible for the queen’s death, he dies from the blade’s poison.

Hamlet then stabs Claudius through with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink down the rest of
the poisoned wine. Claudius dies, and Hamlet dies immediately after achieving his revenge.

a Norwegian prince named Fortinbras, who has led an army to Denmark and attacked Poland earlier
in the play, enters with ambassadors from England, who report that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
dead. Fortinbras is stunned by the gruesome sight of the entire royal family lying sprawled on the
floor dead. He moves to take power of the kingdom. Horatio, fulfilling Hamlet’s last request, tells him
Hamlet’s tragic story. Fortinbras orders that Hamlet be carried away in a manner befitting a fallen
soldier.