HAMLET

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
HAMLET’S PLOT
• King Hamlet – Hamlet’s father – dies.
• People think he dies from a poisonous snake bite.
• The truth – according to the Ghost – is that Claudius killed him by pouring poison into his ear.
• The Ghost asks Prince Hamlet – his son – to avenge his murder. Hamlet needs proof that the ghost is an
honest ghost and not an evil one. So....

• Hamlet’s revenge
• Hamlet arranges a dramatic performance, a play within the play, to observe Claudius reaction, which proves his guilt.
• Hamlet does not kill Claudius while he is praying because he might go to heaven because of the prayer.
• Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius thinking that he was Claudius.
• Claudius – knowing that Hamlet is a threat for him - convinces Hamlet to go to England with Rosencrantz and
Guilderstern, and he was planning to get him killed there by being sentenced to death for murder by the King of England.
• On the way to England, the ship is attacked by pirates. Hamlet survives and goes back to Denmark.
• Hamlet is in love with Ophelia but he pretends to be angry with her.
• He even tells her to go to a ‘nunnery’.
• Ophelia dies by drowning in a stream because she was suffering due to Hamlet’s rejection and
her father’s – Polonius - death

• After Ophelia’s death, Laerthes – his brother – challenges Hamlet for a duel.

• Claudius convinces Laertes to use a sword with a poisoned tip to kill Hamlet, and
Claudius also adds poison to Hamlet’s drink for extra security.

• In the end, both Laertes and Hamlet become wounded by the poisoned blade.

• Gertrude – Hamlet’s mother – accidentally drinks from the poisoned cup.

• Hamlet stabs Claudius saying ‘Follow my mother’.

CHARACTERS
• King Hamlet: Hamlet’s father, ‘Ghost’
• Queen Gertrude: Prince Hamlet’s mother
• Claudius: King Hamlet’s brother, Prince Hamlet’s uncle and stepfather
• PRINCE HAMLET
• Horatio: Prince Hamlet’s faithful friend
• Ophelia: Hamlet’s ‘lover’, Polonius’ daughter, Laertes’ sister
• Laertes: Ophelia’s brother, Polonius’ son
• Polonius: Ophelia & Laertes’ father, Claudius’ Lord Chamberlain
• Rosencratz and Guilderstern: childhood friends of Hamlet
IMPORTANT QUOTES
• ‘To be or not to be’
• Most famous soliloquy in the play.
• Hamlet is contemplating suicide.
• ‘To be or not to be’ = ‘To live or not to
live’
• The soliloquy is essentially about life and
death.
• Hamlet discusses how miserable human
life is, and how death would be preferrable.
• At the same time, he is afraid of dying
because of the uncertainty of what comes
after death
• 'The rest is silence’
• Last words of Hamlet in the play.
• Hamlet pronounces these words after
killing Laertes and Claudius, and also
watching his mother die.
• He knows he is dying and the quote is a
metaphor referring to his own death.
• Possible interpretation: conceives death as
a peaceful rest, since his life was quite
overwhelming , and by dying he could
finally rest in peace.