Summary and Analysis of Hamlet

Author:

Hamlet was written between 1600 and 1601 by William Shakespeare, a famous English playwright and the most influential writer in all of English literature. Shakespeare’s influence has profoundly shaped Western literature and his legacy continues to live on today. Shakespeare wrote thirty-six other plays, including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and King Lear.

Setting:

The play is set in the Elsinore Castle in Denmark. The time period is uncertain, sometime in the late medieval period.

Characters:

Hamlet is the prince of Denmark, though he doesn’t hold this title with much pride or comfort. He doesn’t have the innate aggressive bloodlust for war and killing that his father had. He doesn’t have the lust for power that Claudius has. Instead, Hamlet is much more comfortable with his life studying abroad. But the death of his father interrupted his studies and brought him back to Denmark. He’s stuck in Denmark only out of necessity and often bemoans in Elsinore, calling it a prison. Hamlet is contemplative, philosophical, and has a clever tongue that he uses to barb others. But he also values friendship and trustworthiness. He’s wary of the cold, duplicitous nature of people in Elsinore. Except for Horatio, there is no one in Elsinore Hamlet can trust. His life at Elsinore becomes so miserable that in his famous “To be, or not to be” soliloquy he asks “who would these fardels bear, / To grunt and sweat under a weary life, / But that the dread of something after death,—  / The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn / No traveller returns,—puzzles the will, / And makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we know not of?” In this quote, he makes it clear that the only thing that holds him back from ending his miserable existence is his fear that the afterlife might bring even worse misery. If there was no afterlife, the decision would be a no-brainer; he wouldn’t even hesitate to end his life. This powerful quote reveals a very bleak outlook on life that Hamlet has.

King Claudius is the unscrupulous, conniving, lustful king of Denmark. He killed old Hamlet, the former king, to usurp the throne and marry Gertrude. He’s so hell-bent on keeping his power that when he feels threatened by Hamlet, he sends him off to England to be executed. When Hamlet comes back for round two, Claudius shrewdly tries to keep his hands clean by manipulating Laertes and turning his rage against Hamlet.

Gertrude is Hamlet’s mother and queen of Denmark. She did not wait long to marry Claudius after her old husband died. She, like most of the rest of Elsinore, does not have strong morals. The reader is left wondering if Gertrude was on Claudius’ side the whole time, or if she was an unwilling pawn in Claudius’  

Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius and is Hamlet’s girlfriend. On the surface, she was a sweet, innocent girl who obeyed her father and brother.  However, there may have been a clever, shrewd Ophelia lying beneath that surface. Ophelia is perhaps one of the biggest enigmas in the play, about whom the reader is left with many questions about. Was Ophelia a totally innocent, unaware pawn in Claudius and Polonius’ designs against Hamlet? Or was she knowingly cooperating with Polonius against Hamlet? Did she kill herself out of heartbreak for losing Hamlet? Or was she pregnant and killed herself to preserve her dignity? During her crazy sing-song rant, she said “Indeed, la, without an oath, I’ll make an end on’t!” (Act 4, Sc 5). Because Ophelia was acting insane when she said this, the meaning of the quote is enigmatic. But it could mean that she was pregnant with Hamlet and would commit suicide if she couldn’t marry him. If that was the case, it would mean she was shrewd enough to understand what the consequences of being deflowered would be.

Polonius is a top advisor to the king. He is yet another cunning, scheming character that typifies Elsinore. When he realizes that there’s a good chance Hamlet truly loves Ophelia, he tries to push Ophelia to marry Hamlet so that Polonius can be closer to the throne. There are two instances where he eavesdrops on Hamlet. He’s killed by Hamlet, who mistook him for Claudius, while eavesdropping on Hamlet and Gertrude.

Laertes is Polonius’ son and Ophelia’s brother. He has a close relationship with Ophelia and loves her dearly. He’s so emotionally devastated by Polonius and Ophelia’s deaths that he agrees to participate in Claudius’ plan to kill Hamlet. Before he dies, he reconciles with Hamlet.

Plot summary:

Hamlet, the eponymous main character of Hamlet, is the prince of Denmark. Hamlet’s father was the king, but was murdered and replaced by Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. Claudius also married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude.

At the beginning of the play, two royal guards encounter the ghost of Hamlet’s father, the dead and former king. They show this to Horatio, who tells Hamlet. Intrigued, Hamlet comes to see the ghost for himself. The ghost and Hamlet have a private conversation, in which the ghost says that he was murdered by Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. The ghost tells Hamlet to avenge his death by killing Claudius for usurping the throne and stealing his wife, Gertrude. Later, Hamlet makes Horatio swear to never mention the ghost to anyone.

Polonius is an advisor to the king and also lives in the castle of Denmark. He has a son named Laertes and a daughter named Ophelia. In private, Ophelia tells Laertes and Polonius that Hamlet has been showing signs of affection towards her. Laertes and Polonius advise Ophelia to be careful not to give herself up to Hamlet. Because Hamlet’s a prince, he probably won’t marry anyone lower than him.

Later, Ophelia reports to Polonius that Hamlet has been acting crazy. She says Hamlet burst into her room, stared longingly at her, and embraced her. Polonius takes this to mean that Hamlet now has gone mad with love for Ophelia.

Claudius also notices that Hamlet is acting strangely. He recruits Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two of Hamlet’s old good friends, to spy on Hamlet and find out why he’s gone mad. Polonius approaches King Claudius to suggest that Hamlet has gone crazy because he’s in love with Ophelia. Polonius and Claudius agree to spy on Hamlet the next time he talks to Ophelia.

First, Polonius tries to talk to Hamlet, but Hamlet pretends to be insane and only responds to Polonius’ questions with perplexing answers. When, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern approach Hamlet, Hamlet immediately grows suspicious. He decides to test their loyalty by asking them why they’re in Denmark so unexpectedly. Only after repeated questioning, he gets them to admit to being called in by King Claudius.

In his conversation with Ophelia, Hamlet angrily tells her he doesn’t love her. He attacks women in for being dishonest and tells Ophelia to “enter a nunnery.” At the end, Ophelia is shocked by Hamlet’s apparent madness and devastated at being brutally rejected.

When a troupe of play actors visit Elsinore, Hamlet uses the opportunity to have the actors help him with his plan. He asks them to put on a play where someone pours poison in a king’s ear, usurps the throne, and marries the queen. This play is supposed to mimic Claudius’ alleged murder of Hamlet’s father. If Claudius watches the play and feels uncomfortable, Hamlet will have proof of Claudius’ guilt. He asks Horatio to watch Claudius’ face for any signs of apparent guilt.

When Claudius sees the ear-poisoning scene, he becomes so uncomfortable that he orders the play to stop and leaves, thus confirming Hamlet’s suspicions.

After the play, Claudius is alone in a room, praying for forgiveness for murdering the old king. Hamlet follows Claudius to the room, about to kill him. But when he sees Claudius praying, he backs out. Hamlet thinks that Claudius will go straight to heaven if he’s murdered while praying. Hamlet decides to kill him later, so that Claudius will go to Hell.

Hamlet enters into Gertrude’s room, but not before Polonius hides himself behind a curtain to eavesdrop on his conversation. Hamlet bursts out in anger, telling Gertrude that she’s a sinner for marrying the rotten, corrupt Claudius. Frightened by Hamlet’s intense anger, Gertrude calls out for help, prompting Polonius to also call out for help. Hamlet hears him and stabs Polonius through the curtain, thinking that it’s Claudius. Hamlet continues criticizing Gertrude for disrespecting her old husband’s death by marrying Claudius so quickly. Gertrude finally succumbs, saying that she sees the horrible sin in herself.

Claudius sends Hamlet on a ship to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whom Claudius has given letters telling the king of England to execute Hamlet.

Later, Laertes storms the royal hall and threatens to kill Claudius, angry over his father's death. Then, Ophelia enters the room singing strange songs and giving flowers to everyone. It’s clear that she has gone delirious and insane, which upsets Laertes even more. Claudius calms Laertes and tells him that Hamlet is the one responsible for Polonius’ death or for Ophelia’s madness. Then, a messenger arrives with a letter from Hamlet saying he’s coming back to Denmark. Hamlet’s ship had been attacked by pirates, and Hamlet escaped by jumping onto the pirate ship. Hearing this, Claudius and Laertes plot to kill Hamlet. Laertes will duel Hamlet with a sharpened, poisoned sword. Then, Gertrude brings news that Ophelia has drowned in a river.

Hamlet and Horatio enter a church graveyard and watch two men dig a grave. The funeral procession for Ophelia enters with Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes. When Ophelia is lowered into the grave, Laertes leaps in and holds Ophelia in his arms. Hamlet walks into sight and declares that “forty thousand brothers / Could not, with all their quantity of love, / make up my sum” (Act 5, Scn 1). Laertes and Hamlet angrily fight before being separated.

Later, Osric tells Hamlet Claudius wants him to fence with Laertes, which Hamlet agrees to. As planned, Laertes poisons the tip of his sword, and Claudius poisons a cup of wine that he plans to give to Hamlet. The duel begins and Hamlet gets the first two hits on Laertes. To celebrate, Gertrude drinks from the poisoned cup. Then, Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned sword. They begin aggressively fighting. In the middle of the chaos, their swords get switched and Hamlet wounds Laertes with the poisoned sword. Gertrude collapses dead, saying that the wine is poisoned. Laertes stops to tell Hamlet about the poisoned sword and poisoned wine. He says that both of them are going to die and that Claudius is to blame. Hamlet angrily stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink the poisoned wine. Claudius dies. As Laertes dies, he apologizes to Hamlet for his actions. Hamlet turns to Horatio and tells him to stay behind and let the people know what has happened. He also names Fortinbras the next King of Denmark. Then Hamlet dies.

Fortinbras arrives on the scene, sees that the whole royal family is dead, and claims the throne of Denmark.

Author’s Style:

It being a play, Hamlet doesn’t have a particularly special narrative voice or author’s style. It’s punctuated by many long, contemplative soliloquies that give special insight into Hamlet’s thinking. It’s written from a third-person point of view.

Theme:

An overarching theme in Hamlet is the poisoned, corrupt state of Denmark and its ability to corrupt almost everyone in Elsinore.

When Claudius kills old Hamlet, usurps the throne, and marries Gertrude, he commits an act that’s already pretty bad in and of itself. But what he also does is introduce a new “disease” to Denmark. And by marrying Claudius so quickly, Gertrude has already thrown away her morals and succumbed to the “disease.”

It spreads to Polonius. Now that old Hamlet’s dead, Polonius realizes that he’s one step closer to the throne. So he starts to obsess over getting Ophelia to marry Hamlet. He eavesdrops on Hamlet and unscrupulously uses her daughter.

It spreads to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. When they agree to spy on Hamlet for Claudius, they’ve chosen a side and put their loyalty with Claudius. They forget about their morals and their old friendship with Hamlet.

It spreads to Ophelia. She’s either aware or unaware that she’s being used as a pawn in Polonius’ designs against Hamlet. Whether or not she’s aware, she’s involved with the enemy. Therefore, Hamlet has to break his ties with her.

The only people the disease doesn’t spread to are Hamlet and Horatio.