The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

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1. ACT I.

   The Ghost of the dead king appears to the night watch and then to Hamlet, revealing that Claudius murdered him. Hamlet swears revenge and resolves to feign madness. Meanwhile Polonius and Laertes warn Ophelia away from Hamlet's courtship.

   1. Scene 1 — Elsinore. A platform before the Castle.

      On the castle battlements at midnight, the officers Bernardo and Marcellus show the skeptical scholar Horatio the Ghost of the late King Hamlet, armored and silent. Horatio reads it as an omen of crisis: young Fortinbras of Norway threatens war, and the kingdom is uneasy.

   2. Scene 2 — Elsinore. A room of state in the Castle.

      Claudius holds his first court, dispatching ambassadors to Norway and denying Laertes nothing while chiding Hamlet for excessive grief. Alone, Hamlet voices his disgust at his mother's hasty remarriage ('O that this too too solid flesh'). Horatio tells him of the Ghost, and Hamlet resolves to watch that night.

   3. Scene 3 — A room in Polonius's house.

      Laertes, leaving for France, warns Ophelia against trusting Hamlet's love; Polonius adds a sheaf of maxims ('to thine own self be true') and then forbids Ophelia to see Hamlet at all.

   4. Scene 4 — The platform.

      Waiting on the cold platform, Hamlet hears Claudius's revelry and condemns it. The Ghost appears and beckons him aside; Marcellus observes that 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark.'

   5. Scene 5 — A more remote part of the Castle.

      The Ghost reveals that Claudius poisoned him and seduced Gertrude, and commands Hamlet to avenge the murder but leave his mother to heaven. Shaken, Hamlet swears his companions to secrecy on his sword and warns he may 'put an antic disposition on.'

2. Act II.

   Weeks pass. Hamlet's strange behavior alarms the court. Claudius recruits Hamlet's old schoolfellows Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on him, and Polonius proposes that thwarted love is the cause. A troupe of players arrives, and Hamlet conceives a plan to test the Ghost's word.

   1. Scene 1 — A room in Polonius's house.

      Polonius sends his servant Reynaldo to Paris to spy on Laertes. Ophelia reports a disturbing, wordless visit from a disheveled Hamlet, which Polonius takes as proof of lovesickness.

   2. Scene 2 — A room in the Castle.

      Claudius sets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet. The ambassadors report Norway pacified. Hamlet mocks Polonius ('fishmonger'), spars with his old friends, and greets the players, asking for the speech on Hecuba. Alone, he berates himself ('rogue and peasant slave') and plans 'The Mousetrap' to catch Claudius's conscience.

3. ACT III.

   Hamlet's most famous reflection on suicide and action precedes his cruel rejection of Ophelia. The play-within-the-play confirms Claudius's guilt, but Hamlet spares the king at prayer and instead kills Polonius by accident while confronting his mother.

   1. Scene 1 — A room in the Castle.

      Spied on by Claudius and Polonius, Hamlet delivers the 'To be or not to be' soliloquy and then savagely dismisses Ophelia ('Get thee to a nunnery'). Unconvinced it is love, Claudius resolves to send Hamlet to England.

   2. Scene 2 — A hall in the Castle.

      The players stage 'The Mousetrap,' miming a poisoning that mirrors the murder; Claudius rises in alarm, confirming his guilt to Hamlet and Horatio. Hamlet, summoned to his mother, steels himself to be cruel but not unnatural.

   3. Scene 3 — A room in the Castle.

      Claudius, alone, tries and fails to pray away his guilt. Hamlet finds him kneeling but refuses to kill him in prayer, fearing it would send the murderer's soul to heaven.

   4. Scene 4 — Another room in the castle.

      In Gertrude's chamber Hamlet stabs the eavesdropping Polonius through the arras, then forces his mother to confront her remarriage. The Ghost returns to whet Hamlet's 'almost blunted purpose'; Gertrude, who cannot see it, fears her son is mad.

4. ACT IV.

   Claudius ships Hamlet to England with a secret order for his execution. Ophelia, mad with grief over her father's death, drowns; Laertes returns in a fury and is steered by Claudius toward a rigged duel. Hamlet, having escaped, sends word that he is returning.

   1. Scene 1 — A room in the Castle.

      Gertrude tells Claudius that Hamlet has killed Polonius. Claudius, alarmed for his own safety, resolves to send Hamlet away at once.

   2. Scene 2 — Another room in the Castle.

      Hamlet, having hidden Polonius's body, taunts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, calling Rosencrantz a 'sponge' that soaks up the king's favors.

   3. Scene 3 — Another room in the Castle.

      Brought before Claudius, Hamlet jokes grimly about worms and death ('your worm is your only emperor for diet') before being dispatched to England, where Claudius has arranged his murder.

   4. Scene 4 — A plain in Denmark.

      Crossing a plain, Hamlet meets a captain in Fortinbras's army marching to fight over a worthless scrap of Poland. The example of men dying for honor shames Hamlet's delay ('How all occasions do inform against me').

   5. Scene 5 — Elsinore. A room in the Castle.

      Ophelia, driven mad by her father's death, sings fragmentary songs and distributes flowers. Laertes storms the castle at the head of a mob, demanding vengeance; Claudius begins to turn that rage toward Hamlet.

   6. Scene 6 — Another room in the Castle.

      Sailors bring Horatio a letter: Hamlet's ship was taken by pirates, and he has returned to Denmark.

   7. Scene 7 — Another room in the Castle.

      Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet is to blame and together they plot a fencing match with an unbated, poisoned blade and a poisoned cup as backup. Gertrude enters to report that Ophelia has drowned.

5. ACT V.

   In a graveyard Hamlet meditates on death over the skull of the jester Yorick before discovering it is Ophelia's funeral. At court, the rigged duel turns lethal: the poison meant for Hamlet kills Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and finally Hamlet himself. Fortinbras arrives to claim the ruined kingdom.

   1. Scene 1 — A churchyard.

      Two grave-diggers joke about Ophelia's questionable burial. Hamlet contemplates mortality over the skull of Yorick, the old court jester, then realizes the approaching funeral is Ophelia's and grapples with Laertes in her grave.

   2. Scene 2 — A hall in the Castle.

      Hamlet tells Horatio how he turned Claudius's death order back on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The fencing match begins; Gertrude drinks the poisoned cup, Laertes and Hamlet are both cut by the envenomed blade, and Hamlet kills Claudius before dying himself, leaving Horatio to tell his story as Fortinbras takes the throne.

Characters

• Hamlet protagonist

  Prince of Denmark, son of the late King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude, nephew to the new King Claudius. A student at Wittenberg called home by his father's death, he is charged by his father's ghost with revenge — and spends the play thinking, feigning madness, and delaying.

• King Claudius antagonist

  The new King of Denmark, who has murdered his brother (Hamlet's father), seized the throne, and married the widowed queen. Outwardly a capable, smooth-talking ruler; inwardly guilt-ridden and increasingly murderous.

• Queen Gertrude major

  Queen of Denmark, Hamlet's mother, who married Claudius within two months of her first husband's death — the 'o'erhasty marriage' that disgusts her son.

• Polonius major

  Lord Chamberlain, chief counselor to Claudius, and father of Laertes and Ophelia. A long-winded, self-satisfied schemer whose meddling gets him stabbed through a curtain.

• Ophelia major

  Daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and the object of Hamlet's courtship. Pressured by the men around her, rejected by Hamlet, and bereaved of her father, she goes mad and drowns.

• Horatio major

  Hamlet's friend and fellow scholar, level-headed and loyal. He is the witness Hamlet trusts, and the one left alive to 'tell my story.'

• Laertes major

  Son of Polonius, brother of Ophelia. Hot-blooded where Hamlet is reflective, he returns from France to avenge his father and sister, and is manipulated by Claudius into the fatal duel.

• Ghost of Hamlet's Father supporting

  The spirit of the dead King Hamlet, who reveals that he was murdered by Claudius and commands his son to avenge him while sparing Gertrude.

• Rosencrantz supporting

  A former schoolfellow of Hamlet, summoned by Claudius to spy on him. Paired almost inseparably with Guildenstern.

• Guildenstern supporting

  A former schoolfellow of Hamlet, recruited with Rosencrantz to spy on him, and sent with him to England carrying their own death warrant.

• Osric minor

  An affected, foppish courtier who brings Hamlet the challenge to the duel with Laertes.

• Marcellus supporting

  An officer of the watch who, with Bernardo, first sees the Ghost and brings Horatio to witness it. Speaker of 'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.'

• Bernardo minor

  An officer of the watch who has seen the Ghost on the previous nights and helps persuade Horatio it is real.

• Francisco minor

  A soldier on guard at the play's opening, 'sick at heart,' relieved by Bernardo.

• Reynaldo minor

  Polonius's servant, sent to Paris to spy on Laertes and spread useful rumors about him.

• Fortinbras supporting

  Prince of Norway, whose father was killed by Hamlet's father. His decisive pursuit of honor and his army marching across Denmark are a foil to Hamlet's delay; he inherits the Danish throne at the end.

• Voltimand minor

  A Danish courtier sent as ambassador to Norway to check Fortinbras's threatened invasion.

• Cornelius minor

  A Danish courtier sent with Voltimand as ambassador to Norway.

• First Player minor

  The lead actor of the travelling troupe, who delivers the Hecuba speech and plays in 'The Mousetrap.'

• Player King minor

  The king in 'The Mousetrap,' the play-within-the-play staged to catch Claudius's conscience.

• Player Queen minor

  The queen in 'The Mousetrap,' whose protests of eternal fidelity prompt Gertrude's line 'The lady doth protest too much.'

• First Gravedigger supporting

  The chief grave-digger ('Clown'), whose grim wit and riddles open Act 5 and who unearths the skull of Yorick.

• Second Gravedigger minor

  The grave-digger's companion, straight man to the First Gravedigger's jokes.

• Priest minor

  The cleric who conducts Ophelia's truncated funeral rites, hinting at the suspicion that she died by suicide.

• Captain minor

  A Norwegian captain in Fortinbras's army who tells Hamlet that thousands will die over a worthless patch of Polish ground.

• Sailor minor

  A sailor who delivers Hamlet's letter to Horatio reporting his escape from the ship to England.

• Messenger minor

  A messenger who brings news to the court, including Laertes's return at the head of a mob.

• Gentleman minor

  A courtier who describes the mad Ophelia before her entrance in Act 4.

• Lord minor

  A courtier who confirms the arrangements for the duel between Hamlet and Laertes.

• First Ambassador minor

  An English ambassador who arrives at the play's end to report that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been put to death.

• Prologue minor

  The speaker of the brief rhymed prologue to 'The Mousetrap,' the play-within-the-play.

• Lucianus minor

  The poisoner in 'The Mousetrap,' 'nephew to the king' — a role that pointedly mirrors Hamlet's own threatened revenge on Claudius.

• Servant minor

  A servant who announces the sailors bringing Hamlet's letter to Horatio.

Cross-references

• Folger Shakespeare
• MIT plain text
• Wikipedia