Hamlet: history, short summary and conceptual map of the tragedy written by William Shakespeare
Hamlet
Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare ‘s most famous and performed tragedies: we have all heard at least once the famous monologue of the protagonist, which begins with “To be or not to be, that is the question” . Few, perhaps, have read it in its entirety or know the plot in detail. What is Hamlet about? Who are the main characters besides the protagonist and Ophelia? Let’s find out together.
Hamlet was composed between 1600 and 1608 and, 99% of the time, your teachers will want you to read it. Our advice, given the extraordinary beauty of the work , is to follow their invitation; but in case you are about to be questioned and it is too late to start reading this wonderful tragedy, we have decided to help you. We have written both a short summary and a detailed summary of Shakespeare’s Hamlet for you , so as to help you whatever your needs.
At the end of the short summary you will also find a practical conceptual map of the Shakespearean tragedy, useful for better understanding the different passages.
Hamlet, short summary
In Elsinore, Denmark, the ghost of the deceased king appears to Hamlet , his son, and asks him to be avenged: in fact, he was killed by his brother Claudius, who has now taken over the throne and married the king’s widow, Gertrude.
The prince assures him that he will keep his promise but, eager to have concrete proof of his uncle’s guilt, decides to delay the moment of revenge . He becomes certain that his uncle is responsible for his father’s death when, during a theatrical performance, he stages the murder of the deceased king and Claudius, indignant and at the same time frightened, gets up and leaves.
Going to speak to his mother to justify his behavior, Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius, advisor to the new king and father of Ophelia and Laertes. The latter, who returned to Denmark as soon as he heard the news, declares Hamlet guilty of the death of his father and sister – who in the meantime has decided to kill herself to put an end to her grief – and challenges him to a duel . In agreement with Claudius, Laertes coats the tip of his sword with a lethal substance and also poisons the cup from which Hamlet will have to drink in case of victory. In a series of random events, however, it is his mother Gertrude who drinks from the poisoned cup and the lethal sword strikes both duelists; before dying, Hamlet manages to kill Claudius .
Detailed summary
In the 16th century, on the towers of Elsinore Castle in Denmark, the sentries Bernard and Marcellus have invited Horatio to join them, worried about the ghost that, in the last two nights, has appeared to them after the midnight change. The incredulous Horatio is forced to put aside his skepticism when the ghost appears again, this time in his presence: the man is particularly struck by the resemblance to the deceased King Hamlet and decides to warn the young Hamlet, son of the deceased sovereign, of what has happened.Claudius, the king’s brother and young Hamlet’s uncle , ascended the throne after the death of the sovereign. He immediately married Gertrude , the widowed queen. A marriage that Hamlet has not yet been able to accept: sad and indignant at his mother’s choice, the young man always appears melancholic to the new sovereigns and, as soon as he learns from Horatio of the appearance of the ghost resembling his deceased father, he begins to question the real circumstances of his death. After joining Horatio and Marcellus on the battlements of the castle, Hamlet awaits the arrival of the ghost with them.
Act by act summary of the work
Having shown himself once again to the humans, the ghost makes it clear that he wants to speak only with the young Hamlet and, once they are alone, he announces the terrible truth: the one speaking is none other than the spirit of King Hamlet, who has returned to Earth to ask his son to avenge him. His death, in fact, did not happen by chance: it was Claudius, the new sovereign, who committed the murder while he was sleeping, pouring a deadly poison made from henbane into his ear. By making everyone believe that the King’s death was a tragic accident, caused by a snake bite, the envious Claudius would thus have taken possession of the throne and the wife of the deceased sovereign with whom, unfortunately, he was already having an adulterous relationship.
The ghost therefore has only one request of Hamlet: to avenge the death of the king and punish the murderer Claudius. After the conversation with the ghost, the young man returns to Horatio and Marcellus, but decides not to tell them anything about the conversation he just had and makes them swear not to tell anyone about the apparitions.
Worried about the sadness shown by Hamlet, Claudius asks two of the young man’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to test the waters and find out what is wrong with the boy, but the plan is soon discovered and fails. The conversation of the three friends then shifts to the arrival of a company of actors, of which Hamlet is particularly enthusiastic: struck by a flash of genius, the young man decides to modify the script of their show, adding parts written by his own hand. His intention is to stage the murder of his father , so as to observe the reactions of King Claudius and thus be able to unmask him in front of everyone.
Hamlet: To be or not to be
After the first attempt to discover the causes of his nephew’s sadness has failed, the new sovereign is directed by Polonius to the trail of Ophelia , the young girl who, on Polonius’s advice, is carefully avoiding Hamlet and distrusts his declarations of love. Convinced to pretend to be alone while the king, the queen and Polonius are hidden in a corner, Ophelia meets Hamlet who, in the meantime, is gripped by madness because of the revelation of the ghost and is reciting to himself the famous monologue that begins with: “To be or not to be, that is the question” .
Too disturbed by what he has discovered about his father’s death, Hamlet denies her his love and advises her to enter a convent, ending the conversation with the emblematic phrase: “There will be no more marriages and of the married one will die”. Claudius thus begins to see in Hamlet a possible danger to the crown and plans to send him to England, from where he will not be able to commit any misdeeds.
Meanwhile, however, Hamlet’s plan to stage his father’s murder comes to fruition: Claudius leaves the room indignantly and Queen Gertrude decides to have a conversation with her son to understand the reasons for his conduct; Polonius, meanwhile, hidden in the room, is charged with reporting everything to the king. But, mistaken for the king, Polonius is killed by Hamlet . Ever more convinced of the danger Hamlet represents, King Claudius decides to hurry to send him to Great Britain ; the young man welcomes the news, but does not know that the sovereign has ordered him to be killed as soon as he arrives on English soil.
Hamlet’s Ending
Meanwhile, Laertes , Ophelia’s brother, who has received news of the death of his father Polonius, arrives in Denmark, eager for revenge . The king suggests that he challenge Hamlet – who in the meantime has returned to Elsinore – to a duel by blunting the point of his opponent’s sword, dipping his own in a deadly poison and, as a further precaution, poisoning the winner’s cup in case Hamlet wins anyway; Laertes accepts. Meanwhile, Ophelia , driven mad by the pain caused by Hamlet’s refusal and the death of her father, kills herself by throwing herself into a lake .
The duel will be to the death: Hamlet wins the first assault and the queen, toasting his health, drinks from the poisoned cup . Meanwhile, the duelists, in the confusion that follows, exchange foils several times and are both fatally struck by the tip soaked in poison . After the queen’s death, Laertes decides to reveal the whole truth to Hamlet, who, in a fit of rage, throws himself on the king and stabs him with the incriminating sword, forcing him to drink from the cup that killed his mother. Close to death, the duelists reconcile and Horatio, also eager to put an end to his suffering, is charged by Hamlet to pass on his story and to nominate Fortinbras , prince of Norway and historical adversary of Denmark, as the new king.
- What is the plot of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet”?
Shakespeare ‘s tragedy Hamlet tells the story of the Prince of Denmark’s revenge against his uncle Claudius, who killed his father and usurped the throne. Through doubt, deceit and madness, Hamlet searches for the truth, but the story ends in a tragic massacre.
- What is the moral lesson conveyed by Hamlet?
Indecision and obsession with revenge can lead to ruin. Tragedy shows the conflicts between action and doubt, appearance and reality, highlighting the consequences of human choices and inescapable fate.
- How does the story between Ophelia and Hamlet end?
Hamlet, obsessed with revenge, brutally rejects her. Ophelia, destroyed by grief and the death of her father Polonius, goes mad and drowns in a river, under ambiguous circumstances.
