高校问答特朗普是否出生在四川:求一篇哈姆雷特的故事简介，要英文的，字数800左右
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The play concerns the revenge of Prince Hamlet, whose father, the late King of Denmark, victor over the Polish army, died suddenly while Hamlet was away from home at Wittenberg University. Prior to the opening of the play, the King's brother Claudius has been proclaimed king, and cemented his claim to the throne by marrying Hamlet's mother Gertrude, the widowed Queen.
The play opens on the battlements of Elsinore Castle, seat of the Danish monarchy, where a group of sentries are visited by the ghost of the recently deceased King Hamlet. Hamlet's friend Horatio joins the soldiers on their watch and when the ghost appears, bids it to speak. They suspect it has some message to deliver, but it vanishes without speaking.
The next day, the Danish court meets to celebrate the wedding of Claudius and Gertrude. The new King urges Hamlet not to persist in his grief. When he is alone, Hamlet expresses his anger at the accession of his uncle Claudius to the throne and his mother's hasty remarriage. Horatio and the guards come to the scene and tell him of the appearance of the ghost of his father. Hamlet is determined to investigate this.
Joining Horatio on the watch on the battlements that night, the ghost appears again. It beckons him to come along with him and then reveals a fearful secret: his father was murdered. He was poisoned through the ear by Claudius, and the Ghost commands Hamlet to avenge him. Shocked by this discovery, Hamlet returns to Horatio and the sentries, making them swear an oath not to reveal details of the night's events to anyone.
Hamlet is unsure whether the ghost he has seen is really his father, and suspects that it might be the Devil taking his father's appearance in order to take his soul to hell. He therefore sets out to test the king's conscience through putting on an "antic disposition" (feigning madness), in the hope that his behaviour might reveal the truth, or otherwise provide the opportunity to kill to Claudius.
Hamlet feigns insanity in order to convict Claudius of murder and treason, and takes particular delight in making a fool of Polonius, the king's chief councillor. Polonius, convinced of Hamlet's madness, is certain that it stems from his unrequited love for his daughter Ophelia, whom he forbade to continue her relationship with Hamlet. Polonius fears for his status at court and offers his services to the King in this matter in an attempt to redeem himself before the King of any guilt. He suggests arranging a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia during which Polonius and Claudius will spy upon them both. Claudius, perhaps suspecting Hamlet's ruse, also asks Hamlet's schoolmates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to monitor him, but Hamlet does not let his guard down and sees the intention behind his schoolmates' sudden visit. He enlists a company of travelling performers to stage an existing play, The Murder of Gonzago, which he has modified to re-enact the circumstances of his father's murder.
"The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."
[Act II, scene II]
Shortly after the play begins, Claudius, who cannot bear to watch, rises calling for lights. The king's anguished reaction to the performance (which Horatio also notices) convinces Hamlet of his guilt. Shortly afterwards, Claudius arranges for Hamlet to be deported to the Danish territories of England along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, where he is to be killed upon arrival. Alone, Claudius privately expresses his disgust at what he has done, and offers a prayer of repentance. Hamlet discovers Claudius at prayer and prepares to kill him, but then stops, reasoning that he does not want his revenge to have the result of sending the repentant Claudius to Heaven. Ironically, after Hamlet slips away, Claudius concludes that he is unable to repent in his current state of mind; thus, if Hamlet had not attempted to arrogate to himself the destiny of Claudius's soul, rather than just his life, he would have achieved the ultimate justice he sought. By trying to go beyond the ghost's orders, he has doomed his efforts to failure.
Hamlet confronts his mother about the murder of his father and her sexual relations with her new husband. During their conversation, he stabs Polonius, who has been hiding behind a tapestry and eavesdropping on their conversation. Initially suspecting his victim was Claudius, he appears unrepentant and unconcerned when Polonius is revealed, continuing to admonish his mother. King Hamlet's ghost makes a reappearance to rebuke Hamlet. Hamlet's mother cannot see the ghost, but sees him conversing with it, convinced that her son has really gone mad.
Claudius, who has finally understood Hamlet's real motivation, sends Hamlet to England, supposedly for his safety, but accompanied by a sealed letter to the English ordering his death. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent along to ensure the orders are carried out. When later he returns to Denmark, Hamlet describes how his ship was attacked by pirates, who took him prisoner but then returned him to Denmark.
During Hamlet's absence, Ophelia, gravely disturbed by Hamlet's rejection and the death of Polonius, goes insane. She sings a number of rustic melodies that Shakespeare may have borrowed from the English folk tradition. In what is most likely suicide, she falls into a brook and drowns. Laertes, her brother, returns from overseas, and is hungry to avenge his father's and sister's death.
Returning from his voyage, Hamlet meets Horatio at a graveyard outside Elsinore castle just as Ophelia's funeral cortege arrives there, where a gravedigger (jester/clown) is digging. Hamlet finds the skull of Yorick (see skull as a symbol), an old jester to the court who carried him on his back during his childhood days, and proclaims, "Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft." As Hamlet broods on mortality, the cortege arrives with the King, Queen and Laertes. Hamlet is so distraught to learn of Ophelia's death that he leaps into the open grave and grapples with Laertes.
When Laertes and Claudius learn of Hamlet's return to Denmark, they scheme to kill Hamlet with the intention of making the death look like an accident. To this end, Claudius instructs Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a fencing match. In order to encourage Hamlet to accept, Claudius lays stakes on the match which are very unfavourable to himself. Unbeknownst to Hamlet, Laertes will be fighting with a sharpened and poisoned foil, instead of the customary bated blade. In addition, Claudius prepares some poisoned wine for Hamlet to drink as a toast, in case Laertes is unable to hit him.
When the match begins, Hamlet wins the first two rounds, and Gertrude drinks some of the wine to toast him, unaware that it is poisoned (although some critics and performances treat this is a deliberate suicide [1]). Hamlet is hit with the sword and fatally poisoned, but in the ensuing brawl, he swaps blades with Laertes, and deals a deep wound to Laertes with the poisoned sword as well. The Queen dies from the wine, warning Hamlet that the drink is poisoned. With his dying breath, Laertes also confesses the whole plot to Hamlet. Enraged, Hamlet kills Claudius with the poisoned weapon, forcing him also to drink the poisoned wine, at last avenging his father's death.
Horatio, horrified at the turn of events, seizes the poisoned wine and proposes to join his friend in death, but Hamlet wrests the cup away from him. He orders him to tell his story to the world to restore his good name. Hamlet also recommends that the Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, be chosen as the successor to the Danish throne. Hamlet dies, and Horatio mourns his passing:
"Now cracks a noble heart: Good night sweet prince:
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"
[Act V, scene II]
Fortinbras enters with English ambassadors. Shocked by the carnage, he orders a military funeral for Hamlet, whilst Horatio offers to relate the whole tale.
Hamlet
Although most know the basic story of Hamlet, I thought you might find it helpful to have a plot summary broken down by scenes.
HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK
SCENE: Elsinore, Denmark
ACT I
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is advised by the sentinels of the royal castle of Kronborg, at Elsinore, that an apparition strongly resembling his dead father had appeared on the battlements. Hamlet therefore resolves to encounter the spirit and learn from it, if possible, the true cause of his father's taking-off, about which the Prince has had many suspicions. He meets the Ghost
at its next nightly visitation, and in an interview with it his worst fears are confirmed. The late King's brother Claudius, who has ascended the throne and wedded the widowed Queen, had poisoned the King while he slept. Hamlet is enjoined to secrecy and revenge, and the Ghost vanishes. Hamlet's followers are sworn to say nothing of the occurrence.
ACT II
Because of the news and of the dread task to which he is commissioned, Hamlet is seized with a species of madness, perhaps largely feigned, whereby he may cloak his designs. He writes incoherent and passionate letters to his lady-love, Ophelia, daughter of Polonius, a court dignitary. At this juncture a company of strolling players arrives at the castle and at Hamlet's suggestion a certain play is given before the King and Queen and members of the court.
ACT III
The play deals with the murder of a Venetian duke, whose wife afterwards weds the murderer. The story closely resembles the circumstances of the King of Denmark's demise. During the play Hamlet is intent not upon the players but upon the countenance and actions of his uncle. The latter, as if struck with a realising sense of his own crime, as Hamlet suspected, hurriedly leaves. Hamlet no longer doubts the truth of the Ghost's communications, and turns with energy to seek the vengeance which he has sworn to execute.
The queen mother is also much disturbed by the purport of the play, and sends for Hamlet in order to upbraid him. Hamlet answers reproach with reproach, and leaves his mother overwhelmed with shame and self-convicted. But for the opportune arrival of the dead King's spirit, Hamlet might have adopted even more violent measures. Ophelia's father, Polonius, who is spying upon this interview, is slain by Hamlet, who mistakes him for the King.
ACT IV
Hamlet's banishment is decided upon. Two former school comrades of his are entrusted with a commission to leave him in England, where sealed orders are to bring about the Prince's death. But by a combination of plot and accident the execution is visited instead upon the heads of the two accomplices. Hamlet returns to Denmark. There he is greeted by a strange spectacle—the funeral of a young girl, honored by the presence of the King, Queen, and persons of the court. Hamlet has in fact arrived home just at the time of Ophelia's interment. That unfortunate maiden, through incessant brooding over the madness of her lover, the untimely end of her father, and the continued absence of her brother, Laertes, had become insane. For some days she had wandered about the court singing and strewing flowers, then had strayed to the banks of a stream and been drowned.
ACT V
When Hamlet discovers that it is Ophelia's funeral, he is beside himself with grief. He leaps into the grave and angrily contests with Laertes, who also has just returned, the place of chief mourner. Laertes in turn desires to kill Hamlet, for he regards the Prince as the cause of all the woes that have fallen upon his house.
Seeing the animosity of Laertes, King Claudius thinks he may make use of it to work Hamlet's undoing. He secretly advises Laertes to engage Hamlet in a fencing-match—supposedly friendly. Laertes' foil, however, is to be naked and envenomed. Hamlet, unsuspecting, consents to a trial of skill before the court. The King prepares a poisoned drink for Hamlet, if perchance he shall escape the tipped foil. Laertes and Hamlet fence. After a touch or two for Hamlet, the Queen, to do him honour, toasts him, unwittingly, with the poisoned cup. Laertes wounds Hamlet. In the scuffle they change rapiers, and Hamlet in turn wounds Laertes with the latter's treacherous blade. The Queen dies from the drug while Laertes falls, but before he dies he confesses his guilty design and craves pardon of the Prince. Hamlet turns upon the King with his own dying strength and stabs the usurping monarch to the heart.
NOTES
Hamlet was probably written between the years 1598 and 1602. It is not mentioned by Meres in his "Palladis Tamia" of the earlier year; and in the latter year it was entered in the "Stationers' Register." Internal evidence places it about the year 1600.
FIRST EDITIONS. In 1603 an imperfect text of Hamlet, evidently a pirated version, was published. The next year a clearer, and doubtless official, text was printed, now called the Second Quarto. Both had Shakespeare's name on the title page. The Third Quarto appeared in 1605, and the Fourth in 1611. The First Folio, of 1623, supplies some additional readings not found in any Quarto.
SOURCES. In the twelfth century, the "Historia Danica" by Saxo Grammaticus, a Danish writer of importance, contained the story of Hamlet. The story went the rounds of the minstrels and storytellers, and was first printed in 1514. Belleforest translated it into French in his "Histoires Tragiques," of 1571. Shakespeare may have been familiar with the story aside from either printed form. An earlier play of "Hamlet," now lost, was known to his company of players, about 1590.
ACTION. The historical period is indeterminate, but dates back to the eighth or tenth century. The time depicted on the stage is seven days, with intervals considerably lengthening this time.
SELECTED CRITICISM. "Hamlet is a name; his speeches and sayings but the idle coinage of the poet's brain. What then, are they not real? They are as real as our own thoughts. Their reality is in the reader's mind. It is we who are Hamlet. This play has a prophetic truth, which is above that of history. Whoever has become thoughtful and melancholy through his own mishaps or those of others; whoever has borne about with him the clouded brow of reflection and thought himself `too much i' th' sun' . . . this is the true Hamlet."
From J. Walker McSpadden, Shakespearean Synopses (New York: Crowell, 1959).
The story occurs in 13 century Denmark's national capital Chinese mugwort west you promises. Danish king naps when the garden died suddenly. His younger brother Claudius replaces the throne, also marries original princess is the wife, former King's son Hamlet has the suspicion to father's cause of death, melancholy excessively, all day long anxious look full surface. He obeys good friend's advice, midnight with appears the father spirit meets in the castle, finally knew the father king is Claudius and the mother plots together kills. In order to obtain the evidence, he please has come one group of actor especially, performs an extremely similar murder play in the royal palace, at that time the process which killed is displayed the father king. As soon as Hamlet looked the mother and uncle's response, has then understood the truth.
Minister wave Luo river Nias have a daughter to call Austria non-Li Ya, her measuring appliance outstanding, simple and beautiful chaste, is loving Hamlet foolishly. But Hamlet because father enmity unreported, extremely is intentionally desolate to Offie Li Ya. Sly Claudius also understands Hamlet wholehearted, therefore displays the scheme. Because Hamlet misjudges, will hide by mistake secretly is listening to him wave Luo river Nias who will converse with Offie Li Ya to assassinate, Offie Li Ya could not withstand loses the lover and father's attack spirit collapses, loses footing falls in the water dies. The wave Luo river Nias's son hears the news overseas from catches up with, pledges to fight to the death must revenge for the father younger sister. Claudius is called him with the Hamlet duel, and spreads in sword by the toxicant. That day, in the imperial palace hall the fierce combat, out toes kill. When intermittence, Claudius's name is Hamlet to drink a cup the liquor which intoxicated, the mother was condemned deeply the conscience that, seizes has drunk, works as son's surface to die. Hamlet is filled with righteous indignation, wields a sword hits the match, suddenly also by match dark sword puncture wound. Immediately toxic outbreak. Hamlet will put together the foot final strength unpardonably wicked Claudius to assassinate, has revenged for the father, own also dropped down.
Brief introduction of Hamlet
This is the sad story of Hamlet, young Prince of Denmark, whose father died two
months before the story begins. Hamlet' s father was King of Denmark and Hamlet
was his only son. The king died a strange death while he was sleeping in the
garden of his castle. It was believed that he had been bitten to death by a
poisonous snake. He was such a wise and kind king that he was loved by all the
people in the nation. His son, Hamlet, of course, loved him far more than anyone
else in the world.
Hamlet was so sad and sorrowful that he never stopped wearing black clothes.
There was something else which made Hamlet even sadder. His mother, Gertrude,
married Hamlet' s uncle, Claudius, who was a brother of the late king. After
Hamlet' s father died, Claudius became King of Denmark and married Gertrude.
Young Hamlet did not like him because he was not as wise and kind as his father.
He was a man of unkindly character. Hamlet did not in the least want his mother
to marry such a man. He became angry with both of them and came to despise his
mother as well as his uncle.
The bell of the castle was ringing. It was exactly midnight. Suddenly a ghost in
the form of the late king appeared in the darkness. It looked pale and sad.
Looking at the ghost, the two guards of the castle and Horatio, Hamlet' s best
friend, were surprised and terrified. They wondered if something bad was going
to happen in Denmark. They decided to tell their prince what they had seen .The
next day they went to Hamlet and told him that they had seen the ghost of King
Hamlet. Hamlet doubted it at first, but wanted to make sure himself. He asked
them to take him to see the ghost that night. They agreed. Late at night Hamlet,
Horatio and one of the guards went to the top of the walls. It was very cold and
dark there. Some time after they got there, the ghost in armor suddenly appeared
out of the darkness. As his friends had told him, Hamlet saw that the ghost was
exactly like his dead father.
He called out, "King, Father! Why did you come here out of the grave?"
The ghost did not answer him, but looked at him sadly and made a sign for him to
follow. His friends did not want to let Hamlet follow the ghost because they
thought it might be an evil spirit and do something bad to him. But he did
follow the ghost. While Hamlet and the ghost walked away into the darkness, his
friends had to wait anxiously there worrying about his safe return .At the end
of the walls of the castle the ghost stopped and began to talk to Hamlet, "I am
the ghost of your father. I wanted to rule Denmark peacefully until you grew up
and became king after me. But two months ago, while I was sleeping in the
beautiful garden of the castle, my brother Claudius came and put poison into my
ear. I was instantly killed. Hamlet! Be brave and kill him for me. But never
kill or hurt my wife, for she is your mother. Let her repent for what she has
done. That is enough for her. What I have told you is true. I tell you again. I
was not killed by a poisonous snake, but by my brother Claudius. Never forget
what I have told you, my dear son. Good-bye, Hamlet!"
Then the ghost disappeared into the mist of the dark sky. Upon hearing this,
Hamlet became excited and was even more furious with Claudius and his mother. He
made up his mind to kill his uncle and let his mother repent for her sins.
He was hesitate at first, he could not decide all of these things. Who was
right, his mother or the ghost? He encountered the most difficult thing in his
life. He should make a decision at last. Because his uncle seemly know his
thinking and wanted to send him outside. And they may be kill him. So he
pretended to be crazy and wanted to think over these things. His uncle send his
officer and his most close friend to watch him and make sure whether he was
crazy truly. he disbelieve anybody ,even his lover Ophelia. Unfortunately he
killed Ophelia’s father then he killed his brother too. The tragedy became and
at last they are all dead.
Hamlet's "revenge" isn't so much simply the killing of the king, as it clean all
the dirty things in the Danish court. And although it costs him his life, he
succeeds. At some time, we all consider how much wrong there is in the world.
Hamlet gives us a chance to watch an ordinary person consciously choose to say
"No!" to the world's wrong. From the old revenge story, Shakespeare gave us a
problem we cannot answer forever. I hear Hamlet saying, "So many people put so
much effort into doing things that are not worthwhile. It's a bad world, and I
am far from a perfect human being. And we will all dead in the end. But I am
going to do something worthwhile, and do it right." I think this is the core of
this play.
Aspects of Hamlet's character
Hamlet--the universal renaissance man; a less experience prince; a
melancholy intellectual person; Introspective and thoughtful; Self-doubting and
not certain of his own thinking. It is not only in his famous soliloquies that
Hamlet speaks:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis 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? To die: to sleep;
It is not a character marked by will or passion, but by thought and sentiment.
Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can well be: but he is a young leaner.
He seems incapable of immediately action, and is only hurried into extremities
on the hit of the occasion. When he has no time to reflect, as in the scene
where he kills Polonius, and again, where he alters the letters which
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are taking with them to England. At other times,
when he decide to make action, he remains puzzled, undecided, and self-doubt,
till the occasion is lost, and finds out some pretence to relapse into the
former behavior and thoughtfulness again.
For this reason he refuses to kill the King when he is at his prayers. Ophelia
made a comment about Hamlet: Oh ,what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The
courtier's, scholar's, soldier's, eye, tongue, sword, Th' expectancy and rose of
the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mould of form, Th' observ'd of all
observers- quite, quite down!（ Act 3 scene 1）.It is an exact comment .but his
self-doubt and isolation mean that until he has decided upon action at the end
of Act IV, his soliloquies are the most important way to express the dilemma. In
his difficult struggle to somehow act within a corrupt world and yet maintain
his moral integrity, Hamlet ultimately reflects the fate of all human beings.
Briefly review Hamlet
A bewitching charm, great influence---this is Shakespeare.
Shakespeare is a big genius, If he write something, they are poem and
philosophy, express deep thought and human being’s brilliance. He use language
and imagery lambency and exactly, these spectacle in his play lifelikeness and
trenchancy. If you see it only once ,you cannot forget it.
In all of the works of Shakespeare, Hamlet is the zenith of his writing life. It
is also a great tragedy.
The leading actor hamlet is the image of a humanist in the later term of
renaissance. He considers human as a” great creature! They have dignity logos!
They have great strength! They have elegancy appearance! They are like an angel
in action. They are like deity in theirs wisdom. “ When he was young he lived
in the opening emperor palace, he obtained a kind of humanism education and had
a great ideal. Suddenly , his father died, soon his other married new
king---and the king was his uncle. This thing made him even more blame and
headache. New king told him his father is died because of the bite by a snake
when he slept in the garden. When the prince was puzzled , the ghost of his
father came out and told him the “snake” was just his uncle and asked him to
avenge for him.
”
The prince is a humanist, he thought that avenge was a whole social problem. He
said he had the obligation to remove the world, but he could not find the exact
ways to solve this problem. So he just pretended to be crazy for a moment and
thought the means. His lover was Ophelia , after his crazy, she sighed :” …O,
what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The courtier's, scholar's, soldier's, eye,
tongue, sword, Th' expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion
and the mould of form, Th' observ'd of all observers- quite, quite down!”
The character of Hamlet is melancholy and indecision, but this is not unchanged
at all times. At first he was in the sun and he is a ideal young person. When he
encounter such tragic matter he got into melancholy , but at last he jump out of
the melancholy and became a determinable person. He killed the officer in the
palace and rewrote the secrete letter , got to the sea rover’s boat and duel
with Ophelia’s brother and killed the evil king. You cannot see any melancholy
any more. Before his dead he told his close friend his story and wish, and made
the testament to choose new king. This is the result of his character
improvement.
At the end of this tragedy, the evil king want to kill Hamlet through the
poisoned wine and poisoned sword. But hamlet and Leotis both wounded by the
poisoned sword and his mother drank the poisoned wine by accident. And the evil
king also killed by Hamlet. Hamlet killed all of these evil person and because
he was outnumbered and be killed at last. And the play is over , the melancholy
was over too.
Why Hamlet died in the end ? If you look through the condition which hamlet
lived, you can find the answer: there is a big gap between the ideal of humanist
and the evil reality. The pain of Hamlet not only the pain of himself , but also
is the melancholy of the nation and his people.
Hamlet is just a winner in morality and justice, he cannot get the victory as a
matter of act.
This work reflects the ideal of the fresh bourgeois. So Hamlet is a tragedy of
humanist. This play also reflects the politics situation of Britain during 16
and 17 century. At that time, bourgeois is rising and the whole society became a
great change. So we can call this play humanist play.
Aspect of Hamlet
Hamlet is without question the most famous play in the English language.
Probably written in 1601 or 1602, the tragedy is a milestone in Shakespeare's
dramatic development; the playwright achieved artistic maturity in this work
through his brilliant depiction of the hero's struggle with two opposing forces:
moral integrity and the need to avenge his father's murder.
Shakespeare's focus on this conflict was different other revenge tragedies at
the same time, which tended to violent acts on stage. in Hamlet it emphasized
the hero's dilemma rather than the bloody deeds. The "original Hamlet," is a
lost play that scholars believe was written a few decades before Shakespeare's
Hamlet, providing much of the context for the later tragedy. Thomas Kyd is the
author of The Spanish Tragedy, which provides the sources for Shakespeare to
create Hamlet, a rich and complex literary work that continues to delight both
readers and audiences nowadays.
The play concerns the revenge of Prince Hamlet, whose father, the late King of Denmark, victor over the Polish army, died suddenly while Hamlet was away from home at Wittenberg University. Prior to the opening of the play, the King's brother Claudius has been proclaimed king, and cemented his claim to the throne by marrying Hamlet's mother Gertrude, the widowed Queen.
The play opens on the battlements of Elsinore Castle, seat of the Danish monarchy, where a group of sentries are visited by the ghost of the recently deceased King Hamlet. Hamlet's friend Horatio joins the soldiers on their watch and when the ghost appears, bids it to speak. They suspect it has some message to deliver, but it vanishes without speaking.
The next day, the Danish court meets to celebrate the wedding of Claudius and Gertrude. The new King urges Hamlet not to persist in his grief. When he is alone, Hamlet expresses his anger at the accession of his uncle Claudius to the throne and his mother's hasty remarriage. Horatio and the guards come to the scene and tell him of the appearance of the ghost of his father. Hamlet is determined to investigate this.
Joining Horatio on the watch on the battlements that night, the ghost appears again. It beckons him to come along with him and then reveals a fearful secret: his father was murdered. He was poisoned through the ear by Claudius, and the Ghost commands Hamlet to avenge him. Shocked by this discovery, Hamlet returns to Horatio and the sentries, making them swear an oath not to reveal details of the night's events to anyone.
Hamlet is unsure whether the ghost he has seen is really his father, and suspects that it might be the Devil taking his father's appearance in order to take his soul to hell. He therefore sets out to test the king's conscience through putting on an "antic disposition" (feigning madness), in the hope that his behaviour might reveal the truth, or otherwise provide the opportunity to kill to Claudius.
Hamlet feigns insanity in order to convict Claudius of murder and treason, and takes particular delight in making a fool of Polonius, the king's chief councillor. Polonius, convinced of Hamlet's madness, is certain that it stems from his unrequited love for his daughter Ophelia, whom he forbade to continue her relationship with Hamlet. Polonius fears for his status at court and offers his services to the King in this matter in an attempt to redeem himself before the King of any guilt. He suggests arranging a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia during which Polonius and Claudius will spy upon them both. Claudius, perhaps suspecting Hamlet's ruse, also asks Hamlet's schoolmates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to monitor him, but Hamlet does not let his guard down and sees the intention behind his schoolmates' sudden visit. He enlists a company of travelling performers to stage an existing play, The Murder of Gonzago, which he has modified to re-enact the circumstances of his father's murder.
"The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."
[Act II, scene II]
Shortly after the play begins, Claudius, who cannot bear to watch, rises calling for lights. The king's anguished reaction to the performance (which Horatio also notices) convinces Hamlet of his guilt. Shortly afterwards, Claudius arranges for Hamlet to be deported to the Danish territories of England along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, where he is to be killed upon arrival. Alone, Claudius privately expresses his disgust at what he has done, and offers a prayer of repentance. Hamlet discovers Claudius at prayer and prepares to kill him, but then stops, reasoning that he does not want his revenge to have the result of sending the repentant Claudius to Heaven. Ironically, after Hamlet slips away, Claudius concludes that he is unable to repent in his current state of mind; thus, if Hamlet had not attempted to arrogate to himself the destiny of Claudius's soul, rather than just his life, he would have achieved the ultimate justice he sought. By trying to go beyond the ghost's orders, he has doomed his efforts to failure.
Hamlet confronts his mother about the murder of his father and her sexual relations with her new husband. During their conversation, he stabs Polonius, who has been hiding behind a tapestry and eavesdropping on their conversation. Initially suspecting his victim was Claudius, he appears unrepentant and unconcerned when Polonius is revealed, continuing to admonish his mother. King Hamlet's ghost makes a reappearance to rebuke Hamlet. Hamlet's mother cannot see the ghost, but sees him conversing with it, convinced that her son has really gone mad.
Claudius, who has finally understood Hamlet's real motivation, sends Hamlet to England, supposedly for his safety, but accompanied by a sealed letter to the English ordering his death. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent along to ensure the orders are carried out. When later he returns to Denmark, Hamlet describes how his ship was attacked by pirates, who took him prisoner but then returned him to Denmark.
During Hamlet's absence, Ophelia, gravely disturbed by Hamlet's rejection and the death of Polonius, goes insane. She sings a number of rustic melodies that Shakespeare may have borrowed from the English folk tradition. In what is most likely suicide, she falls into a brook and drowns. Laertes, her brother, returns from overseas, and is hungry to avenge his father's and sister's death.
Returning from his voyage, Hamlet meets Horatio at a graveyard outside Elsinore castle just as Ophelia's funeral cortege arrives there, where a gravedigger (jester/clown) is digging. Hamlet finds the skull of Yorick (see skull as a symbol), an old jester to the court who carried him on his back during his childhood days, and proclaims, "Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft." As Hamlet broods on mortality, the cortege arrives with the King, Queen and Laertes. Hamlet is so distraught to learn of Ophelia's death that he leaps into the open grave and grapples with Laertes.
When Laertes and Claudius learn of Hamlet's return to Denmark, they scheme to kill Hamlet with the intention of making the death look like an accident. To this end, Claudius instructs Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a fencing match. In order to encourage Hamlet to accept, Claudius lays stakes on the match which are very unfavourable to himself. Unbeknownst to Hamlet, Laertes will be fighting with a sharpened and poisoned foil, instead of the customary bated blade. In addition, Claudius prepares some poisoned wine for Hamlet to drink as a toast, in case Laertes is unable to hit him.
When the match begins, Hamlet wins the first two rounds, and Gertrude drinks some of the wine to toast him, unaware that it is poisoned (although some critics and performances treat this is a deliberate suicide [1]). Hamlet is hit with the sword and fatally poisoned, but in the ensuing brawl, he swaps blades with Laertes, and deals a deep wound to Laertes with the poisoned sword as well. The Queen dies from the wine, warning Hamlet that the drink is poisoned. With his dying breath, Laertes also confesses the whole plot to Hamlet. Enraged, Hamlet kills Claudius with the poisoned weapon, forcing him also to drink the poisoned wine, at last avenging his father's death.
Horatio, horrified at the turn of events, seizes the poisoned wine and proposes to join his friend in death, but Hamlet wrests the cup away from him. He orders him to tell his story to the world to restore his good name. Hamlet also recommends that the Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, be chosen as the successor to the Danish throne. Hamlet dies, and Horatio mourns his passing:
"Now cracks a noble heart: Good night sweet prince:
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"
[Act V, scene II]
Fortinbras enters with English ambassadors. Shocked by the carnage, he orders a military funeral for Hamlet, whilst Horatio offers to relate the whole tale.