Hamlet Summary and Analysis

·         Author: Shakespeare-baptised April 26, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, died April 23 1616.  Married Anne Hathaway.  Is seen as one of the greatest English Writers and is famous for several plays such as Othello, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet.  Most of his plays are tragedies or comedies, but some are histories.  He also wrote some poems.  He was a part of the King’s Men 

·         Setting: Denmark-Elsinore Castle-the home of Hamlet.  Hamlet hates Elsinore and believes it to be a terrible place.

·         Plot-the play opens outside of the castle with some guards. Marcellus and Bernardo are guards who get Horatio to witness the ghost of Old Hamlet.  We learn that Old Hamlet defeated Old Norway and his son, Fortinbras, wants to take over Denmark.  Meanwhile, in the castle, Hamlet is unhappy about his mother’s marriage to Claudius, his father’s brother.  Horatio tells Hamlet to go see the ghost.  Laertes prepares to go back to school in France.  He gives Ophelia advice about Hamlet.  Hamlet sees the ghost and talks to it.  The ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius killed him and asks him to get revenge.  Polonius asks his servant to spy on Laertes and Ophelia tells him of Hamlet’s strange behavior.  The King calls on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to figure out why Hamlet is acting strangely.  He also learns that Fortinbras has been ordered to not attack Denmark but to go to Poland.  Hamlet refuses to tell anyone anything, speaks in “riddles” and discovers that many people are betraying him.  Players come, which Hamlet uses to see if Claudius really did kill Old Hamlet by having them stage a play similar to the way he thinks Claudius killed Old Hamlet.  The play proves Hamlet’s thoughts.  He goes to his mother’s closet and makes her understand how terrible it was to murder her husband’s brother and murderer.  He kills Polonius during this because he was hiding behind a curtain.  The King decides to send Hamlet to England.  While he’s going there, Ophelia becomes crazy and Laertes storms the castle.  Hamlet comes back from the trip to England by changing the letters of his death to be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s death, and goes onto a “pirate” ship.  At Ophelia’s burial, Hamlet talks with the two clowns about Yorick.  Laertes and Hamlet encounter each other and fight in Ophelia’s grave.  They have a duel.  Laertes and Hamlet poison each other with a poisoned sword, the Queen drinks a poisoned drink and Hamlet forces the King to drink the poison and stabs him.  Hamlet gives the throne to Fortinbras.  They all die.  Fortinbras comes, takes over the country.     

·         Significant characters:

·         Hamlet:  the main character who suffers from having his father killed and his mother married to his brother/murderer.  Throughout the play, he struggles between deciding whether to kill Claudius or not.  He wants to uphold his father’s wishes and avenge his father’s death, but struggles with the moral implications.  However, he kills Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern before he finally kills Claudius.  He is very intelligent and believes that Elsinore is a terrible place.  He also has struggles about whether life is worth living. 

·         Claudius: the King of Denmark, the brother of Old Hamlet and now husband to Gertrude.  He killed Old Hamlet and ends up killed by Hamlet.

·         Polonius-the father of Laertes and Ophelia.  He is a rather scheming man but not the brightest.  He seeks to gain more power and uses anything to try and gain an advantage.  When Hamlet insults him, he doesn’t realize it and thinks Hamlet is just crazy.  He sends his servant to spy on Laertes, spies on Ophelia and Hamlet, which ends up getting him killed.

·         Ophelia-the love interest of Hamlet.  We don’t know for sure whether she has slept with Hamlet, but we assume so.  It is also suspected that she might be pregnant.  She stopped seeing Hamlet because Polonius told her to stop.  She also sets Hamlet up to be spied on.  After Polonius is killed, she goes crazy and sings.  She then drowns herself.

·         Laertes-the son of Polonius.  He goes to school in France.  He is a foil to Hamlet because when he learns of his father’s death, he comes immediately home, stages a revolt to overthrow Claudius who he thinks is the one that killed his father.  He kills Hamlet and dies by the same sword.

·         Style:  There isn’t a narrator, but the play mostly comes from Hamlet’s point of view since he has the most lines.  The author’s style is from a time where Christianity are coming into a world of Pagan beliefs.  There are many references to myths, but also to Christianity as well.  The tone shows a reflective attitude towards the world.  Hamlet has a lot of ideas and insight into the world he lives in.  He struggles with the Christian values and what he thinks is right and wrong.  He also doesn’t know whether life is really worth living or not.  There are many images of maggots and dead or dying things which adds to the motif of something being rotten in Denmark. There aren’t really any symbols except for Yorick’s skull, which emphasizes the presence of death and decay throughout the play.

·         Theme: Life is unexpected and difficult so all you can do is do your best at living your life.

·         Quotes: “Something is rotten in the State of Denmark” This quote is the base for a lot of the thematic elements in this play.  The multiple images of death and decay help to show why Hamlet has such a struggle with living in Elsinore.

·         “The time is out of join.  O cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right.” This shows Hamlet’s struggles in responding to the society, his desires and his morals.  He feels that he needs to set it right, but he is conflicted with all the different ideas and opinions in his mind.  This conflict with himself continues throughout the play and is not resolved until he kills the king as he is dying.