HAMLET
Hamlet is one of the works of William Shakespeare, set in the Elsinore
Castle in Denmark during the Middle Ages.
And Hamlet is the longest play written by William Shakespeare.
The story is divided into five acts:
ACT I
In the first act, the king, Hamlet’s father, dies suddenly in tragic
circumstances and his brother Claudius succeeds him to the throne and
marries Queen Gertrude, who has been left a widow.
And Hamlet is told that the cause of death was a snake bite, even though
no fang marks were found on the body
One night some officers on night watch see a strange apparition that
looks like the dead king, so they inform Hamlet, who decides to stand
guard that night.
The ghost appears again and:
-says(dichiara) that he is the spirit of the dead king
-reveals that he was poisoned by his brother Claudius
-sks Hamlet to avenge his murder
-and the spirit also says that Claudius and the queen had a relationship
even before his death.
ACT II
After the revelation of the ghost, Hamlet begins to behave strangely with
Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius.
Frightened by his behavior, Ophelia tells everything to her father and
Polonius thinks that Hamlet has gone mad because he is in love with his
daughter and he wants to tell the king.
Meanwhile, Claudius and Gertrude invite two childhood friends of Hamlet,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to find out the reason for the prince’s
strange behavior.
When Polonius meets Hamlet, the prince pretends to be mad in order to
hide his real thoughts.
Meanwhile a travelling theatre company arrives at the castle and Hamlet
asks the actors to perform a tragedy called “The Murder of Gonzago”,
because in this tragedy a queen marries the murderer of her husband.
Hamlet also asks them to add a scene written by him, which represents
the murder of his father.
