ACT ONE - Hamlet's father, the king of Denmark, is assassinated and his wife married his brother
Claudius who became king. One night the ghost of the king appears to the guards of Elsinore castle,
armed for a probable attack by the Norwegians. Hamlet and his friend Horace meet the ghost. the
father tells his son that he was murdered by Claudio who poured poison into his ear while he slept.
he tells Hamlet to take revenge and save his mother Gertrude.
ACT TWO - Hamlet pretends to be mad in order to be able to take revenge easily. Polonius, the
king's servant, thinks his madness is caused by his love for his daughter ophelia. Hamlet organized
with a group of actors a show called "the Murder of Gonzago" which he would show in front of
claudio to unmask him
ACT THREE - When Hamlet shows claudio the show, the king runs away. Hamlet goes to her
mother, and during an argument with her he accidentally kills Polonius who was hiding behind the
curtains to hear the two characters talk about the murder. The king sends Hamlet to England to get
rid of him.
ACT FOUR - Hamlet is sent to England to be killed, ophelia goes mad and drowns (siannega).
Laertes, Ophelia's brother, wants to take revenge against Hamlet for killing his father Polonius. king
claudio after discovering that hamlet escaped from england organizes a duel between Laertes and
the protagonist.
ACT FIVE - The king poisons the tip of Laertes' sword and prepares a poisoned drink to give to
Hamlet. Hamlet refuses to drink the wine but his mother Gertrude drinks and dies. Laertes wounds
Hamlet with the poisoned sword, then the swords are exchanged and Hamlet wounds Laertes.
Hamlet also kills king claudius. before dying, hamlet tells horatius to tell the story of him,
recommending that the norwegian prince Fortinbras be elected as the new king of denmark.
SETTING - The story is set in the late Middle Ages in Elsinore Castle in Denmark. the latter, like
England, was a Protestant country. Shakespeare's choice of denmark could also be for the secondary
plot, ie the war between denmark and norway.
THE CHARACTER OF HAMLET - Hamlet is an ambiguous character. He always uses metaphors,
similes and wordplay. His phrases always have a hidden meaning.
THEMES - The main theme is revenge but Shakespeare also uses themes related to humanity. uses
relationships between parents and friends, insanity, depression, corruption, ambition and religion.
An important question is the relationship between "appearance and reality". Shakespeare also
speaks of honor and reason.
STRUCTURE- In the third act with "The murder of Gonzago" there is a play within the play
EXTRA- Revenge was not accepted in the Elizabethan age, but people enjoyed seeing it during the
shows. in tragedies revenge is attributed to a crime against a member of the protagonist's family. For
example in Antigone, King Creon decides to bury one brother of Antigone while the other does not:
he leaves him as food to the beasts. in tragedies most of the time there is the appearance of a ghost
and there are many monologues and soliloquies. in the soliloquy the character speaks to himself. in
the monologue the character speaks in the presence of other people on stage.
TO BE OR NOT TO BE- In this soliloquy, Hamlet talks about being or not being as living or dying.
Hamlet asks himself many questions. he wonders if it is better to live and try to fight against
obstacles or to die and escape the dangers of life. He thinks committing suicide is from cowardly or
brave people. the answer lies in the middle: to commit suicide you have to be very brave, but you
are a coward because you run away from the obstacles that are placed in front of you.
