Summary:
A mystery ghost has been roaming around the Elsinore Castle in Denmark, for the past few nights, as the castles guards have reported many sightings. Horatio, friend of Hamlet, arrives and is discussing the sightings when suddenly the ghost appears. The ghost refuses to speak to Horatio, who is becoming sceptical of the appearance, stating that it may be a bad omen of things the come. Horatio reveals that it is the ghost the Old Hamlet, former King of Denmark, who died but a few months ago, and has been succeeded by his brother Claudius (now King). After another appearance Horatio and the guards decide to tell Prince Hamlet about the sittings of the ghost, who returns again the next night. Hamlet confronts the ghost, who
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In doing this, Hamlet will watch Claudius' reaction throughout the play to determine whether or not he is guilty.
Claudius and Polonius continue to seek the reason for Hamlet's madness, as they again watch an encounter between Ophelia and Hamlet. The King, not convinced, begins to suspect ulterior motives for Hamlet's madness and decides to send Hamlet to England for the safety of everyone. Hamlet continues with his plan by instructing the players on the basis of the play, to assure that the plan goes accordingly. The stage has been set and everyone arrives at the theatre, and as the play begins Hamlet and Horatio watch Claudius for any suspicious behaviour. As the murder scene of the play arrives, Claudius jumps from his seat, calls for the lights and departs. Hamlet and Horatio, decide the behaviour indicates guilt and revenge must be taken. Frightened by the play, Gertrude sends for Hamlet to meet her, however on the way Hamlet stumbles across a kneeling Claudius who is praying to God. Hamlet contemplates whether or not to kill him, and finally decides by killing Claudius while he is praying will send him to heaven, thus Hamlet decides revenge will be taken at a more appropriate time. Hamlet visits his mother, but during the discussion hears a rustling behind the tapestry and stabs at it. Polonius, who was spying on Hamlet, is killed. In a rage, Hamlet curses the dying man for being a
Cleverly, Hamlet decides to feign madness before the King and the court as a way for others to ignore him, so he may construct his plan of revenge for his father’s death. What is interesting is that he initially does not set out to kill Claudius the current king, which suggests that he is troubled on whether or not the apparition he spoke with is truly his father telling the truth. He deceptively uses Ophelia as a messenger to the King to describe his initial count of being mad. This causes the King, Polonius, and Ophelia to spy on Hamlet. When putting on a production to see whether Claudius is truly guilty of being the murder Lord Hamlet states, “that he must be idle” which suggest that his madness is feigned. With Claudius being deemed guilty, Hamlet knows what he must do. Interestingly, Hamlet is unable to kill Claudius the first time when he gets a chance since he did not want to send Claudius to heaven. The level of distress of Hamlet is apparent when he sees his mother after passing Claudius praying to God. Getrude calls for help and a noise is heard behind a curtain. Without thinking Hamlet slays Polonius; the person behind the curtain. This is a very controversial moment for this
By the beginning of Act III, Hamlet is almost ready to kill Claudius, but he still needs more proof that Claudius killed his father, and he also wants to put off the murder because he is a bit of a coward. Claudius is beginning to lose his composure. Hamlet decides to set a trap for him in the form of a play. The subject of the play is the murder of a king by his brother who, in turn, marries the king's wife. The plot of the play is strikingly similar to the circumstances of King Hamlet's murder, which strikes a disharmonious chord in the conscience of Claudius. In the middle of the play during the murder scene, Claudius gets up and begs for the play to stop so that he can get some air. Hamlet is very angered by this because it confirms that Claudius did kill his father. Later that night, Claudius prays to god to forgive him for his
He, wanting to determine why Hamlet has been acting mad, decides to spy on him when he is with Queen Gertrude. When talking to Gertrude before Hamlet has entered, Polonius states, "He will come straight. Look you lay home to him. / Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with / And that your Grace hath screened and stood between / Much heat and him. I'll silence me even here. / Pray you, be round with him" (III.iv.1-7). Hearing Hamlet coming, Polonius hides behind a tapestry. Hamlet enters and is rude to his mother. He tells her that she has offended King Hamlet by marrying Claudius. When Gertrude asks Hamlet if he has forgotten who she is, he replies with "No, by the rood, not so. / You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife, / And (would it were not so) you are my mother" (III.iv.19-21). Hamlet then tells his mother to sit, and that he is going to hold up a mirror so she can see who she truly is. When Gertrude asks Hamlet if he is going to murder her, Polonius cries out for help from behind the tapestry. This leads to Hamlet thinking that Claudius is the one hiding, so he thrusts his sword into the tapestry, killing Polonius. Polonius' death leads to many further struggles between characters. When his children, Ophelia and Laertes, hear the news of their father's death, they do not take it well. Ophelia goes mad. She begins singing songs about her father's death - "He is dead and gone, lady, / He is dead and
This, in turn, exploits Hamlet’s similar flaw of ego and furthers the conflict, but what’s more, it illustrates Claudius’ sheer audacity and lack of repentance. He continues to try to cover up the sin and appease Hamlet into complacency rather than confess and ask for forgiveness. In a mark of pure arrogance, Claudius tells Hamlet to “throw to earth / This unprevailing woe and think of us / As of a father”, conceitedly requesting that Hamlet merely forget the murder and replace his father with the murderer himself (I, ii, 110-112). Similarly, instead of directly confronting Hamlet about his mental condition, the king more or less hires Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on the prince, again cementing his smug mindset. The king does not believe he can be caught or, rather, that Hamlet is competent enough to figure out his plan and foil him. Claudius, too, thinks only of himself after Hamlet’s inadvertent killing of Polonius, pondering “how shall this bloody deed be answered? / It will be laid to us” instead of considering the ramifications of the murder with respect to Hamlet (4.1.17-18). The other two paper-thin traps the king hatches only reinforce his failure to see beyond the apparent; his attempt to deport Hamlet to England and have him killed reeks of treachery and, luckily, Hamlet realizes the king’s subterfuge, crushing the plot and flipping it back on him. Claudius remains steadfast in his efforts to remove Hamlet, going so far as to set up a
In the closet scene, Hamlet kills Polonius, thinking it is Claudius behind the curtain. When Hamlet goes to his mother to talk, Polonius is hiding behind the curtain and eavesdropping on their conversation. Polonius wants to prove that Hamlet's behavior is based on Ophelia's rejection of Hamlet's love. Hamlet hears him behind the curtain and stabs him, thinking he is Claudius. This is an important turning point in the play, because this is the first time that Hamlet has taken action towards avenging his father's death. Even though he has
Hamlet soon resolves to take action. He sets up a play to trap Claudius so he can find out if the ghost was telling the truth. This is his intelligence and craft. He will not impulsively commit murder because of the word of a ghost who seemed to be his dead father. When he meets with his mother later, he is very angry and emotional and kills Polonius believing it was Claudius. Hamlet shows himself to be a man of action before thought in this case. He is rather cold that he is not terribly sorry about this accidental death but does show genuine concern for his mother which leads him to fits of intense emotion.
Claudius’ manipulation takes advantage of surrounding characters’ affection for Hamlet. Paired with Hamlet’s apparent madness, he easily sways them into doing his bidding by feeding them incorrect information, thus influencing their decisions and actions. While innocent characters like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern believe their duty is to simply diagnose the reason for Hamlet’s madness, Claudius uses their care for Hamlet and blind loyalty to plot Hamlet’s death. This along with several other attempts of spying on and murdering Hamlet eventually lead to the deaths of multiple characters including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Not only that, but all the while he is attempting to take Hamlet’s life, he is fearing for his own and desperately
Hamlet is a tragic play, written by William Shakespeare between 1599 and 1602, but as years have gone by, there have been made many movies produced in order to visually illustrate how the events of the play occurred. This allows the film director's interpretation of Hamlet to have an effect on the audience's understanding of the play, because they understand the play the same way as the director. One of the most significant act and scene in the whole play is Act I Scene V. The film work of Hamlet orchestrated by the director really focuses on being exactly as the written play by William Shakespeare. The written work of Hamlet and the movie directed by Franco Zeffirelli have many similar scenes. Act I Scene V is one of the most important
Hamlet views Claudius' reaction to the play. Claudius' response is indicative of a guilty person, verifying Hamlet's suspicion. Hamlet can now act out his vengeance on Claudius, since he has proven Claudius' guilt and has grounds for carrying out justice. Hamlet is
Delaying, Hamlet continues to avoid murdering Claudius. After hesitating to kill Claudius, Hamlet flees to his mother’s room. Polonius hides in Gertrude’s room while Hamlet is speaking with his mother, but Hamlet soon catches on and murders Polonius. Shocked, Gertrude confronts Hamlet about the murder, but Hamlet retaliates by asserting, "A bloody deed! almost as bad, good
Hamlet kills Polonius and Gertrude becomes scared as to what is going to happen with Hamlet. Claudius betrays her trust by taking advantage of it and takes matter into his own hands. Claudius solution to the problem is to have Hamlet sent to England, where he is going to be safe from the law and will not have to deal with any consequences for his actions. " O Gertrude, come away! The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch. But we will ship him hence, and this vile deed. We must, with all out majesty and skill, Both countenance and excuse" (4.1.28-32). Claudius makes Gertrude believe he is setting this up because he wants to protect Hamlet. But even though the audience knows the real reason as to why he is doing this. He is sending Hamlet to England to be killed. " By letters congruing to that effect, The present death of Hamlet" (4.3.66-67).
Who was Shakespeare? Was he a man from Stratford-Upon-Avon who started with little and became the greatest English author to ever live; or was he a privileged Earl who was a favorite at Queen Elizabeth’s court? That is the great mystery. This particular mystery is difficult to solve because of the lack of documentary evidence. The Elizabethans did not believe in getting everything in writing as people do today. Therefore, the truth may never be known with certainty. However, evidence does exist to support at least two theories about the Shakespearean authorship: one that the man from Stratford wrote the works, the other that Edward de Vere the Earl of Oxford was the author. The question then becomes, which
The story opens in the cold and dark of a winter night in Denmark, while the guard is being changed on the battlements of the royal castle of Elsinore. For two nights in succession, just as the bell strikes the hour of one, a ghost has appeared on the battlements, a figure dressed in complete armor and with a face like that of the dead king of Denmark, Hamlet’s father. A young man named Horatio, who is a school friend of Hamlet, has been told of the apparition and cannot believe it, and one of the officers has brought him there in the night so that he can see it for himself.
Hamlet has the opportunity to kill Claudius when he is praying, but does not because he is fearful that Claudius will go to heaven despite his crimes. Hamlet is admirable in not killing Claudius while praying because Hamlet wants a revenge worthy of his father and himself. While keeping up his act, Hamlet kills Polonius, Ophelia dies and Claudius and Laertes construct a death plot against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes plan ironically spins out of control and them both himself killed and the queen killed. Although Hamlet also dies in the process, Hamlet justly kills Claudius with the poisoned dagger and the poisoned drink. The final image of most of the characters on the stage being dead provides a superficial pessimistic ending. However, the ability for Hamlet to maintain his honor when all odds were against him provides a great sense of hope in the audience. Also, the exchange of forgiveness from Laertes to “noble Hamlet” also provides an optimistic ending. Upon the arrival of prince Fortinbras, Hamlet is given a soldier’s funeral of the highest honors which allows for a promising ending.
What is mans' purpose in life? Is there a purpose? If there isn't, then is it wise to end it, despite the fact that there might be nothing better? In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Hamlet struggles with these and other issues. He states that the question of life is "To be, or not to be...?" Is existence really worth the troubles of life? In this monologue, Hamlet is wondering what is his purpose. He asserts that the only reason people endure their horrible lives is the uncertainty of what lies after death. "Who would fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death..." Is it noble to suffer, and is life worth all its misery? Hamlet