Summary 5: Hamlet.

After discovering a ghost very much like the late King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has taken his throne and his wife. The guards at the Elsinore Castle panic and immediately notify Hamlet, who then goes with these guards to talk to his father. The ghost is indeed his father, and he tells Hamlet of his murder and how he must avenge his death. Hamlet listens and dedicates himself to killing Claudius.  His complicated schemes, however, take over his sanity and he becomes crazy-to the point that his mother and Claudius worry. They call upon Rosencratz and Guildenstern to try and figure out the cause of his madness. Polonius, Claudius’ chief counselor, then suggests his daughter Ophelia as a possible source of Hamlet’s issues:  Ophelia has been banished from speaking to Hamlet, because Polonius didn’t think their family was good enough to marry into Hamlet’s and so Polonius thinks that this silent treatment is the cause of Hamlet’s problems. Polonius and Claudius then hatch a plan to spy on a conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia to see if this truly is the cause. Their encounter, however, seems to suggest the exact opposite as Hamlet shuns Ophelia and tells her to go to a nunnery. A bunch of actors then come to Elsinore, and Hamlet comes up with a great idea to recreate the entire murder and guilt Claudius into confessing. Indeed, Claudius reacts and leaves the room. Hamlet then goes to kill him, but stumbles upon a praying Claudius. Because he is praying and doing something holy, Hamlet doesn’t kill him. Hamlet wants Claudius to rot in Hell, so he insists on waiting till Claudius is doing something less pious. Claudius at this point starts to fear that Hamlet knows and orders that Hamlet be sent away to England. Hamlet goes to tell his mother about the murder, and finds her in her bedchamber. Polonius is hiding there, and Hamlet thinks that the person hiding is actually Claudius and stabs him to death. Because of the crime, Hamlet is sent away to England where Claudius has sent sealed orders to the King of England to put Hamlet to death.  Stricken with grief, Ophelia drowns herself in the river. Laertes hears about all this news and comes home extremely pissed off. After the king gets a letter from Hamlet saying how pirates seized the ship he was on to England and how he’s coming home, Claudius uses Laertes’ upset state for his own motives. He will have Laertes face Hamlet in a fencing match, with sabers dipped in poison. Then, if Hamlet is the winner, he will poison the drink that he shall toast Hamlet with. Hamlet then returns as Ophelia’s funeral is happening and attacks Laertes. The coutrier Osric arrives and tells Hamlet about the seemingly innocent fencing match. In the last epic swordfight scene, Claudius’ plan fails completely. Indeed, Gertrude takes a drink from the goblet, Laertes is cut by his own poisonous sword, Hamlet stabs Claudius with the blade, and then the plan of Hamlet dying happens after all of this. Ultimately, Fortinbras is the winner as he is the only survivor. He takes over the kingdom, and gives Hamlet a proper soldier’s burial.  

William Shakespeare tone is dark and dramatic, at times even violent. Not many happy things happen in this play, as grim motifs such as death, suicide, murder, and incest appear over and over again. The few symbols Shakespeare incorporate are quite gloomy, one being the ghost. The ghost could be interpreted as a personification of death, literally showing how death can haunt us. Additionally, it could also represent the fall of their kingdom. With his death was also the fall of Elsinore, and his ghost is a lingering reminder of the corruption that now plagues it.
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A theme I found while reading this play was that one must balance their thoughts with their actions. Hamlet is often caught thinking too much, which leads us as an audience to grow anxious. There are many times throughout the play where he fails to act because of his numerous thoughts, indicating that his overthinking thwarted any sort of actions: namely, the action of killing Claudius. Had he killed Claudius in a more timely manner, maybe his fate would have been different.


Characters:


Claudius: Current king of Denmark, killed his brother to get the throne though.
Gertrude: The queen, who seemed to have an extremely adulterous relationship with Claudius while her husband was still alive. Hamlet's mom.
Ghost: Ghost of the late King Hamlet who was murdered by his brother. He comes to Hamlet and introduces the
central conflict of this play.
Hamlet: Our main character, who is given the task to kill Claudius by his father's ghost.
Polonius: The lord chamberlain of the court
Ophelia: Polonius' beautiful daughter whom Hamlet probably had sex with
Fortinbras: King of Norway, who ends up getting all of Denmark and Elsinore when they all die


Some quotes to pass along:


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"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." This quote can be interpreted and manipulated in so many ways when writing an essay. This quotes provides commentary on not just the political state of Denmark, but also alludes to something that is literally dying: the corpse of King Hamlet. It also sums up all the general corruption in Elsinore, from lying to incest to murder.


"O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I." When Hamlet says this, he is comparing his own lack of passion to the zeal that the players have in their acting. In this context, he is specifically addressing his failure to proactively kill his uncle. Overall though, one could use this to sum up Hamlet's entire life, as he doesn't really accomplish anything with passion and determination till right before he dies.