Summary and Analysis of Hamlet

Plot:

 The story of Hamlet starts out with a scene that includes guards and Horatio. The guards are telling Horatio that they have seen the ghost of the late King Hamlet. Soon thereafter Hamlet swings but and sees his father's ghost and speaks with it, the ghost of Hamlet’s late father says that his death was inflicted and not natural as it was previously thought. Hamlet learns later that Claudius, King Hamlet’s brother, poured poison (MOTIF!) into the king’s ear when he was sleeping in his gardens. Once knowing this Hamlet swears to avenge his father’s death by murdering his uncle and now stepfather.The king, being wise, told Hamlet to act off and crazy so people would not suspect his knowledge of the crime. Shortly after the king died, the king's brother was already in the marriage bed of the queen, Gertrude. After the first bit of action, it is made clear to the audience that there is turbulence in Norway, Denmark’s neighbor. Young Fortinbras, the nephew of the king of Norway, has decided that he disagrees with the original land deal that King Hamlet and King Fortinbras had agreed on prior to King Hamlet’s death, and plans to act on his will. Around this time, Polonius, the father of Ophelia and Laertes, instructs Ophelia that she is to stop seeing Hamlet because she should not risk the loss of her innocence. Polonius tells her that she is nothing of value to him, because why would a king want anything less than royalty to keep him company Polonius instructed one of his servants to follow Laertes to university and make sure that he stays clean and out of trouble. As that conversation came to an end, Ophelia comes into the room and tells her father that she is concerned that her cutting off of Hamlet is causing him to go insane. Upon the mention of insanity, Claudius decides that it would be best for Hamlet’s childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to follow Hamlet around and keep them up to date on his condition. When Hamlet learns of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's allegiances, he decides to tell that he thinks that they are simply the king and queen’s puppets and had no real importance at all. Directly after that, the players roll into town and Hamlet has a brilliant idea. His idea was to have the players act out the play, The Murder of Gonzago, a direct retelling of the murder of a king by his brother and the taking of his wife, even after she swore allegiance to the original king. The king, engraved, storms out of the room leaving everyone in shock of his reaction. The next scene Gertrude is seen speaking to Hamlet about what is going on and what is making him so upset. During their heated conversation, King Hamlet's ghost appears telling him to be gentle with her and not let his anger get the best of him. Meanwhile, Polonius was listening behind the curtains waiting for something bad to happen or be said so he could put the blame on Hamlet. At some point during Hamlet and Gertrude's conversation, Polonius gets startled and makes a noise from behind the curtain, thinking it was Claudius, Hamlet has slain the figure behind the curtain. Claudius feels that there is nothing left but to send Hamlet away with a secret warrant to have him killed when he arrives in England. When on the boat, Hamlet finds the document as written by Claudius to warrant his death. Hamlet sneakily changed the note to say that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were to be killed upon arrival. With that, Hamlet snuck off the boat and returned back to Denmark just in time for Ophelia’s funeral. For when Hamlet was gone, Ophelia becomes mad and drowned herself down by the river when playing with her wildflowers. Seeing Ophelia being lowered into the grave, Hamlet sprung to his feet and jumped into the grave to show how much he loved her and how grief-stricken he was with the news of her death. Laertes had also returned in time to hear the news of his father and sister being killed and or dying, only to realize that all these deaths had to do with Hamlet himself. Angry, Laertes agreed with the king that he would kill Hamlet in a rigged fencing match. Laertes was given the sword that was unblunted and tipped with poison. As a backup, the king prepared a drink for the victory that was also poisoned. The fight commenced and there was quickly a mix up in who had the lethal sword (unbeknownst to Hamlet). Hamlet cut and poisoned Laertes and quickly made up with him and was forgiven for all the deaths of Laertes family members. The queen quickly followed up with taking a drink of the poisoned celebratory drink, then the king was told to take a drink, and them finally Hamlet himself had a drink. The only characters left at that point were Horatio and Young Fortinbras, who was told by Hamlet to figure out the leadership of Denmark on their own upon everyone’s death. THE END!

Motifs:

Wildflowers- wildflowers are used in and around the character of Ophelia, are used to represent different traits and gifts that she wished to give. EX.) giving herself rue when she goes “mad”, and rue used to be used as an abortion technique back in the day.

Poison- Poison was used throughout the story of Hamlet to symbolize the decay of things that were once good. Poison is used when King Hamlet was murdered, when Laertes tries to kill Hamlet, and when everyone kills themselves in the end.

Misogyny: Women are purely the property of men and should not be treated with the idea that they can carry themselves.

Characters:

Hamlet - Late king’s son, the protagonist, avenge father’s death. Mother is Gertrude.

Claudius - Late king’s brother, and Gertrude’s new husband. Is the new king of Denmark. Murdered King Hamlet, and is trying to hide it.

Gertrude - Queen, mother of Hamlet, wife to Claudius and late wife of King Hamlet. Is not a very strong character.

Polonius - Claudius’ advisor. Father to Ophelia and Laertes. Likes to hear himself talk.

Horatio - Hamlet’s best friend and advisor.

Ophelia - Hamlet’s love interest- goes mad when Hamlet ghosts her (no pun intended). Drowns herself at peak of her madness.

Laertes - Friend of Hamlet, tries to kill Hamlet.

Fortinbras - Nephew of the king of Norway- full of P and V and wants to take back his family’s land that Denmark took when King Hamlet had taken before his death.

The Ghost - King Hamlet- wants murder to be avenged and tells Hamlet to do so.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - “old school friends of Hamlet” and they're the village idiots. Act as comedic relief.

Theme statement: 

In Hamlet, Shakespeare juxtaposes guilt and innocence, appearance and reality, and action and inaction to demonstrate that justice is multi-faceted.