Hamlet is the prince of Denmark
his father was the king, but he died 
before the play begins
Hamlet's uncle Claudius has taken over as
King and married Hamlet's mother
Gertrude. At the beginning at the play
a ghost appears to some soldiers; he
looks just like Hamlet's father,
the dead King. The soldiers agree to tell
Hamlet all about it.
Claudius tells Hamlet he has to stop acting
so sad about his father's death.
Hamlet says he will. But, when he's by
himself,
he says he's disgusted that his mother
married Claudius.
Hamlet's girlfriend is Ophelia.
Her father Polonius and her brother
Laertes try to convince her that
Hamlet doesn't love her
they point out that because he's a prince
he can't marry whoever he wants
they think he's more likely to seduce her than marry her.
Ophelia agrees not to talk to Hamlet any more
Hamlet sees the ghost, who says he
is Hamlet's father he also says that
Claudius murdered him by pouring poison
in his ear
Hamlet swears to take revenge. He
mentions to the soldiers that in the future
he may find it useful to act as if he's
crazy. Ophelia tells her father that
Hamlet came to see her after she
returned his love letters
and he seems insane his clothes were
messed up
he was trembling and pale and he looked
scared. Polonius now thinks Hamlet
really did love Ophelia
and he's gone mad because she rejected
him. Claudius and Gertrude
ask Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, some
friends of Hamlet's from school,
to spend time with them and try to find
out why he's been acting crazy
Rosencrantz and Guiledenstern try to cheer Hamlet up by telling him the group of
actors has arrived at the castle
Hamlet decides he'll have the actors
perform a play that mimics the murder of
his father.
He wants to see if Claudius reacts to it
and shows his guilt.
he says the ghost might actually be
a lying devil
Claudius's reaction to the play will
clear up the mystery
Claudius, Gertrude and Polonius want to test
the theory that Hamlet is acting crazy
because he is lovesick
so they spy on a meeting between Hamlet
and Ophelia. Hamlet is very nasty to
Ophelia and tells her she should go
become a nun
after hearing this Claudius decides Hamlet is not in love
he does think Hamlet's obsessed with
something and since he thinks Hamlet
poses a threat to him
he decides to send him to England that
evening
the actors perform the play Hamlet
requested. When Claudius sees a scene
where a king is murdered by having poison
poured in his ear
he becomes so upset that he gets up and
leaves. Hamlet sees this reaction as
proof that Claudius did indeed murder
his father.
When Claudius is by himself he admits he
murdered Hamlet's father.
he tries to pray for forgiveness but he
can't seem to make himself do it
hamlet comes into the room behind him
with a sword
but he decides not to kill him because
he thinks claudius will go straight to
heaven if he dies while he's praying
and he wants him to go to hell hamlet
goes to see his mother
not knowing that she's given Polonius
permission to hide behind a tapestry
and listen to their conversation. Hamlet makes her sit down and tells her
she's not leaving until he shows her how
bad she really is.
Gertrude gets frightened and calls out for
help
hearing her, Polonius calls out for help too and Hamlet, thinking it's Claudius behind
the tapestry
stands polonius through the clock and
kills him. Hamlet tells his mother how
awful it is that she sleeping with
Claudius
he doesn't come right out and say that
road is murder King Hamlet
or that he thinks gertrude knew about it
he focuses more on how much better his
father was the glorious
and tries to make his mother promise not
to sleep with claudius anymore
she tells hamlet that he's making her
feel guilty
the ghost enters and scolds Hamlet for
taking so long to get revenge
hamlet sees the ghost but his mother
doesn't she thinks is crazy
Hamlet leaves hauling away Polonius's
body
claudius and hamlet to England with
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
but he's by himself he says he's given
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sealed
letters
ordering the king of england hamlet
today immediately after opening the
latter
a three-year loses her mind following
her father's death
Laertes returns to Denmark billion
noisy crowd of supporters
he blames Claudius for his father's
death and his sisters insanity
and threatens to overthrow him Claudius
manages to persuade Laertes that
Hamlet is really to blame
Horatio gets a letter from Hamlet saying
that the ship he was on was attacked by
pirates
hamlet was taken prisoner by himself and
brought back to Denmark
Claudius and Laertes also receive a
letter from Hamlet in which he says he's
arrived back to Denmark alone
and will come to see Claudius the next
day
now that they know hamlet didn't die in
England they start plotting a new way to
kill him
the look like an accident
Gertrude brings the news that Ophelia
drowned in a stream.
Two grave diggers talk and joke while
digging Ophelia's grave
Hamlet gets into a conversation with one
of them he doesn't yet know that Ophelia
is dead
Claudius, Gertrude and Laertes arrive
to bury Ophelia
they lay here in the ground  but before they can throw earth on her
Laertes leaps to into the grave to hug her
one more time
Hamlet finally realizes who they're
burying and starts swearing that no one
loved Ophelia more than he did
he jumps into the grave too and he and
Laertes fight until they're pulled apart
Hamlet tells Horatio that on the way to England he stole the letter that would have
sentenced him to death
and wrote a replacement telling the king
of england to put Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern to death
he managed to get free during the pirate
attack and then he returned to Denmark.
A courtier named was Osric interrupts them to invite Hamlet
to a fencing match with Laertes to be held in front of the King and Queen
Hamlet agrees
before the match Laertes poisons the
tip of his sword and Claudius
poisons a cup of wine. Hamlet gets the
first hit
claudius is going to give him a precious
pearl as a reward
and he drops the pearl into the poison
Cup and offers it to Hamlet
but hamlet says he's not ready to drink
yet
Hamlet gets the second hit. Gertrude
picks up the poisoned cup
drinks from it before Claudius can stop her
Laertes finally gets a hit wounding Hamlet
with a poison sword
and they both get mad and start
grappling with each other
in the scuffle they exchange swords and
Hamlet wounds Laertes with the
poisoned one
gertrude collapses and says she's been
poisoned
Laertes confesses to hamlet he
poisoned the sword and says they're both
going to die
he blames Claudius for the scheme. Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword
and forces him to drink from the poisoned cup . Claudius dies.
Laertes dies saying he's sorry for
what he's done
Hamlet tells Horatio to remain behind and
tell the truth about everything that has
happened
then he dies
Fortinbras a prince in Norway arrives
with his army on a visit to Claudius
when he sees that the whole royal family
is dead
he claims the kingdom for himself
for more information about Hamlet see
the Hamlet SparkNote on sparknotes.com
If you'd like a translation of Hamlet
into modern English
see No Fear Hamlet on sparknotes.com
