Hamlet Summary: Plot, Characters and Ending
The ghost, the play, the closet, the graveyard and the duel
Hamlet is the story of a Danish prince whose father has died suddenly and whose mother has quickly married his uncle, Claudius, the new king. When his father's ghost tells him Claudius murdered him, Hamlet swears revenge, but doubt, grief and his own restless mind make him delay, and the delay costs almost everyone their lives.
By the final scene the king, the queen, Laertes and Hamlet are all dead, and a foreign prince, Fortinbras, takes the throne.
What happens at the start of Hamlet?
On a freezing night at Elsinore castle, guards see a figure in armour that looks exactly like the dead King Hamlet. They bring Prince Hamlet's friend Horatio, and then Hamlet himself. Hamlet is already sick at heart: barely two months after his father's funeral, his mother Gertrude has married his uncle Claudius, who now wears the crown.
The ghost speaks to Hamlet alone. He says Claudius poured poison into his ear as he slept in his orchard, then took his wife and his throne. He asks his son to avenge him but to leave his mother to her own conscience. Hamlet swears to do it, and warns Horatio that he may choose to act strangely.
↑ Back to the topWhy does Hamlet pretend to be mad?
Hamlet begins to behave wildly, partly as a cover while he decides what is true. The adviser Polonius is sure the cause is love for his daughter Ophelia, whom he has ordered to reject Hamlet's letters. The king sends for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two old school friends of Hamlet, to find out what is wrong, and Hamlet soon sees through them.
When a company of travelling actors arrives, Hamlet has an idea. He will ask them to perform a play showing a murder just like his father's, and watch Claudius's face. If the king flinches, the ghost told the truth.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens in the play within the play?
Before the performance Hamlet speaks the famous lines about whether it is better to bear life's troubles or end them, and then turns cruelly on Ophelia while Polonius and Claudius spy from hiding. At the play, which Hamlet calls The Mousetrap, Claudius leaps up at the poisoning scene and calls for lights. Hamlet now believes the ghost.
On his way to his mother he finds Claudius alone, kneeling and trying to find remorse for his crime. Hamlet could kill him but holds back, thinking that killing him at such a moment would be too merciful. In his mother's room he hears someone behind a curtain, stabs through it hoping it is the king and kills Polonius instead. The ghost appears once more to urge him on.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens to Ophelia and Laertes?
Claudius sends Hamlet to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, carrying a sealed letter that orders Hamlet's execution. Hamlet discovers it, rewrites it so that the two friends will be killed instead, and returns to Denmark after his ship is attacked by pirates.
Meanwhile Ophelia, her father dead at the hand of the man she loved, loses her mind. She wanders the court singing and handing out flowers, and soon Gertrude brings word that she has drowned in a brook. Her brother Laertes storms back from France for revenge, and Claudius turns his anger toward Hamlet, planning a fencing match with a sharpened, poisoned blade and a poisoned cup as a back-up.
↑ Back to the topHow does Hamlet end?
Back in Denmark, Hamlet and Horatio meet a gravedigger joking among the bones, and Hamlet holds the skull of Yorick, the jester who carried him on his back as a child. Ophelia's funeral arrives, and Hamlet and Laertes fight in her grave.
At the duel everything goes wrong. Gertrude drinks from the poisoned cup meant for Hamlet. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned blade, the swords are swapped in the struggle, and Laertes is wounded too. Dying, he confesses the plot. Hamlet finally kills Claudius, and dies in Horatio's arms after asking him to tell his story. Fortinbras of Norway arrives to find the royal family of Denmark dead and orders Hamlet carried off like a soldier.
↑ Back to the topThe cast
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Hamlet | Prince of Denmark, a student called home from university |
| Claudius | His uncle, now King of Denmark |
| Gertrude | His mother, now married to Claudius |
| The Ghost | The spirit of Hamlet's dead father |
| Polonius | The king's chief adviser |
| Ophelia | Polonius's daughter, whom Hamlet has courted |
| Laertes | Polonius's son |
| Horatio | Hamlet's loyal friend |
| Rosencrantz and Guildenstern | Old school friends sent to spy on Hamlet |
| Fortinbras | Prince of Norway |
More about Hamlet
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