Hamlet: the summary of one of the most famous and well-known tragedies by William Shakespeare, also for the famous monologue that begins with To be or not to be.
HAMLET, SUMMARY OF SHAKESPEARE ‘S WORK
Are you looking for a detailed summary of the plot of Hamlet by William Shakespeare ? You’re in the right place! Although we can’t help but invite you to read this famous tragedy, which has gone down in literary history thanks to the famous monologue that begins with “To be or not to be, that is the question” , we’ll help you if there’s an upcoming exam and you don’t have time to read it.
Before starting, you should know that this drama was composed between 1600 and 1608: the original title is The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and it is set in feudal Denmark in the 16th century and almost all of the scenes take place inside Elsinore Castle, with the exception of a few scenes set in the space surrounding the castle, in Polonius’ house, in the Danish plain and inside a cemetery. Well, we can start. Here’s the summary of Hamlet.
HAMLET, DETAILED SUMMARY. THE APPEARANCE OF THE LATE KING
The story opens with a scene that frames the towers surrounding Elsinore, the capital of Denmark, but first of all we need to make a necessary premise: the king is dead and the one who ascended to the throne after the death of the sovereign is Claudius, the king’s brother and uncle of the young Hamlet, who immediately married Gertrude, the widowed queen, a situation that Hamlet was unable to accept. As we mentioned, the first act opens with two sentries on guard on the towers: Bernardo and Marcellus are worried about the ghost that, in the last two nights, has appeared after the midnight change. During the changing of the guard, Horatio, a friend of the prince, also arrives, called by the sentries to keep watch over the strange phenomenon. Horatio is obviously skeptical, but when the ghost appears before their eyes shortly after midnight, he immediately notices a certain resemblance to the deceased sovereign.
The ghost, however, remains silent. Meanwhile, while waiting for a new apparition, Horatio explains to one of the two sentries, Marcellus, that Fortinbras’ son is gathering an army on the borders of Norway to take back the territories that his father lost in a duel with the deceased king. Before dawn the ghost reappears, but when he is about to speak, following Horatio’s constant requests, the cock crows and with this sound he disappears. Horatio, shocked, decides to warn the young Hamlet, son of the deceased king, of what has happened. When Horatio tells him of the ghost’s appearance and of the resemblance to his father, Hamlet begins to wonder about the circumstances that led to his death and decides to go to the walls to await the arrival of the ghost. Once on the walls the spirit makes its appearance and immediately asks to speak to Hamlet alone. Once they are alone the ghost reveals a terrible truth: the one who reveals himself is the spirit of King Hamlet who asks his son to avenge him because his death was not accidental. The spirit says that his father’s wife and brother were already having an affair when he was still alive, and that Claudius, desirous of his throne and envious of him, one afternoon, seeing him asleep in the garden, poured a deadly poison made from henbane into his ear. The only thing the late king asks for is to be avenged!
SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET SUMMARY. HAMLET’S PLAN
Hamlet, after this terrifying revelation, returns to Horatio and Marcellus, but decides to keep what the ghost has told him to himself. He also makes them swear not to reveal anything to anyone. Hamlet becomes increasingly gloomy and cautious, so Claudius, worried about the sadness shown by Hamlet and eager to investigate, sends for two old friends from the university, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and asks them to test the waters and find out what is wrong with the boy. The two young men try to cheer up the prince by taking advantage of the arrival of a theater company. Hamlet has a brilliant idea: he thinks of taking the opportunity to put a plan into practice, that of staging 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, using the company, to verify whether the information from his father’s ghost is true. Meanwhile, Claudius, talking with the two boys who are friends of his nephew, wants to be informed if the two have discovered something about Hamlet’s illness, but they know nothing. Polonius, the chamberlain, also takes part in the conversation and suggests to the king to verify if Hamlet’s sadness comes from not seeing Ophelia anymore. So, having dismissed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and noticing Hamlet’s arrival, Polonius, the king and the queen hide, leaving Ophelia alone so that she can meet Hamlet in a “coincidental” way.
HAMLET: TO BE OR NOT TO BE
Ophelia is a young girl who, on Polonius’ advice, has been avoiding Hamlet for some time, distrusting his declarations of love. She then meets Hamlet who, in the meantime, is in the grip of madness because of the ghost’s revelation and is reciting to himself the famous monologue that begins with: “To be or not to be, that is the question” . Beside himself, he rejects any idea of married life and to poor Ophelia, who reminds him of the old promises of love, he advises her to become a nun, ending their dialogue with the gloomy phrase “There will be no more marriages and of the married one will die” . Claudius, who is still hidden, overhears these terrible words and begins to suspect that his nephew may have discovered something about his crimes. The king believes that Hamlet may represent a danger and decides to exile him to England with the excuse of some administrative task. From there he will not be able to commit any misdeeds.
HAMLET, DETAILED PLOT. THE SUCCESS OF THE PLAN
After meeting Ophelia, Hamlet goes to the actors of the company to recommend them to perform his drama to perfection: the performance staged will be “The Murder of Gonzago” , similar in the story to what happened within the walls of the castle. During the scenes Hamlet will observe his uncle to verify if the ghost’s accusations are true: if Claudius had appeared disturbed, it would have meant that the ghost’s accusations were founded. The plan succeeds: during the poisoning scene, the king leaves the theater angrily. Queen Gertrude calls Hamlet to her room to understand the reasons why he has staged that drama. Before having the interview with her son, the queen makes an agreement with Polonius: he will have to hide in her room and listen, so that he can report Hamlet’s words to the king. During the heated conversation, while Hamlet is venting his anger, he glimpses a hidden figure and mistakes it for the king and kills him, shouting “a rat, a rat”, and finally takes the body with him without any remorse to bury it quickly. Hearing of what happened, Claudius becomes more and more convinced to send the young man away and send him to England. Hamlet is happy to go away for a while, but he does not know that the king has ordered him to be killed as soon as he arrives on English soil. Ophelia, meanwhile, arrives at the palace in a state of complete madness because, having learned from some rumors that her father Polonius has been killed, she has been overwhelmed by the new pain, added to the disappointment in love inflicted on her by Hamlet.
HAMLET: DETAILED SUMMARY. LAERTES’ REVENGE AND OPHELIA’S DEATH
Meanwhile, Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, arrives at the king’s court, eager for revenge because he has heard false rumors that his father was killed by the king, and he presents himself before the king asking him to account for both Polonius’ death and the lack of funeral honors. After a long conversation, during which Ophelia also appears, Claudius tells the whole truth and manages to propose to Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a duel, who in the meantime is returning to Elsinore. This will be made easier because the tip of his sword will be dipped in a deadly poison and, as a further precaution, the winner’s cup will be poisoned 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. Hamlet, who happens to be passing by with Horatio, sees two gravediggers digging the grave and wonders which noblewoman is buried there. When he sees the funeral procession he understands everything and runs towards Ophelia’s coffin. Laertes, full of anger against him, fills him with insults and challenges him to a duel.
HAMLET SUMMARY: THE DUEL TO THE DEATH AND HAMLET’S DEATH
The duel begins: Hamlet wins the first assault; while the scene is in progress the queen asks for a drink and, toasting his health, drinks from the poisoned cup. It is chaos and while this whirlwind of events is unraveling the two duelists, in the prevailing confusion, are both fatally struck by the tip soaked in poison. The queen dies in the meantime. So Laertes, regretting having been involved in this plan by Claudius, decides to reveal the whole truth to Hamlet: seized by rage, he lashes out at the king and stabs him with the incriminating sword, then forcing him to drink from the cup that killed his mother. On the verge of dying, Hamlet and Laertes are reconciled; Hamlet, learning from Horatio that Fortinbras has just returned victorious from Poland, proposes him as the new king and then dies. Fortinbras, as soon as he reaches the castle, ascends the throne and arranges a grand funeral for the deceased prince.