Hamlet

Summary
The King of Denmark, is dead and has been succeeded not
by his son, Hamlet, but by his brother, Claudius. Soon after
the funeral, Claudius marries his brother’swidow, Gertrude.
Hamlet, still upset by his father’s death, sees the ghost of
his father, who tells him that he was murdered by Claudius.
The Ghost asks his son to avenge hisdeath. Hamlet
pretends to go mad. Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain, forbids
his daughter, Ophelia, to see Hamlet. Spied on by Polonius
and Claudius, Ophelia returns Hamlet’s loveletters and is
violently rejected by him.
A group of travelling actors arrive at the court. Hamlet
asks them to perform a play in which a king is murdered
by his nephew. Hehopes that the story, which is similar to
the murder of his father by Claudius, will force Claudius to
betray his guilt. Hamlet is right: Claudius is upset by the
play. Hamlet issummoned to his mother’s room, where he
angrily criticises her for her hasty marriage. He accidentally
kills Polonius, who is hiding behind a curtain, believing him
to beClaudius.
Claudius sends Hamlet to England, planning to have him
murdered. Laertes, Polonius’s son, returns to Denmark from
France, demanding revenge for his father’s death.Ophelia,
mad with grief, drowns herself. Hamlet returns from England,
having discovered Claudius’s plot to have him killed. He
confronts Laertes and Claudius at Ophelia’s funeral.Claudius plots with Laertes to kill Hamlet with a poisoned
sword in a swordfight. The plot goes wrong and Laertes dies.
Gertrude drinks from a poisoned cup intended forHamlet and
dies. Hamlet, wounded by the poisoned sword, kills Claudius
before he, too, dies. Young Fortinbras, Prince of Norway,
enters and claims the throne of Denmark for himself.