Plot Summary for Hamlet

Plot Summary for Hamlet Shakespeare

In the early scenes, Hamlet’s father visits him as ghost. The ghost first visits Marcellus and Barnardo. At first the ghost does not talk to anyone. When the King finally talks to Hamlet alone he tells him that Claudius, the late king’s brother, killed him and that Hamlet needs to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet accepts his fathers request but first must put Claudius through a test to see if what the ghost says is true. Within Shakespeare’s play, there is a play called The Mousetrap. This play depicts what is going on in the play Hamlet. Prince Hamlet uses this play to his advantage. When Claudius gets up and leaves in the middle of the play during the part of a mans death by poison. Hamlet then decides that that was proof that what the ghost said was right and that Claudius left because of the guilt he felt about killing Claudius. Before they see the play, Hamlet becomes furious with Ophelia. He denies ever loving her. Claudius then decides that Hamlet is mad and plans to send him on an embassy to England. Claudius reveals to the reader his remorse for killing his brother and tries to pray. When Hamlet comes to him he draws his sword and decides not to kill him while he is praying because then Claudius will go to heaven. Hamlet then decides he must kill Claudius when he is drunk or committing a sin so that he will go to hell. After Hamlet leaves, Claudius gets up and reveals to the audience that he was unable to pray. Hamlet alarms the Queen so much when he enters her room that she cries out for help. Polonius then starts crying because the Queen is crying. Hamlet, thinking Polonius is Claudius, stabs and kills Polonius. After the murder, Hamlet verbally attacks the Queen for marrying Claudius, so much so that the ghost shows up to remind Hamlet to calm down and that it is not the Queens fault. He then proceeds to tell the Queen about Claudius’s plan to send him to England. When Gertrude next sees Claudius, she reports to him about Polonius’s death. After Claudius tells Hamlet that he is to be sent to England immediately, he tells the audience about his plan to send Hamlet to his death. Claudius tells Lartes that Hamlet killed his father. Claudius told Lartes this so that he will help Claudius kill Hamlet. They then plan that Laertes will kill Hamlet with poison in a fencing match. If that failed, Claudius had a back up plan to have a cup of poison for Hamlet. When Hamlet returns, he finds out that Ophelia has drowned, he then, again, denies ever loving her. Hamlet accepts the challenge of fencing against Laertes. During the match, the Queen drinks from the back up cup of poison, thus dying. Laertes stabs Hamlet with the poisoned rapier. Hamlet then takes Laertes’s rapier and wounds Laertes. As they both die, Lartes tells Hamlet about his and Claudius’s plan to murder Hamlet. Hamlet then proceeds to killing Claudius. As Hamlet dies he asks Horatio to tell the true story of what happened to the Danish throne. Hamlet is ordered a military funeral by Fortinbras.