Summary and Analysis: Hamlet

Author: Hamlet was written by an English poet and Playwright from the 16^th Century, William Shakespeare. He is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. His career began in the late 1500s in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

Setting: The setting of this is in Elsinore, a castle in Denmark. The time period is in the late medieval period. The duration of time that passes over the course of the play is unknown.

Plot: The play opens on a cold night with the watchmen and Horatio. The watchmen tell him that a ghost has been showing up and Horatio does not believe them, but soon enough, the ghost does. It is the ghost of the former king, named Hamlet. The ghost does not speak and the watchmen and Horatio talk about the battle between Hamlet and Fortinbras and how he conquered some of his kingdom. Horatio decides that he should tell Hamlet’s son who is also named Hamlet. While they go to tell him, Hamlet’s mother has married his uncle, Claudius, and Laertes announces that he will be going away. When Hamlet is informed of his father’s ghost he goes to see it and follows it. It tells him that Claudius killed him by putting poison in his ear and that he must get revenge on him. Hamlet swears to do this and makes Horatio and the watchman swear to secrecy.  Hamlet decides to pretend he has gone mad to do this.

                Laertes leaves and Polonius sends Reynaldo to check up on his behavior. Ophelia comes in to tell Polonius that she is worried about Hamlet because he is acting strange and he decides that Hamlet is maddened by his love for her so he goes off to tell Claudius and Gertrude, who have already summoned Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find out why Hamlet is acting weird. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern first approach Hamlet he forgets that he is supposed to be acting crazy until they call him ambitious and he catches them in their lie and starts acting crazy again. Then, Polonius comes in and announces that the players are coming to perform for them. Since Hamlet wants to be sure Claudius actually killed his father before he kills him, he comes up with a plan to have the players act out a new scene in which the king’s brother kills him and marries his wife. When the play is performed Claudius gets up and leaves when this scene occurs, reassuring Hamlet of his actions so Hamlet goes off to kill him but finds him praying. He decides that killing him now would not be a good enough revenge so he waits.

                Hamlet goes to talk to his mother but he hears something behind a curtain. He is hopeful that it is Claudius and decides to stab through it to kill him. Unfortunately it is Polonius that he has killed and he is immediately ordered to go to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, where Claudius intends to have him killed. Meanwhile, Ophelia loses her mind because of the grief of her father’s death, Hamlet’s actions, and a possible pregnancy and Laertes comes back, furious because of his father’s death. Then, Ophelia drowns herself and Laertes gets even angrier at Hamlet because he blames him.

                Horatio and the king both get letters from Hamlet saying that his ship was attacked by pirates and that he will be returning to Denmark. Horatio goes to get him and as they come back to Elsinore, they come across a gravedigger and we see how Hamlet’s father was actually less of a father figure for him. Then Ophelia is put in the grave and Hamlet realizes the error of his ways and decides to be good now, but still defends his actions. Laertes has Osric go get Hamlet to agree to participate in a fencing match with him and he says he thinks he will die for some reason but agrees anyways and Horatio tells him not to.

                For the fencing match Laertes has put poison on the end of his sword and taken off the tip of it so that it will actually cut Hamlet. Claudius has also put a poisoned pearl into the cup that he tells Hamlet to drink out of just in case Laertes backs out or does not succeed in hitting Hamlet. Hamlet gets the first two hits and then Gertrude drinks from the poisoned cup and Claudius almost stops her, but doesn’t. Then Laertes actually cuts Hamlet with the sword which makes him really mad and their weapons get switched and Hamlet cuts him back. Gertrude falls and says that the cup was poisoned and then Laertes admits that both he and Hamlet are as good as dead because of the poisoned sword. He also says that the king is to blame so Hamlet goes after him and stabs him with the sword and makes him drink from the poisoned cup to get his revenge. Then he starts to die so Horatio tries to drink the poison as well but he is stopped by Hamlet who tells him he must stay alive to tell his story.

                Then Fortinbras enters with the ambassadors from England who say that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Fortinbras is shocked by what he sees and moves to take power of the kingdom. Horatio tells him the story and he says that Hamlet must be carried out like a fallen soldier.

Characters: Hamlet (the protagonist of the play, son of the former king and he is the prince of Denmark, supposedly a good person), Claudius (the former king’s brother and Hamlet’s uncle who has married Gertrude), Gertrude (the former king’s wife and now Claudius’s wife, Hamlet’s mother, queen of Denmark), Horatio (Hamlet’s best friend and the only main character to survive at the end of the play, loyal, intelligent, wise), Polonius (lord, friend of the king, Claudius, self-serving), Ophelia (daughter of Polonius, was in a relationship with Hamlet, poorly though out her decisions), Laertes (son of Polonius, young and doesn’t put a lot of thought into his actions), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (childhood friends of Hamlet, don’t care much about their friend), and Fortinbras (son of the former Fortinbras, king of Norway, foil for Hamlet because he does not fulfill revenge).

Style: There is no narrator in this play, however Shakespeare uses the dialogue of the characters to give messages to the audience and emphasize meaning. Hamlet is the biggest example of this. His dialogue often includes double meanings that tell the audience about the other characters, what is going on in his own mind, and foreshadow future events.

Quotes:

1.)    “Shall I strike at it with my partisan?” (Act I, scene I). This is a significant quote because it shows the attitude of most of the people of Elsinore. This was the former king that Marcellus was talking about so he should have felt a sort of loyalty toward him, like Horatio did. Instead, he offers fight against him, which although would have been the wiser decision, shows great disloyalty to the kingdom. This shows that the kingdom is corrupt and not worth following and also shows that attitude of its inhabitants.

2.)    “I am justly kill’d with mine own treachery.” (Act V, scene II). This is an important quote by Laertes because it expresses the overall message of the play. The word “justly” is especially important because it implies that Laertes is aware that this was the fate that he deserved. He lied and betrayed the prince of Denmark, and ended up being killed by the weapon that he, himself, had envenomed.

Theme: The theme of this play is that no individual should seek revenge—revenge, as well as destiny, should be left up to God and not taken into one’s own hands. This is evident because all of the characters that seek revenge end up being killed by one another, and Fortinbras, who does not end up going after revenge, ends up successful and thriving.