RECAP
Hamlet
is a tragedy by William Shakespeare that tells the story of Prince
Hamlet of Denmark, who struggles to avenge his father’s mysterious
death. The play begins at Elsinore Castle, where sentinels and Hamlet’s
friend Horatio witness the ghost of King Hamlet, the deceased ruler. When
Prince Hamlet meets the ghost, it reveals that he was murdered by his
brother Claudius, who now wears the crown and has married Hamlet’s
mother, Queen Gertrude. This revelation shocks Hamlet and sets the
stage for the play’s central conflict.
Hamlet is consumed by grief and anger but also doubts the truth of the
ghost’s story. He is torn between moral hesitation and the desire for
revenge. To gather evidence against Claudius without raising suspicion,
Hamlet pretends to be mad. His erratic behavior worries the court and
especially Ophelia, Polonius’s daughter, who has a complicated romantic
relationship with Hamlet. Polonius, the king’s advisor, suspects that
Hamlet’s madness is caused by his love for Ophelia and reports this to
Claudius.
Claudius and Gertrude, concerned about Hamlet’s strange conduct, enlist
two of Hamlet’s childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to spy
on him and discover the cause of his madness. These characters, though
loyal to the king, are also seen as pawns in the political intrigue. Hamlet
quickly realizes their true purpose and treats them with suspicion and
contempt.
To test Claudius’s guilt, Hamlet arranges a play called “The Murder of
Gonzago,” which reenacts a scene similar to the murder described by the
ghost. Claudius’s disturbed reaction to the play confirms for Hamlet that
the ghost was truthful. This confirmation intensifies Hamlet’s internal
conflict about how and when to act.
Despite this, Hamlet still hesitates to kill Claudius directly. His
philosophical nature leads him to ponder life, death, and the afterlife,
famously expressed in his soliloquy “To be or not to be.” He reflects on
the pain of existence and the fear of the unknown after death, which
makes him delay his revenge.
The tension escalates when Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, who was
spying on him from behind a tapestry in Gertrude’s chambers. Polonius’s
death shocks the court and leads to grave consequences. Claudius,
fearing for his own safety, sends Hamlet to England with Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern carrying secret orders for Hamlet’s execution. Hamlet
