Hamlet Essay, Research Paper
Synopsis of Hamlet
Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark he came home to the castle in Elsinore from the University in Wittenberg for the funeral of his father the King. His grief and anger over his fathers death is amplified with he finds out that his uncle (Claudius) takes the throne and marries Hamlet’s mother (Queen Gertrude) two months after the old King’s death. The ghost of Hamlet’s father visits Hamlet to tell him that Claudius poisoned him and stole his crown and his wife. Hamlet vows to his father s ghost that he will avenge his death.
Hamlet starts to act paranoid and this makes his people doubt his sanity. The Lord Chamberlain says that Hamlet is suffering from lovesickness for his daughter, Ophelia. But the King (Claudius) suspects that Hamlet has become a danger to him, and gets two friends of the Prince, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to spy on him.
As time passed Hamlet starts to look down on himself for failing to act agent his uncle. He then began to doubt his father s ghost accusations against Claudius. A group of actors arrived at Elsinore, the Prince planed to use them to catch the King off guard. They perform a play of the Murder of Gonzago, in which a King is poisoned and the murderer takes both crown and wife. Claudiues reaction to the play convinces Hamlet that he must kill the King. Gertrude and Hamlet get into a big argument then Hamlet kills Polonius, who was spying behind a curtain.
Claudius banishes Hamlet to England, along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They don t know that the sealed instructions they carry were for the orders to execute Hamlet. Hamlet escaped on the way, and replaced his death warrant with a fake one switching the death warrant to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
In Elsinore, Ophelia went crazy and her brother Laertes confronferted Claudius and demanded revenge for the murder of their father Polonius. When news arrives of Hamlet’s escape and return to Denmark, Claudius and Laertes ploted to have Laertes challenge Hamlet to a fencing match. Laertes poisoned the tip of his sword and Claudius readied a poison drink for the Prince.
When he came back to Denmark, Hamlet came upon the funeral of Ophelia, who had drowned.
In the bloody final scene, Hamlet and Laertes get injured by the poisoned rapier while fencing, Gertrude drank from the poisoned cup and died, Hamlet takes his revenge on Claudius. The Prince exhorts his friend Horatio to tell his story, then he died.