Summary of Hamlet

Author: William Shakespeare was a widely known playwright and poet during the Elizabethan Era. Hamlet is one of the 38 plays he wrote and discusses the themes of revenge, incest to keep the throne “pure, and guilt.

Setting: The main portion of the play takes place in the Elsinor castle in Denmark. Other portions take place in England and France.

Characters:

Hamlet: The Prince of Denmark who is extremely bitter towards his uncle, Claudius, for marrying his mother when his father, old Hamlet, had just died. Through the play one can see that Hamlet is an extremely intelligent man who is indecisive especially on to kill or not to kill Claudius.

Claudius: The current king of Denmark. He poured poison into old Hamlet’s ear in order to gain this position. He is considered the antagonist of the play and has an extremely manipulative personality. At time his compassionate side shows through especially for Gertrude.

Gertrude: The queen of Denmark and the former wife of old Hamlet and the current wife of Claudius. She is so obsessed with being queen and holding social status that she cannot realize that she has preformed incest.

Polonius: The father of Laertes and Ophelia. He is extremely conniving and will do anything to stay in power. He is often seen helping or advising Claudius on certain matters

Horatio: Hamlet’s close friend and supposedly lover, Horatio is an extremely caring and loyal friend. He is the only one to not die at the end of the play and carried on Hamlet’s story.

Ophelia: The daughter of Polonius, Ophelia is an innocent woman who depends on men to tell her what to do. (She willingly lets Laertes scheme against Hamlet) She is supposedly pregnant with Hamlet’s child, which prompts her to drown herself in a river.

Laertes: Brother of Ophelia, Laertes is extremely protective and passionate in protecting his family. He is in France for much of the play.

Fortinbras: The young Prince of Norway who wants to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s death.

The Ghost: A mirror image of old Hamlet, the ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius murdered him. The ghost serves as a constant struggle for Hamlet throughout the play because it cannot be differentiated as to whether he is the devil (therefore deceiving him) or actually wants revenge of Claudius.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Former friends of Hamlet, they are called upon by Claudius to essentially spy on Hamlet for the causes of his strange behavior.

Osric: The one who initiated the duel between Laertes and Hamlet.

Narrative Voice: N/A

Plot:

-       On the outskirts of Elsinore, a ghost appears who resembles the recently deceased king, Old Hamlet. It is first discovered by two watchmen and then Horatio.

-        Horatio decides to bring Hamlet to see the ghost. The ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius was the one to murder him and it is necessary to take revenge.

-       Hamlet quickly begins to plot against Claudius but due to his thoughtful nature he has a nard time carrying through on is plans causing him to fall into deep madness.

-       Claudius and Gertrude was n tot know the source of this madness so they order Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to figure this out by talking to him as friends. Polonius suggests that Hamlet’s source of madness is his love for his daughter Ophelia. This is proven wrong when Claudius and Polonius spy in on a conversation between Ophelia and Hamlet. HE tells Ophelia to enter a nunnery.

-       In the mean time, groups of traveling actors come to Ellsinore and Hamlet decides to put on a play that mirrors how his father was murdered. If Claudius reacts to it, the he indeed did kill old Hamlet and if he does not then the ghost is the devil. At the moment of the murder Claudius does indeed leap up from his chair and exit the room.

-       Hamlet and Horatio both agree that Claudius is guilty and Hamlet decides to kill him. Hamlet finds Claudius praying and decides that to not kill now because ten Claudius may go to heaven.

-       Claudius decides to send Hamlet to England to secure his own safety.

-       Hamlet then goes to his mother’s chamber to confront of her of the terrible deeds that she has preformed. Polonius decides to hide behind a tapestry and spy on in the conversation (Gertrude is aware). Hamlet stabs Polonius through the fabric and is immediately banished to England because of this. Claudius gives Rosencrantz and Guildenstern orders to give to the king of England to kill Hamlet.

-       Ophelia kills herself after learning that hamlet killed her father Laertes returns from France in rage and Claudius says that Hamlet is to blame for both deaths. Claudius and Laertes learn that Hamlet was not killed because pirates attacked their ship on the way to England. The two of them make a plan to challenge Hamlet to a duel and Laertes kills him by poisoning the sword. Claudius also makes a backup plan to give Hamlet a poisoned drink if he wins the first two hits.

-       When Hamlet returns he sees Ophelia’s funeral and is stricken with grief and begins to attack Laertes. When he gets back to the castle he tells Horatio that anyone can die at any moment.

-       Osric challenges Hamlet to a duel with Laertes.

-       The sword fighting begins and Hamlet wins the first hit but declines to drink. Gertrude drinks from it and dies. Then Laertes stabs Hamlet with the poisoned sword and also himself in the process. Hamlet kills Claudius also.

-       Right after, Fortinbras arrives and is in awe by the entire royal family dead and immediately assumes to take over the kingdom. Horatio carries on Hamlet’s story.

Quotes:

1     “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (Shakespeare, Act 1, Scene 4, Line 67)

Marcellus at the beginning of the play says this line. It perfectly foreshadows all the events that is going to happen in the future but also refers to althea events that happened in the past. Hamlet is going to try to avenge Claudius, which is going to lead to more turmoil in the royal family, which eventually causes the kingdom to collapse.

    “To be or not to be: that is the question”

This line is said by Hamlet and questions the meaning of life. This quote lends insight into the true nature of Hamlet’s madness. He is not feigning his madness but actually has these suicidal thoughts.

Themes:

1    No one is always certain of what they are doing. Many may consider Hamlet as a way to show what happens when one becomes indecisive when in reality it shows the opposite. Human nature is to question and this is exactly what Hamlet does.

2 Taking action is a complex process in which human being must first questions what she/he is doing and if it is right or wrong.

Open Prompt #4 REVISED

1979. Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might on the basis of the character's actions alone be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.

The actions of Willy Loman, the main character in Death of a Salesmanby Arthur Miller, may be considered foolish or immoral at face value, yet as the play reveals more background on Willy’s difficult life, the reader develops a certain sympathy for this troubled character. This essay will focus on how his many shortcomings regarding his family are rooted in psychological conditions that have formed his less than perfect character.

Initially, Willy appears to be a terribly irresponsible parent, particularly during a flashback in which he does nothing to punish his son Biff for stealing a football, flunking math, and even acting rough with girls. However, as the reader learns more about Willy’s personal history, his bad parenting changes from a straightforward character trait to the result of a series of formative life experiences.

Willy’s father deserted his family when Willy was very young, leaving Willy without a father to nurture or discipline him. The emotive image of a young and fatherless Willy Loman stirs the reader’s compassion and causes the reader’s to view Willy’s ill-parenting skills as at least partially a result of his own father’s absence from his life.

Another alteration in the reader’s perspective occurs when we realize that Willy’s fixation on Biff being “well-liked” results from his own experience as a salesman. While he may be misguided, Willy’s struggle to be a successful salesman taught him that one’s success depends on being well-liked rather than hard-working or morally sound. With this in mind, the reader realizes that Willy does desire the best for his son Biff, but fails to recognize that Biff’s development requires love and discipline far more than popularity.

Another time where the reader may be quick to judge Willy’s actions is when one discovers his infidelity to Linda,

“selling” himself to a receptionist so he can get in with a buyer. Without any other background information, it is easy to judge Willy as an immoral and heartless husband, but once again Willy demands the reader’s sympathy when his motivation is taken into account. While his act of adultery is morally reprehensible, his motivation lies in his love for his family. His business has never been good and he is willing to do anything to make enough money to provide for his wife and children, even to the point of prostituting himself. Knowing this, Willy’s unfaithfulness transforms from an act of selfishness to an act of selflessness.

Reading only an excerpt of Death of a Salesman, it may seem that Willy is an irresponsible father and an unfeeling husband, but on the contrary, further examination of the text transforms the reader’s initial reaction to Willy from judgment and disgust to sympathy and understanding.

Response to Course Material #5

These past few weeks have served to wrap up Hamlet and begin working on how to write in a certain tone. 

In class, we have watched two different version of Hamlet. At first I thought that this would be a waste of time and would not help me to further understand the play, but once again I was proven wrong. I like that the two versions are extremely different so I am able to compare and contrast the different scenes. I like that in the second version we watched the ghost was much more realistic which lends to a feeling that it is indeed real that resonates with the reader for the whole play. In addition, the second movie effectively uses a set so it is much easier to understand what is going on in the play.

I also finished up annotating. The first 20 pages were a drag to get through but as the play progressed I was able to make more connections and understand the play at a deeper level on my own. For example during class I didn’t think that it was possible for Hamlet to be gay for Horatio but with further inspection I can so how this is true. Hamlet confides his biggest and deepest secrets in Horatio and his plan to murder the king.  I was also able to make connections back to Death of a Salesman. Both are about broken families that have lots of father-son troubles. In Death of a Salesman Willy and Biff never agreed with each other similar to the father-uncle relationship that Hamlet and Claudius have.

This week we began learning how to writing in a certain tone. We have to look at a picture and then pick a tone word and write in that tone. I like this because now I can actually put the words that we have learned to use. It is easy to memorize the words but it is another to understand them enough to apply them.

I also learned this week that our final is going to be a terms test. This makes me nervous because we have not practiced these terms since the last terms test so I will be studying a lot for that.