Summary

In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the king has died. Prince Hamlet, heir to the Danish throne, returns to Elsinore Castle from his university studies in Wittenberg. The king died unexpectedly from a snakebite, and his brother Claudius now sits on the throne.

Claudius publicly mourns his brother’s death, but has also married his brother’s widow, Queen Gertrude. Hamlet is shocked that his mother has remarried so quickly. Unlike the others, he sincerely mourns his father’s death.

One evening, guards of the castle spot a ghost that looks like the deceased king. Hamlet decides to see it for himself. He learns from his father’s ghost that he was poisoned by Claudius while he slept. The ghost demands that Hamlet take revenge, but asks him to spare his mother.

Hamlet decides to pretend to be insane to carry out his revenge plan undisturbed. He can confide in no one but his college friend Horatio. Hamlet’s beloved Ophelia has been urged by her brother Laertes and her father Polonius to stay away from him. 

The court secretary Polonius thinks that Hamlet’s strange behavior is caused by his unrequited love for Ophelia. The queen believes that it is caused by grief over his father’s death. The king, however, is suspicious. Together with Polonius, he sets up a conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia to eavesdrop. When Hamlet realizes that Ophelia is trying to spy on him, he further pretends to be insane by rejecting her and asking her to go to a monastery.

The suspicious king then orders two childhood friends of Hamlet’s, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to get to the bottom of Hamlet’s alleged madness. However, Hamlet immediately guesses that they have been sent to spy on him and no longer trusts them.

When a group of actors comes to the court, Hamlet asks them to re-enact the scene of the regicide in the play The Murder of Gonzago. If Claudius loses his temper during the play, Hamlet believes he can be sure that Claudius is indeed his father’s murderer. Meanwhile, Hamlet is plagued by suicidal thoughts.

When the poisoning scene of the play is acted, Claudius leaves the room, agitated. Hamlet is now convinced of his guilt. Claudius then tries to pray God for forgiveness for murdering his brother. When Hamlet finds him praying, he briefly plays with the idea of killing him immediately but postpones it until Claudius...