Hamlet: Summary and Analysis

Hamlet:

Author: William Shakespeare, born in April of 1564, was an English poet and playwright. 

Setting: Elsanor- royal compound in Denmark

Narrative Tone/ Style: 

-Hamlet does not really have one singular tone because it is a play that lacks a narrator. It is possible for many different interpretations because of this. The reader is able to get all the characters points of view on how things are happening because of this creating multiple tones in the play. 

Plot: 

      The play begins with a scene where the watchmen and Hamlet's friend Horatio see a ghost that they find strange because it looks like the dead king, who was Hamlet's father. They decide to tell Hamlet about what they have seen. While this is occurring, the new King, Claudius, who is Hamlet's uncle, is telling his people that they do not want to go to war.  This scene shows Claudius and Gertrude (Hamlet's mother) together and man and wife. 
      Then we are introduced to Ophelia, Polonius, and Laertes who are a family. This scene consists of Polonius and Laertes telling Ophelia that Hamlet is not good for her and because she is not of high status that he is probably just trying to get into bed with her so they tell her to stop seeing him. Also in this scene Polonius gives Laertes a lot of life advice because he is going off the France and Polonius doesn't trust him to make good decisions. 

     When Hamlet is confronted with his fathers ghost the play really gets interesting. The ghost tells him that his father's death was not an accident in the garden like he thought, it was his uncle who poisoned him for his thrown and for his wife. He then instructs Hamlet to take revenge in his father's name by killing his uncle. Obviously this is troubling to Hamlet but he wants to avenge his father so he forms a plan to determine Claudius's guilt and tells Horatio of his plan. He begins to pretend to act mad. 

      Hamlet then acts mad in front of Ophelia, calling her horrible names and saying things that do not make sense. After hearing of this, Ophelia agrees to a plan to let Polonius and Claudius listen in on a conversation between Ophelia and Hamlet so they can see he has gone mad.

    Then the king orders Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, friends of Hamlets to spy on Hamlet and try to get him to reveal is plan and details of his madness. Then, Hamlet instructs actors that have come to the castle to put on this play that he uses to see if Claudius reacts to it and see if he can tell if he is guilty from it. Claudius gets up and leaves the performance, making Hamlet think he is guilty. Then, Gertrude calls Hamlet to her bed chamber where they engage in a huge argument about her, old Hamlet and Claudius. During this fight he hears someone behind a curtain/wall and ends up killing Polonius. 

       Claudius sends Hamlet to England with plans to have him killed while in Elsanor Ophelia commits suicide and Laertes is depressed about losing his sister. Thinking that this is entirely Hamlets fault he plans to kill him. During Ophelia's funeral Hamlet shows he is back form England and Claudius's plan failed. Claudius conspires with Laertes to stage a friendly fight with Hamlet but really have the sword poisoned and to kill Hamlet. 

    The play ends in a bloodbath. Before the fight begins Hamlet apologizes to Laertes and then Laertes realizes the Hamlet is not the bad guy and doesn't want to kill him. Meanwhile, Claudius has a back up plan to kill Hamlet with poisoned wine if he is not killed in the battle. Unfortunately, Gertrude takes a sip of the poisoned wine and dies. Both Laertes and Hamlet are injured by the poisoned sword and they both end up dying. Fortinbras comes in and everyone is dead and he takes over the throne of Denmark.

      

Significant Characters: 

Hamlet: The old King's son, whose death sets the plot and scene for the play. He is the main character, who holds the most lines in the play and is the center of the action. He is caught between his mother and his uncle, who he thinks is his father's murderer.It shows a great deal about his character that he is determined to make sure Claudius is guilty before he can take his revenge.  He is also very eloquent with his words, his relationship with language is something that is often analyzed about the play. 

Claudius: Hamlet's uncle, who is the suspect in the murder of Hamlet's father, and is now married to Hamlet's mother, Gertrude. Wanting to keep is status as King, he is determined to stop Hamlet's revenge on him and keep tabs on Hamlet's madness. 

Gertrude: Hamlet's mother, who is now married to his uncle after Hamlet's father, her husband, died. She is a confusing character because you cannot tell if her alliance is more towards Hamlet or Claudius. She is very frustrating because she is very selfish and dependent on men. 

Ophelia: Ophelia's character makes me sad because she loses Hamlet and she loses her father. She is hard to analyze because Shakespeare never really comes out and says she is pregnant but we believe she is and this and her confusing love for Hamlet and her strange relationship with her father that drives her to suicide.   

Theme: 

The main theme in Hamlet is revenge and how it never works out the way you want it to.

Important Quotes: 

1. "Get thee to a nunnery." - Hamlet

-This quote is significant because it shows the confusing relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. In this scene he is very rude to her showing that he doesn't always think the highest of her but in the scene at Ophelia's grave he says he always loved her which makes no sense because he is literally telling her to get to a whorehouse. 

2. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
-This quote is important because it shows that there is something wrong in Denmark. It does a little bit of foreshadowing towards the murder and the corruption of the royalty in Denmark. 

Response to Course Material

Well in class we have literally just been doing Hamlet for what seems like months now. It is different than any I have ever read and it is much different than the other Shakespeare I have read. My main problem is that I had a really hard time understanding what they were saying in the play while reading it. I was happy to watch the movie because it really helped me understand what was going on, but I hated how the first movie was done compared the second movie. I thought that the second movie was better because the acting and the scenes were way better done. Annotating Hamlet took FOREVER, it is just such a long play with so much to comment on, I honestly didn't think I would ever finish it!

I'm getting pretty worried about the final for this class, it seems like it is going to be all terms and that terms test was quite difficult the first time…so we shall see how it goes. I feel like i'm going to have to study a lot but I guess it will be good in preparation for the AP exam.

I think that is about it! I look forward to discussing Hamlet tomorrow in class! :)