I. Hamlet takes place in Denmark.

II. Guards posted due to tensions between these two.

A. Ghost of Hamlet seen as an omen.
III. Norway vs. Denmark.
IV. The late king previously killed the king of Norway, resulting land
beind taken.
A. Fortinbras, the young Prince of Norway, now seeks to reconquer
those forfeited lands.
B. Sensing the power vacuum, Norway says it is going to Poland,
but the land is so small and there are so many people that it
clearly is to scout.
V. Poor Image.
VI. The death of Hamlet is seen as a power vacuum, and Claudius’s
incessant drinking makes Denmark look diseased.
VII. Other references - France and England.
VIII. Learte’s almost leads a rebellion after finding out about Ophelia.
IX. Previous relations with England are used as a way to potentialy rid of
Hamlet. England owes money.
X. The ending of Hamlet has Fortinbras take hold of Denmark as they
are marching through.
XI.
XII. Diseased Body

XIII. The royal family is seen as an embodiment of the nation.

XIV. “Something is rotten in the state of denmark.”
XV. Mental disease - Hamlet’s illness, Ophelia’s madness.
A. Claudius: “All from her father’s death, and now behold! O
Gertrude, Gertrude, When sorrows come, they come not single
spies But in battalions. First, her father slain. Next, your son
gone, and he most violent author Of his own just remove.” (Act
4 Scene 4)
XVI. Ears.
A. Ghost of Hamlet - “'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, A
serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forgèd
process of my death Rankly abused. But know, thou noble
youth, The serpent that did sting thy father's life Now wears his
crown.”
B. Use of words, manipulation, lies.
C. Hamlet’s claim to Horatio that “I have words to speak in thine
ear will make thee dumb” (IV.vi.21). The poison poured in the
king’s ear by Claudius is used by the ghost to symbolize the
 corrosive effect of Claudius’s dishonesty on the health of
Denmark.
XVII. HAMLET- Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats will not
debate the question of this straw. This is th' impostume of much
wealth and peace, That inward breaks and shows no cause without.
Why the man dies. (Act 4, Scene 4)
XVIII. Hamlet himself is a very concentrated example of the nation.
XIX. Symbolism behind the poison

XX. Public Opinion

XXI. Leartes to Ophelia regarding Hamlet in Act I, Scene 3.

XXII. Claudius - “How dangerous to have this madman on the loose! But
we can’t throw him in jail. The people love him, because they judge
based on appearance rather than reason. They’ll pay attention to the
severity of the punishment, not the severity of the crime. No, we must
seem calm and fair-minded, and our sending him away must seem
like a carefully considered move. But a terminal disease requires
extreme treatment, or nothing at all. “(Act 4 Scene 3)

XXIII. The other reason why I couldn’t prosecute and arrest Hamlet is that
the public loves him. In their affection they overlook all his faults.
Like magic, they convert them into virtues, so whatever I said against
him would end up hurting me, not him. (Act 4, Scene 7)

XXIV. ROSENCRANTZ - The single and peculiar life is bound With all the
strength and armor of the mind To keep itself from noyance, but
much more That spirit upon whose weal depend and rest The lives of
many. The cease of majesty Dies not alone, but, like a gulf, doth draw
What’s near it with it. It is a massy wheel Fixed on the summit of the
highest mount, To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things, Are
mortised and adjoined, which, when it falls, Each small annexment,
petty consequence, Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone, Did the
king sigh, but with a general groan. - Act 3, Scene 3

References to Rome

I. HAMLET - (Act 5 Scene 5) No, faith, not a jot. But to follow him
thither with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus:
Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust,
the dust is earth, of earth we make loam—and why of that loam,
 whereto he was converted, might they not stop a beer barrel?
Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, Might stop a hole to keep
the wind away., that that earth, which kept the world in awe, Should
patch a wall t' expel the winter’s flaw! But soft, but soft a while.
II.
III. HORATIO - A mote it is to trouble the mind’s eye. In the most high
and palmy state of Rome, A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, The
graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead, Did squeak and gibber
in the Roman streets. (Act 1, Scene 1

IV. Foreshadowing - Hamlet talking to Polonius - No, nor mine. [To

Polonius] Now, my lord, you played once i'th' university, you say?
Polonius: That did I, my lord, and was accounted a good actor.
Hamlet And what did you enact? Polonius I did enact Julius Caesar.
I was killed i'th' Capitol. Brutus killed me. (Act 3 Scene 1)
A. Marcus Brutus, Roman general, one of the conspirators in
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Though he is Caesar's friend and a
man of honour, Brutus joins in the conspiracy against Caesar's
life, convincing himself that Caesar's death is for the greater
good of Rome.
V. Hamlet and Julius Caesar were written at about the same time.
A. I am more an antique Roman than a Dane.” (Act 5, Scene 2).
Brutus and Cassius.
VI. Betrayed by people closest to you.