This Act 1 summary of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" sets the stage with the characters, setting, plot, and tone

of this five-act tragedy. The play opens on the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark during a changing
of the guard. The old king, Hamlet's father, has died. The king's brother Claudius has replaced him,
stealing Hamlet's rightful place on the throne. He has already married Hamlet's mother.
The previous two nights, the guards had seen a silent ghost resembling Hamlet's dead father. They ask
Hamlet's friend Horatio to watch on the third night, and he sees the ghost. Horatio convinces Hamlet to
watch the next night. Hamlet confronts his father's ghost, who tells him that Claudius murdered him. The
dreary tone and harsh setting contrasting with the revelry within the castle foretell of the tragedy that is to
come.

Act 1, Scene 1 Summary

On a bleak, frigid night, the guards Francisco and Bernardo tell Horatio, a friend of Hamlet, about the
ghost they had seen that resembles Hamlet's father. They convince Horatio to join them and attempt to
talk with the ghost if it reappears. Horatio scoffs at the talk of a ghost but agrees to wait. As they begin
describing what they saw, the ghost appears.
Horatio can't get it to speak but promises to tell Hamlet about the specter. The darkness and cold, coupled
with the apparition, set a dire tone of calamity and dread for the remainder of the play.

Act 1, Scene 2
The scene opens in contrast to the previous one, as King Claudius celebrates his recent wedding to
Gertrude in a bright, joyous castle room surrounded by courtiers. A brooding Hamlet sits outside the
action. It is two months since his father's death and his widow has already married his brother.
The king discusses a possible war and agrees to let Laertes, son of the king's lord chamberlain (Polonius),
leave the court and return to school. Recognizing that Hamlet is upset, he tries to make amends, urging
Hamlet to abandon mourning and stay in Denmark instead of returning to school. Hamlet agrees to stay.
Everyone but Hamlet leaves. He delivers a soliloquy expressing his anger, depression, and disgust for
what he considers incest between the new king and his mother. The guards and Horatio enter and tell
Hamlet about the ghost. He agrees to join them that night to watch for another appearance.
When Claudius scolds Hamlet for his continued mourning, referring to his "stubbornness" and "unmanly
grief," Shakespeare sets him up as an antagonist to Hamlet, who is unmoved by the king's words. The
king's criticism of Hamlet ("A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, An understanding simple and
unschooled...") implies that he believes Hamlet is unprepared to be king and is attempting to justify his
usurpation of the throne.

Act 1, Scene 3
Laertes says goodbye to his sister, Ophelia, whom we learn has been seeing Hamlet. He warns her that
Hamlet, still in line to be king, will always put the kingdom before her.
Polonius enters and lectures his son on how to conduct himself at school, advising him to treat his friends
well, listen more than talk, dress well but not too well, avoid lending money, and "to thine own self be
true." Then he, too, warns Ophelia about Hamlet. She promises not to see him.
Polonius' advice to Laertes seems rote, relying on aphorisms regarding appearances rather than offering
honest advice to a son. With Ophelia, he is more concerned that she bring honor and wealth to the family
than about her own desires. Ophelia, as an obedient daughter of the time, agrees to spurn Hamlet.
Polonius' treatment of his children continues a theme of generational conflict.

Act 1, Scene 4
That night, Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus, one of the guards who had seen the ghost, wait outside on
another cold night. The miserable weather is juxtaposed again with revelry from the castle, which Hamlet
criticizes as excessive and damaging to Danes' reputation for drunkenness.
The ghost appears and beckons Hamlet. Marcellus and Horatio try to prevent him from following,
agreeing with Hamlet that it might bring "airs from heaven or blasts from hell." Hamlet breaks free and
follows the ghost. His accomplices follow him.
This scene contrasts Hamlet's father, the good king, with Claudius as a drunken reveler and adulterer, and
plays on the conflict between image and reality. Claudius appears more suspicious and foreboding than a
ghost.

Act 1, Scene 5
The ghost tells Hamlet that he is Hamlet's father and was murdered by Claudius, who put poison in the
napping king's ear. The ghost asks Hamlet to revenge his "most foul, strange, and unnatural murder," and
Hamlet agrees without hesitation.
The ghost also tells Hamlet that his mother was adulterous with Claudius before the old king died. He
makes Hamlet promise that he won't seek revenge on his mother but let her be judged by God. As dawn
breaks, the ghost leaves.
Hamlet swears he will do what the ghost asks and avenge his father's murder. Horatio and Marcellus find
him, and Hamlet asks them to swear not to reveal anything of the ghost. When they hesitate, the ghost
calls from below, demanding they swear. They do. Hamlet warns them that he will pretend to be crazy
until he can exact vengeance.
The old king's murder creates sympathy for the ghost rather than fear or revulsion, and his mother's
adultery tips the scales against her. Hamlet has no choice but to kill the new king, establishing a conflict
between his sense of honor and his Christian faith.

Key Takeaways
Act 1 establishes these plot points:
 The new king, Hamlet's uncle, murdered Hamlet's father.
 His father's ghost appears to him to describe the murder and charge Hamlet with seeking revenge.
 Hamlet's mother committed adultery with Claudius before her husband's death and married
Claudius with "unseemly" haste.
 The ghost says Hamlet should let God punish his mother.
 Hamlet will pretend to be crazy while he exacts vengeance.
Act 1 establishes these tones and themes:
 A sense of dread and tragedy is almost palpable.
 A conflict between honor and morality is established.
 Another conflict between appearance and reality.
 The antagonism between Claudius and Hamlet is part of a generational conflict reflected in
Polonius and his children.
 Hamlet Summary and Analysis of Act 1

Summary
Scene 1
The play opens during a bitterly cold night watch outside of the royal Danish palace. There is a changing
of the guards: Bernardo replaces Francisco. Soon two more characters arrive, Horatio and Marcellus. We
learn that Bernardo and Marcellus, two soldiers, have witnessed an extraordinary sight on both of the
previous nights’ watches: the ghost of the former King of Denmark, Old Hamlet, has appeared before
them in full armor. On this third night, they’ve welcomed Horatio, a scholar and a skeptic who has just
arrived in Denmark, to verify their ghost sighting. Horatio initially expresses doubt that the ghost will
appear. Suddenly, it does. The two soldiers charge Horatio to speak to the ghost but he does not. The
ghost disappears just as suddenly as it arrived.
Soon after the ghost’s disappearance, Marcellus asks the other two why there has been such a massive
mobilization of Danish war forces recently. Horatio answers, saying that the Danish army is preparing for
a possible invasion by Fortinbras, Prince of Norway. We learn that Fortinbras’ father (also named
Fortinbras), was killed many years before in single combat with Old Hamlet, the now-deceased king
whose ghost we have just seen. Now that Old Hamlet has died, presumably weakening the Danes, there is
a rumor that Fortinbras plans to invade Denmark and claim that lands that were forfeit after his father’s
death.
After Horatio has finished explaining this political backstory, the ghost of Old Hamlet appears once more.
This time Horatio does try to speak to the ghost. When the ghost remains silent, Horatio tells Marcellus
and Bernardo to try to detain it; they strike at the ghost with their spears but jab only air. A rooster crows
just as the ghost appears ready to reply to Horatio at last. This sound startles the ghost away. Horatio
decides to tell Prince Hamlet, Old Hamlet’s son, about the apparition, and the others agree.

Scene 2
This scene begins at the court of Claudius and Gertrude, the King and Queen of Denmark. They have just
been married. This marriage has followed quickly after the death of the former King of Denmark, Old
Hamlet, Claudius’ brother. Claudius addresses the quickness of the marriage, representing himself as in
mourning for a lost brother even as he is joyful for a new wife, his one-time sister. Claudius also
addresses the question of the young Fortinbras’ proposed invasion. He says that he has spoken to
Fortinbras’ uncle, the King of Norway, who has made Fortinbras promise to halt any plans to invade
Denmark. Claudius sends Cornelius and Voltemand, two courtiers, to Norway to settle this business.
Finally, Claudius turns to Laertes, the son of his trusted counselor, Polonius. Laertes expresses a wish to
return to France and Claudius grants permission.
At this point, Prince Hamlet, who has been standing apart from the king’s audience this whole time,
speaks the first of his many lines. Claudius asks Hamlet why he is still so gloomy. Hamlet’s replies are
evasive, cynical, and punning. He declares that his grief upon losing his father still deeply affects him.
Claudius goes into a speech about the unnaturalness of prolonged grief; to lose one’s father is painful but
common, he says, and Hamlet should accept this as nature’s course. He expresses a wish that Hamlet
remain with them in Denmark instead of returning to Wittenberg, where he is a student, and when
Gertrude seconds this wish, Hamlet agrees. The king, queen, and all their retinue then exit the stage,
leaving Hamlet alone.
In his first soliloquy, Hamlet expresses the depths of his melancholy and his disgust at his mother’s
hastily marrying Claudius after the death of his father. He declares his father to be many times Claudius’
superior as a man. After this soliloquy, Horatio, Marcellus and Bernardo enter. At first, Hamlet is too
aggrieved to recognize Horatio, his old school friend, but finally he welcomes Horatio warmly. After
chatting about the state, Horatio tells Hamlet that he has seen his dead father recently – the night before.
Hamlet asks him to explain, and Horatio tells the story of the appearance of the ghost. Hamlet decides to
attend the watch that very night in hopes of seeing the ghost himself.
 Scene 3
As the scene opens, Laertes is taking his leave of his sister, Ophelia. In the course of their farewells,
Laertes advises her about her relationship with Hamlet, with whom she has been spending much of her
time lately. He tells her to forget him because he, as Prince of Denmark, is too much to hope for as a
husband. He adds that she should vigilantly guard her chastity, her most prized treasure as a woman.
Ophelia agrees to attend to his lesson. As Laertes is about to leave, his father, Polonius, arrives. Polonius
gives Laertes a blessing and a battery of advice before sending his son on his way.
With Laertes gone, Polonius asks Ophelia what they had been talking about as he arrived. Ophelia
confesses that they had been talking about her relationship with Hamlet. She tells Polonius that Hamlet
has made many honorable declarations of love to her. Polonius pooh-poohs these declarations, saying,
much as Laertes did, that Hamlet wants nothing more than to assail her chastity and then leave her. He
makes his daughter promise that she will spend no more time alone with Hamlet. Ophelia says that she
will obey.

Scene 4
At the night watch, Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus await the reappearance of the ghost. They hear
cannons from the castle and Hamlet tells them that this is a sign that Claudius is drinking pledges. Hamlet
goes on a short tirade against the Danish custom of drinking heavily. His speech is no sooner over than
the ghost appears again. Hamlet immediately addresses the ghost, imploring it to speak. The ghost
beckons for Hamlet to come away, apart from the others. Horatio and Marcellus attempt to keep Hamlet
from following the ghost, warning him of the many evils that might befall him. Hamlet doesn’t listen. He
threatens to kill Horatio or Marcellus if they detain him, and when they stay back he follows the ghost
offstage. Horatio and Marcellus determine to follow at a distance to make sure that no harm comes to
their friend.

Scene 5
Alone with Hamlet, the ghost finally speaks. He tells Hamlet that he has come on a nightly walk from
Purgatory, where his soul is under continual torment for the sins of his life. The ghost then reveals that he
was not killed by a viper, as officially announced, but was murdered. Moreover, he reveals that his own
brother, Claudius, who now wears his crown and sleeps with his wife, was the murderer. The ghost tells
of how Claudius snuck into his garden while he was taking his accustomed afternoon nap and poured
poison into his ear, killing him most painfully and sending his soul unpurified into the afterlife. The ghost
demands vengeance, telling Hamlet not to plot against his mother, whom he describes as merely weak
and lustful, but to focus the whole of his revenge on Claudius. The ghost then disappears.
Hamlet, overwhelmed and half-raving, swears that he will kill Claudius. After he has made this vow,
Horatio and Marcellus arrive. Hamlet does not tell them what the ghost has revealed, but nevertheless
insists that they swear not to speak of the apparition to anyone. They agree. Hamlet then insists that they
swear again on his sword. They agree again, confused at these demands. The ghost of Old Hamlet,
meanwhile, can be heard under the stage, insisting along with his son that they swear themselves to
secrecy. Hamlet leads his friends to several different points on stage, insisting that they swear over and
over again. He then reveals, parenthetically, that they might find his behavior in the next while to be
strange – he might pretend to be mad and act otherwise unusually – but that they must still keep secret
what they have seen. After this final agreement, Hamlet leads the others offstage, uneasily determined to
revenge his father’s murder.

Analysis
Even if this is your first time reading Hamlet, it must already seem very familiar. Countless characters,
ideas, and quotations introduced in this play have become part of the cultural (and literal) vocabulary of
the western world – and, indeed, the whole world. Many of the most famous critical minds of western
history, from Samuel Johnson to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from Eliot to Empson, from Voltaire to
Goethe to Freud, have taken a crack at the play, and together they have left very few stones unturned.
Nevertheless, there is still much to be gained from an intelligent appreciation of Hamlet. While one
should not expect to resolve any of the famous and bizarre conundrums of the play – “Is Hamlet really
insane or faking insanity?” “Did Ophelia commit suicide or not?” “Is Hamlet in love with his mother?” –
there is still great value in knowing what these conundrums are, how they are presented, and why they are
important. Sensitively and cleverly acknowledging a puzzle to be a puzzle is where much Hamlet
scholarship begins – and ends.
The first scene of the play, like most every scene of the play, is very well known, and very puzzling.
Without explaining his reasons in detail, T.S. Eliot once declared the first lines of the play to be the best
lines in English. He and many other critics have found this scene to be a microcosm of the whole play, as
it were. Shakespeare uses many deceptively simple rhetorical tricks to introduce some of the major
themes and concerns that he follows through to the play’s end.
For example, in a play that contains many of the most famous, most unanswerable questions ever
expressed, whether literal questions (“To be or not to be”) or interpretive questions of motivation (“Why
doesn’t Hamlet just kill Claudius straight away?”), it is remarkable that Shakespeare begins Hamlet with
a question, “Who’s there?” Who’s there, indeed.... On one level, this is a simple question, one that is
asked every day in the most innocuous contexts. But on a deeper level (and everything in this play is
richly rewarding on a deeper level) it is one of the basic questions of philosophy. Who is there? Who are
we? What is man? Who is Hamlet? What is Hamlet? In this most philosophical of plays, we begin with a
moment of covert philosophy, a question simple on the surface, but profound when pressed; and the first
scene continues this focus on questioning, giving us question after question. Horatio, the quintessential
scholar, skeptical and empirical, begins by questioning the reality of the ghost; eventually, he is exhorted
to “question” the ghost in a more literal way – to ask the ghost questions. In general, then, the first scene
takes us from the no-nonsense world outside the theater, the world of Horatio and his doubts, to the
magical, metaphysical, ultra-theatrical world of Hamlet. We may bring certainties to the play, but we are
encouraged almost immediately to abandon them.
Thus before we have even seen Hamlet (the younger Hamlet, that is) we are deeply mired in the play’s
dubious, spectral atmosphere. In the second scene, after several long speeches by Claudius giving us
political background, we come to Hamlet’s first soliloquy. A “soliloquy” is a speech given by a speaker
alone on stage, exploring his or her own thoughts and feelings. Both Hamlet and Hamlet are practically
synonymous with such speeches; in this play, Shakespeare exhausts the possibilities of such on-stage
introspection. Hamlet’s soliloquies are not to be thought of as “actually happening” in any realistic way.
Rather, they are moments of suspended time, in which the overwhelming pressure of a single thought, or
group of thoughts, forces its way out of a speaker’s mind by way of his mouth. They are moments where
we, as audience members, can enter intimately into Hamlet’s mind, exploring the patterns of his thought
even as he does so himself.
We might notice right away, in this first soliloquy, how difficult Hamlet can be to follow – how much his
speech jumps and roils around, allowing interjections, playing with allusions and puns, becoming
frequently side-tracked by this or that image. This tendency of Hamlet’s, to become sidetracked by his
own train of thoughts, is crucial to the play, and crucial to the central motivational mystery of Hamlet –
the delay of the revenge. But we will see much more of that to come.
We might also note that in his first soliloquy Hamlet appears deeply “depressed,” as we would put it
today, or “melancholic,” as the people of the early seventeenth century would have put it. The audience of
Hamlet’s own day would have expected as much. The play belongs to a genre known as “revenge
tragedy.” Such plays occupied many of the greatest playwrights of the generation directly preceding
Shakespeare’s, including Thomas Kyd, but by the time Hamlet was written they had come to be seen as
rather old-fashioned. Like any genre, revenge tragedy has certain predictable conventions, one of which is
that the protagonist of the play is melancholic – dominated by saturnine, sluggish, pensive “humors,” or
bodily spirits. In Hamlet, Shakespeare, rather than simply repeating this convention, explores it as a
convention. That is, he gives us the archetypal revenge hero, the most introspective, most melancholic,
most pensive hero ever seen on the English stage.
At the same time, Hamlet seems somewhat aware that he is, in fact, playing a role on stage. He notices his
own costume and makeup (“’Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother [...]” (I.ii.77 ff.)); he refers to
specific areas in the theater (as when he notes that the ghost is “in the cellarage” (I.v.150)); in short, he
seems at once to be the most typical of types, and to be an audience to his own typecasting – and
furthermore, he seems to be distressed about being so typecast, and anxious to prove that there is
something genuine behind his theatrical veneer. In general, critics have long noticed that Hamlet is a play
about plays, most specifically a revenge tragedy about revenge tragedy, and the pretzel-like self-
referentiality of the protagonist is the main reason why.
As a relatively light-hearted accompaniment to such ghastliness and introspective misery, Act One
features two appearances by Polonius and his family. Nearly every Elizabethan play has at least one so-
called “subplot,” and this family occupies the primary subplot of Hamlet – the question of Hamlet’s
relationship with Ophelia. Polonius, you might have noticed already, is long-winded, pedantic, and
meddlesome, even while he is somewhat loveable in his fussy way. He is always interested in being “in
the know,” whatever the occasion. Notice, for instance, how eagerly he questions Ophelia about her
earlier conversation with Laertes.
Act One contains Polonius’ most famous speech in the play, and one of the most quoted speeches of
Shakespeare, the advice speech to Laertes that ends, “to thine own self be true” (I.iii.55 ff.). One can
weigh the various maxims here offered on the basis of their individual merits. However, it is a common
mistake of new readers of Shakespeare to take this speech simply at face value – to think, in effect, that
Shakespeare, not Polonius, is giving this advice. This is never the case in Shakespeare – he never simply
speaks “through” a character – and most certainly not the case here. Notice, for instance, that Polonius’
speech begins by telling Laertes to rush off to catch his boat, and then detains him from doing just that.
Notice also, that Polonius begins by declaring that he will offer Laertes a “few precepts,” then goes on to
ramble for thirty lines. Polonius, in short, never misses an occasion for a speech, and follows his own
advice creatively if at all. His meddlesome, didactic character leads to his undoing, as we shall see.