Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark

The ghost of the King of Denmark tells Hamlet, his son, to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. Hamlet feigns madness, contemplates life and death, and eventually seeks revenge.

Lead Characters

Hamlet

The Prince of Denmark. He is the only son of the recently deceased King Hamlet and his wife, Queen Gertrude

Ophelia

The daughter of Polonius, Claudius’s trusted chief counselor. She is also the lady-love of Hamlet.

Claudius

The new King of Denmark. He’s the brother of the deceased King Hamlet second husband to Queen Gertrude and Uncle to Hamlet.

Laertes

The son of Polonius and the brother of a Ophelia

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Hamlet was the Prince of Denmark. He was away studying at Wittenberg when one day, he received the unfortunate news that his father, the King, had passed away. As Hamlet tried to come to terms with the fact that his father was no more, he received further shocking news that his mother had married Claudius the King’s younger brother and Hamlet’s uncle.

Therefore, Hamlet had also been deprived of the throne, which should rightfully have been his after his father’s death.

As Hamlet Was preparing to leave for home, a strange event was occurring at the royal castle in Denmark. The guards have been complaining of seeing a strange shadow at night, which resembled the dead King and they were sure that the strange occurrences were the return of the King spirit. After repeated sightings of the ghost over a couple of nights, the guards finally decided to inform Horatio, Hamlet’s best friend and advisor.

Horatio refused to believe the guards, declaring that there was no such thing as ghosts and it must be a figment of their imagination. However, upon their insistence, he decided to accompany them one night and lo and behold! He too saw the ghost of the deceased King appear.

Horatio could not believe his eyes. He tried to speak to the ghost, but just as the ghost tried to say something a rooster declared a new day and the ghost disappeared.

Horatio now believing in the existence of the ghost turned to the guards and said, “This ghost will certainly speak to Hamlet.”

Hamlet returned to Denmark and was completely taken aback by his mother’s haste to remarry, and he certainly did not approve of Claudius. He could not get the nagging thought out of his head that his father had not died a natural death but had been murdered.

While lost deep in thought, Horatio entered, accompanied by the guards, and told Hamlet what he had seen. Hamlet assured Horatio that he would accompany them that night and wait for the ghost to appear.

Meanwhile, Laertes, the son of the King’s chief advisor, Polonius, was getting ready to leave for France. His sister, Ophelia, was in love with Hamlet. Though her brother and father consistently told her that she should not believe his claims of love for her, she paid no heed to their warning, because deep within her heart she knew that he was madly in love with her.

That night, Hamlet, with Horatio and the guards, reach the tower where the ghosts usually appeared. As they stood talking in the cold night, Hamlet saw the spirit of his father appear. He tried to speak to the ghost, who then beckoned him to follow. At some distance from the others, the ghost said, “Yes, I am the spirit of your father and the reason I still walk the earth is because I was murdered.

Hamlet gasped, he asked the spirit to tell him more. The ghost continued,

“It is being said, my son, that while I lay asleep in the garden, a serpent bit me; but the serpent that bit your father now wears his crown.”

He went on to explain how well he was asleep, his own brother poured the juice of the poisonous Herbona into his ear, killing him instantly.

It was morning when the ghost finished his story. Swearing all those gathered there with him that night to secrecy. Hamlet decided it was time for him to act.

Over the next few days, Hamlet started acting rather mysteriously towards Ophelia. He pretended that due to something troubling him he had started to go mad. Ophelia informed her father about Hamlet’s strange behavior, and soon the matter came before the King and Queen.

Polonius then made a plan to be sure about the prince’s state of mind. He declared that when Ophelia was with Hamlet the next day, he and King Claudius would stand behind the curtain and listen to what Hamlet had to say, which should give them a better idea of his mental problems.

As per the plan, when Hamlet went to Ophelia the next day, both Claudius and Polonius hid themselves behind a curtain. Hamlet said,
“To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether it would be nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them.”

It was evident that Hamlet was talking about killing himself and the King had heard enough. Claudius wanted Hamlet to leave for England immediately, sure that a change of scenery would help him to calm down.

But the next day, a group of traveling actors came to see Hamlet. They requested that he allow them to stay to play for him that evening. Hamlet saw this as a golden opportunity to nail his uncle and his mother for their crimes against his dead father. He asked the troupe whether they could perform the play, ‘The Murder of Gonzago’ for him. He also wanted to make some modifications to the original play, and the troupe assured him they would have no trouble in carrying out his wishes.

That night Hamlet kept a close watch on his uncle. Soon the play began. It started with a man sleeping and another man coming over to pour something into his ear from a cup. The man with the cup was the other man’s brother, and had murdered his brother with the poison. As the play was coming to a close, King Claudius sprang from his feet and screamed, “Enough!”

As Hamlet and Horatio sat and discussed the matter, a servant informed Hamlet that his mother had sent for him. Since Polonius was not too sure about Hamlet’s mental state, he decided to hide behind the curtain and intervene if Hamlet tried to harm his mother.

On seeing her son, Hamlet’s mother at once accused him of troubling the King with the rendition of that particular play, but Hamlet also very subtly accused her of being unjust towards his dead father. His mother pretended not to understand, but Hamlet persisted. And when she tried to avoid answering his questions, Hamlet started to lose his patience. As his voice rose ,Polonius, worried about the queen’s safety, started to shout from behind the curtain, “Help the Queen!”

Hamlet, thinking that it was Claudius hiding behind the curtain, immediately drew his sword and thrust it to the material, killing Polonius instantly. Seeing that he had killed Polonius and not Claudius, Hamlet’s anger grew. As his mother kept trying to divert his questions about the death of his father, Hamlet was preparing to kill his mother when his father’s spirit appeared again. The ghost asked him to spare his mother and go after the real murderer.

Meanwhile Claudius had decided that he could waste no more time and sending Hamlet away, and so put him on a ship to set sail for England.

While in France, Laertes heard what had happened to his father and immediately returned to avenge his death. He was furious with the King and Queen as they had made no arrests. He came back leading a riotous group of men, claiming that Claudius was not fit to rule over them, and therefore Laertes should be their new king.

As he was arguing with the King, Ophelia walked in. It seemed that she had completely lost her mind, unable to bear the loss of her father. Laertes was heartbroken to see his sister in such a sorry state, and was now more intense than ever to avenge the death of his father and his sister state of delirium.

Now, while they were sailing for England, Hamlet’s ship was attacked by pirates. In the fight that ensued, Hamlet boarded the pirate ship. His own ship managed to break away and sail off, leaving Hamlet as a prisoner to the pirates. However when he told the pirates who he was, he was dropped off at the nearest port and returned home.

Upon seeing Hamlet again, Claudius started making plans for his death. This time he went to Laertes and told him how Hamlet had killed his father, Polonius. This infuriated Laertes and he wanted to kill Hamlet immediately. Claudius asked Laertes to refrain for a while, telling him that he would organize a sword duel. The plan was for Laertes’ sword to be unprotected to allow him to fatally stab Hamlet while Hamlet’s sword would be blunt so as not to harm Laertes in any way.

But Claudius did not stop there. He also declared that the tip of Laertes’ sword be dipped in a special poison which had no antidote, making Hamlet’s death certain. Finally, Claudius decided that if all the other plans were to fail he would add poison to Hamlet’s drink,

and the moment he took a sip, his energy would start to drain and he would soon die.

While the two men were discussing how to kill Hamlet the Queen came running in and declared that Ophelia had drowned in her unsteady state of mind.

The girl had gone to the banks of the river and tried to pluck some flowers from a tree, but while she was on a branch, a portion of it broke off and she went tumbling into the river. She fainted as she hit the water and soon drowned.

Laertes was shocked to hear this unfortunate news and could not believe his sister was no more.

Meanwhile Hamlet and Horatio were walking towards the palace when they saw a huge funeral procession. It looked like a royal funeral, so they wondered who had passed away. Within a few minutes, Hamlet saw that the body being carried away with that of Ophelia.

He was shocked, and could not understand how she could have died. Hamlet could no longer contain his sorrow and went running towards her.

Laertes, on the other hand, was furious to see Hamlet arrive on the scene, and without another thought he rushed towards him and grabbed his throat. Soon they were involved in a struggle, but with the help of the people around them, they were parted.

The King put his plan into action. He managed to convince Hamlet that Laertes had been named, ‘The Best Swordsman in France’, and a match was arranged for the two men. Horatio tried to dissuade Hamlet explaining that Laertes really was very good with the sword but nothing could make Hamlet pull out of the fight.

Finally, the match began. The King and Queen were also present ,as we’re all the courtiers. Even Horatio had come to witness the spectacle.

As they started sparring between themselves, Hamlet was able to get the first two hits against Laertes. Claudius saw that Hamlet better than Laertes as the latter could not even get past Hamlet first two of Hamlet’s defenses. So he decided to put his other plan into action and asked Hamlet to take a break and have a drink. But Hamlet, seeing that he was winning, refused to stop.

Things started to get rather animated between the two fighters. Laertes managed to hit Hamlet once and he immediately started bleeding, realizing that Laertes was not using a blunt sword. Hamlet became infuriated and started fighting with greater vigor.

Little did he know that he had also been poisoned with that cut.

Since the fight had now been going on for quite some time, the Queen was tired. Seeing a cup before her, she reached out to take a sip. The minute Claudius saw what was happening, he screamed, “Stop! Do not drink that!” It was the poison cup that he had kept for Hamlet, but alas it was too late.

Meanwhile, the fight was becoming rather severe. During the match, both contestants drop their swords once and by mistake picked up each other’s sword. Now, Hamlet, fighting with Laertes sword, was able to draw blood from his opponent. He was about to continue when he heard his mother scream, “Son, I have been poisoned!”

Laertes too had fallen, his own poison mixing with his blood. Horatio exclaimed, “They bleed on both sides! How is that my Lord?”

To this Laertes said, “It is the King, Hamlet. He planned the whole thing. He has poisoned your mother. He had poisoned the tip of my sword. Nothing can save us now. We are both going to die.”

Hamlet soon understood Claudius’ plan. Without wasting another moment, he pushed his sword towards the King, killing him instantly. Falling into Horatio’s lap, Hamlet said, “I am dying Horatio, but you live and must tell my true story to the world.” And soon he was dead.