Hamlet

"Thus conscience does

make cowards of us all"

What you should know:

Do you always think of ALL the consequences of your actions?

THE CONUNDRUM

Themes: Revenge, truth, justice, fate and death.

BUT - through Hamlet's character the themes become an intimate representation of humanity, of us, with our fears, our motivations, our strengths and our vulnerability.

The Plot

Hamlet is a young prince in Denmark who was supposed to become king when his father (also named Hamlet) died. Instead, the throne was seized by Hamlet's uncle Claudius, who also married Hamlet's mother, Gertrude. Hamlet meets a ghost of his dead father, who tells him that he was poisoned by Claudius and demands that Hamlet kill Claudius in revenge.

Hamlet's family: Gertrude and Claudius, Ophelia, Laertes and Polonius, The Old King (his name was Hamlet too), and Horatio.

And...

Wouldn't it be safer not to do anything, and just stay at home?

Is it easier to be someone...

Hamlet is at first not sure whether to believe the ghost, so he tries to investigate. He pretends to be mad to hide what he is doing. As the play goes on, it becomes hard to tell if Hamlet is actually mad or still just pretending. His behaviour causes him to fall out with Ophelia, a girl he was in love with. He eventually has the idea of getting some actors to put on a play of a king being killed in the way the ghost described. Claudius panics when he sees the play, and Hamlet realises his uncle is a murderer.

...or not to be anyone?

You must find the killer in a murder case.

Hamlet has a chance to kill Claudius in the castle chapel, but cannot bring himself to do it. While waiting outside, he gets into an argument with his mother. Someone moves behind a curtain and Hamlet, thinking it is Claudius, stabs him. It turns out that he has killed Polonius, a royal advisor and Ophelia's father. Claudius orders Hamlet to be exiled to England. He sets up a plot to have Hamlet killed, but Hamlet escapes and returns to Denmark. Meanwhile, Ophelia has been suffering from madness after falling out with Hamlet. After learning that he has killed her father, she drowns herself.

BUT

Hamlet reappears at Ophelia's funeral and gets into a fight with her brother Laertes. Laertes blames Hamlet for his sister and father's deaths and wants to take revenge. He challenges Hamlet to a swordfight. Hamlet agrees.

You only have one witness, and it's a ghost. So maybe it's just a hallucination.

The swordfight is arranged to take place at the castle. To get Hamlet killed, Claudius gets Laertes to fight with a sword that has poison on the blade, and brings some poisoned wine in case this does not work. The swordfight begins. After some fighting, Laertes wounds Hamlet and poisons him. During a break, the swords are mixed up and Hamlet ends up fighting and wounding Laertes with the poisoned sword. Laertes shows regret for what he has done and tells Hamlet about the poison as he dies. Meanwhile, Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine by mistake and dies. Realising that he is also dying, Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink the rest of the wine. In his last moments, Hamlet tells his friend Horatio that Fortinbras, a Norwegian prince, should be named as the next King of Denmark.

This ending, with the swordfight and the final unstoppable escalation of deaths (Laertes, Gertrude, Claudius and Hamlet), is an incredible acceleration which makes the play, which started like a mystery deduction story, conclude itself like a dramatic action film. It is one of Shakespeare's most successful endings and is one of the reasons why "Hamlet" is his most famous play and, some say, the most famous in the whole world.

The ghost accuses the king, but if the king knows that you are investigating, he will have you executed.

The king is also your uncle, and your mother's second husband. So, if he's guilty, your mother is sleeping with the killer.

"Give thy thoughts no tongue"

"There's daggers

in men's smiles"

Whatever you say can be heard, and may be used against you, or hurt someone else.

In this mystery you will find it hard to trust yourself, so how can you trust others?

YOU

You are HAMLET

POLONIUS

And this is your story.

The king's counselor, he

is Claudius's eyes and

ears.

You really don't trust this guy.

AND THE VICTIM WAS YOUR FATHER, WHO DIED WHILE SLEEPING IN THE GARDEN. THEY TOLD YOU HE WAS POISONED BY A SNAKE.

OPHELIA

...But now you suspect your uncle poisoned him.

Polonius's daughter. She's your girlfriend.

GERTRUDE

Your mother, and queen

of Denmark.

You love her, but she's too

innocent to understand. You suspect Polonius can manipulate her against you.

She married your uncle

right after your father's

funeral. This makes

you very unhappy.

CLAUDIUS

THE CHARACTERS

The new king of Denmark. Your father's brother, your uncle, and probably, the killer.

suggestion: now is a good time to take notes

LAERTES

Polonius's son.

He doesn't like you at all

HERE ARE THE RULES

Why do we need rules?

Without rules, nothing would ever get done. But plan before you take action, because what you do cannot be undone.