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Characters
Hamlet- The protaginist of the play. He is the prince of Denmark and also the title character. Hamlet is the son of Queen
Gertrude and the nephew of King Claudius. Hamlet learns that his father was killed from his fathers ghost and seeks revenge
on Claudius who killed him.
Claudius- The king of Denmark. He kills King Hamlet prior to the beginning of the play and marries Gertrude.
Gertrude- The queen of Denmark. She marries Claudius after her husband King Hamlet dies/is murdered. She is the mother of
Hamlet.
Polonius- Is the father of Laertes and Ophelia who is pompus and the Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court.
Horatio- Hamlet’s friend who is helpful to Hamlet’s desire for revenge throughout the entire play. Horatio is
one of the few who stay alive throughout the entire play, and winds up spreading the word of Hamlet’s story.
Ophelia- a beautiful young woman who Hamlet is in love with. Ophelia goes crazy during the play and sings about flowers and
eventually drowning in the rive where she had gathered flowers.
Laertes- Doesn’t show up in the play till near the end to find that Hamlet had killed his father. He fights Hamlet
in a fencing match where both men die due to the poisoned sword.
Fortinbras- Prince of Norway who wants to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s death.
The Ghost- Hamlet’s father’s ghost who tells Hamlet that he was murdered and tells Hamlet that it was Claudius
who did it. He also wants Hamlet to get revenge for his death.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern- Friends of Hamlet who are summoned by the King and Queen to investigate on Hamlet’s unusual
behavior.
Osric- Tells Hamlet about his duel with Laertes.
Voltimand and Cornelius- sent to Norway by Claudius to prevent an attack on Denmark.
Marcellus and Bernardo- First see the Ghost of Hamlet’s father.
Francisco- soldier at Elsinore castle.
Reynaldo- Polonius’s servant who is sent to France to spy on Laertes.
Plot overview
The play opens with two watchmen Bernardo and Fransisco on top of Elsinore Castle in Denmark.They see a ghost that closely
resembles King Hamlet who has just recently died and was succeeded by his brother Claudius who married King Hamlet's wife
Gertrude. This Ghost is also seen by Hamlet's friend Horatio who goes to get Hamlet to see what is going on. When Hamlet sees
the Ghost of his father, he is ordered to seek revenge for his death. Due to this Order Hamlet starts acting weird and King
Claudius and Queen Gertrude get nervous about his actions and send Hamlet's friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to observe
him. Polonius thinks that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia so King Claudius decides to spy on Hamlet when the two meet, and
they find absolutely no sign of love between the two. Then a group of actors comes to Elsinore and Hamlet comes up with an
idea to see if Claudius is the one who killed his father. Hamlet has the actors act out a scene of which resembles how Hamlet's
fathers ghost said is how he died/murdered. When the actors perform the scene, Claudius gets mad and leaves the room, suggesting
that he was guilty. Hamlet then has a chance to kill Claudius, but decides to not go forth with it because Claudius was praying
and Hamlet felt that if killed Claudius when he was confessing his sins then he would not go to hell which is where he wanted
Claudius to go. Hamlet then goes to talk to his mother about Claudius and how he killed his father. During their talk Hamlet
hears something move behind the tapestry and stabs at it hoping that it is Claudius, but it turns out to be Polonius who
dies. For this act, Claudius sends Hamlet along with Rozencrantz and Guildenstern to go to England and he gives them a note
for the King of England saying to kill Hamlet. Meanwhile back in Denmark Ophelia goes crazy and drowns, and Laertes arrives
back in Denmark to find out that Hamlet has killed his father, Polonius. Claudius then finds out that Hamlet was back in Denmark
after pirates had attack his ship on the way to England, so Claudius comes up with another plan to kill off Hamlet. This time
Laertes is going to sword fight Hamlet. However Laertes is going to have a poisoned sword so if he draws blood then Hamlet
will die. and as a back up plan, if Hamlet wins then Claudius is going to ask Hamlet to drink wine which is also going to
be poisoned. Hamlet accepts the match against Laertes, not know that Laertes sword has poison on it. Hamlet gets the first
point and Claudius asks Hamlet to drink the wine (which was poisoned), Hamlet refuses and Queen Gertrude drinks it, and she
dies. Hamlet then gets hit by Laertes, but there is a struggle and the swords get switched and Hamlet hits Laertes with the
poisoned sword. Laertes reveals to Hamlet that the sword was poisoned and he is going to die. Hamlet then stabs Claudius with
the poisoned sword and makes him drink the rest of the poisoned wine, so he dies. Hamlet then dies, fulfilling the revenge
he was seeking from the beginning of the play.
Themes and Symbols
Absolute Truth- Throughout the play, Hamlet has many chances to kill Claudius, but continues to put it off either to gain
more knowledge about the situation, or because he felt it was the wrong time. For example, when Claudius was praying after
the play scene, Hamlet thought about killing him, but wound up not doing anything at all because he felt that if he killed
him right then, then Claudius would go to heaven because he had confessed his sins. Hamlet wanted him to go to hell, so he
just waited.
Death- It is a common theme for many of the character of the play because they all die. However, there is more to this
theme then just a bunch of people dieing. Hamlet throughout the whole play tries to determine whether or not suicide would
be a good idea. This is seen by his "to be or not to be" soliloquy in Act 3 scene 1 where Hamlet is concludes that
people would not want to go through life if they did not fear what happens after death.
Revenge- From the beginning of the play Hamlet seeks revenge from his father death once the ghost tells him about it in
Act 1 Scene 1. Hamlet's thirst for revenge builds up throughout the play which he eventually quenches in the last scene as
he dies from poison. The theme of revenge is also scene in Fortinbras who wants to get revenge for his fathers death by attacking
Denmark, but he never gets it within the course of the play. Also Laertes wants revenge when he learns that Hamlet had killed
his father. Although Laertes gets it, he also dies in the process and forgives Hamlet for what he did.
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