CHARACTERS
HAMLET: Princes of Denmark.
CLAUDIUS: King of Denmark,
Hamlet’s uncle.
GERTRUDE: The Queen,
Hamlet’s mother, now wife of Claudius.
POLONIUS: The King’s
councillor.
OPHELIA: Polonius’s
daughter.
LAERTES: Polonius’s son.
HORATIO: Hamlet’s friend.
ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN: Courtiers and student friends of Hamlet.
SUMMARIES
![Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - William Shakespeare | Lectura Graduada ...](https://www.blackcat-cideb.com/uploads/2017/03/103-103_822c6659f74d9bd2964fbdaac7b052c2.jpg)
PART ONE: THE GHOST
One night, a ghost appears at Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Two guards who see him are surprised because he looks like King Hamlet, who was dead. Horatio, Prince Hamlet's friend, is warned and the next night he stays with the guard. The ghost returns. Horatio asks what he wants but the ghost doesn’t respond. Prince Hamlet is sad because his father is dead and his mother is married to his father's brother. Hamlet doesn't like his uncle. Horatio tells Hamlet about the ghost and tells him to come at midnight to the castle walls, and then he will understand. The ghost appears and tells Hamlet that he has died because his brother Claudio has murdered him. Hamlet doesn’t know if to believe what the ghost has said, but if it is true he will kill his uncle.
PART TWO: HAMLET AND OPHELIA
Ophelia lives in the castle, she is in love with Hamlet. Ophelia's father, Polonius, talks to King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. Claudius and Polonius, think of a trap to discover if Hamlet is in love with Ophelia. Polonius tells Ophelia to help, Ophelia accept. Hamlet thinks it's a trap and gets angry at Ophelia.
PART
THREE: THE PLAY
Two of Hamlet's friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, come to see him. Hamlet thinks King Claudius has sent them to him. He doesn't trust them, he just trusts Horatio.They come to represent a play and Hamlet talks with them to represent the story told by the ghost. Hamlet thinks that if Claudius gets nervous, the story will be true. Claudius gets up and stops the play. Hamlet thinks the story is true.
PART
FOUR: MURDER AND EXILE
At midnight Hamlet goes to his mother's room. She asks
him why he has offended the king. Hamlet responds because she's betrayed her
father. There is someone behind the curtain and when the queen calls, because
she thinks Hamlet wants to kill her, the spy tries to help but Hamlet kills
him. It was Polonius, Hamlet, he repents, and he thought he was the king.
The ghost appears in the room and Hamlet talks to him,
Gertrude doesn't see him and he thinks his son is crazy.
Claudius discovers that Hamlet has killed Polonius and
the flight sends to England so that the English can kill him so Claudius can be
sure.
PART
FIVE: SUICIDE
Laertes, Polonius's
son, is very angry because he thinks Claudius has killed his father. Claudius
tells her it's been Hamlet.
Ophelia is angry at
Hamlet because he has killed his father and she goes crazy.
Hamlet writes a
letter to Horatio telling him that he is in Denmark and that some pirates
attacked his boat.
Leaters asks Claudius
why he didn't put Hamlet in prison; Claudius tells him he's too popular with
the people. Claudius tells Laertes that Hamlet is in Denmark, Laertes wants to
kill him.
Gertrude tells
Laertes that her sister Ophelia has died.
Hamlet encounters
Horatio in a graveyard, and Hamlet begins to speak of death with a skull in his
hand.
PART
SIX: THE REST IS SILENCE
While Hamlet is in
the graveyard he sees a funeral, it is Ophelia's. Laertes, when he sees Hamlet,
tells him that he has killed his father and sister. Claudius tells Laertes to
challenge Hamlet in a fencing match because Hamlet loves this sport. Laertes
says he will put poison at the tip of his sword to kill him. Claudius says if
the plan fails he will give you a poisoned drink.
Hamlet and Laertes
start the fight. Claudius offers them a drink.
As they fight,
Gertrude catches Hamlet's drink, drinks and ends up dying.
Laertes hurts Hamlet
with the poisoned sword, later Hamlet with Laertes's sword hurts him, and both
are dying.
Hamlet, before dying,
kills Claudius and tells Horatio to tell his story.