Hamlet Summary and Analysis

Author: William Shakespeare (written 1599-1602). Shakespeare wrote Hamlet after his son, Hamnet died, which is thought to have had influence on the story.

Setting: Elsinore, Denmark, in the castle for the most part. Medieval times (more specifically the 1300's)

Characters:
Hamlet- Son of Gertrude and Old Hamlet. He is about 30 years old, and intelligent. He's also quite angsty and depressed. He contemplates suicide constantly throughout the play, and struggles over whether or not he should kill Claudius as to avenge his father's murder. Hamlet is also very self centered, and is prone to making snap decisions about people if they do something he doesn't approve of. He is killed in a sword fight with Laertes when he is pierced with a poisoned sword.

Claudius- Uncle of Hamlet and husband of Gertrude. He is an older man in his 50's or 60's. He killed Old Hamlet for the throne and then married his newly widowed wife, Gertrude. He's not nice to Hamlet, and even plots to kill him. He's not completely evil though. He cares a lot about Gertrude and he feels really terrible about killing the old king. Hamlet kills him in the end by wounding him with the poisoned sword and making him drink poison.

Gertrude- Wife of Old Hamlet, mother of Hamlet. She quickly remarries Claudius after Old Hamlet's death, causing Hamlet to resent her. She has kind of an Oedipal relationship with Hamlet, and cares about him deeply. She dies drinking a poisoned cup of wine that was meant for Hamlet. In some interpretations, she knew it was poisoned and drank it to save Hamlet.

Polonius- Claudius's right hand man, and father of Laertes and Ophelia. He puts on an act to make himself appear incompetent, but he's actually quite strategic and has more power than meets the eye. He seems to be obsessed with spying on other people. Hamlet kills him (thinking he's Claudius) while he's spying on him and Gertrude.

Laertes- Son of Polonius, brother of Ophelia. He cares deeply about his sister (in a way that's a little unnatural). He is rash and he plots to kill Hamlet to avenge the deaths of his father and sister, but his plan ends up backfiring and his ends up getting pierced by his own poisoned blade.

Ophelia- Daughter of Polonius. She and Hamlet have a romance, but she quickly agrees to stop seeing Hamlet when her father asks her to. Hamlet "goes crazy" and rejects her. She later goes crazy and drowns herself (after possibly getting pregnant) , causing Hamlet to feel remorse.

Old Hamlet- Father of Hamlet and deceased ruler of Denmark. He makes a few appearances as a ghost to pressure Hamlet into killing Claudius to avenge his death.

Horatio- Hamlet's best friend, the only person he trusts fully and likes. Hamlet tells him all of his secrets, even regarding his plan to possibly kill Claudius.

Plot-
The plot mostly follows Hamlet as he's "trapped" in Elsinore, mourning the death of his father and resenting his mother for quickly remarrying his cold uncle, Claudius. He is visited by a the ghost of his father, who gives him the startling news that he was murdered by Claudius, and asks him to avenge his murder by killing Claudius. Shaken up, Hamlet strategically acts crazy (to get people to write him up and provide an excuse for future suspicious actions (possibly murder)). His crazy act startles his girlfriend, Ophelia, who goes to her Dad, Polonius about it. He tells her to stop seeing Hamlet, and she goes along without protestation. Claudius becomes suspicious of Hamlet's craziness and wants to find the source. He sends two of Hamlet's childhood friends, Rozencrantz and Guildenstern to talk to him and try to figure it out, but Hamlet sees right through it. Polonius is convinced it' Hamlet's love for Ophelia that's making him crazy, so he and Claudius hide to spy on Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet gives the famous "To be, or not to be," speech, where he contemplates suicide. He then meets Ophelia and declares that he never loving her, crossing his love for Ophelia off the list of possibilities for why Hamlet's crazy.

Hamlet proves to himself that Claudius really killed Old Hamlet by seeing his disturbed reaction at a play Hamlet had put on about a king getting poisoned by his brother. Hamlet then is called to his mother's chamber, where Polonius is spying. Hamlet gets aggressively mad at Gertrude, and Polonius yells in alarm. Hamlet kills Polonius, thinking he's Claudius. Hamlet reveals to Gertrude that Claudius killed Old Hamlet, and tells her to abstain from sleeping with Claudius. The ghost appears again, reminding Hamlet of his task. Gertrude cannot see the ghost.

Hearing of Polonius's murder, Claudius sends Hamlet to England, planning to have him killed there. Meanwhile, Ophelia goes crazy (the reasons why are debatable, but her father's death and Hamlet's rejection and possibly pregnancy are most likely factors) and drowns herself in the river. Hamlet's ship is attacked by pirates and he returns to Elsinore in time to see Ophelia's funeral and grieve for her. Laertes, angry at Hamlet for his father's and sister's death, challenges him to a duel. Claudius gets Laertes all revved up, and they form a plot to kill Hamlet by making Laertes' sword in the duel unbated and poisoned. As a back up Claudius prepares a poisoned cup.

After having seen Fortinbras' army of men ready to die for a tiny piece of land for their country, Hamlet delivers the fall of the sparrow speech to Horatio, finally becoming decisive, choosing to follow through with the duel and accept whatever fate God has in store for him.

Laertes and Hamlet duel. Gertrude drinks from the poisoned cup (it's unclear whether she knows it's poisoned or not). She dies. Meanwhile, Hamlet and Laertes are both stabbed by the poisoned sword (they switch swords in the chaos). Laertes apologizes and reveals that Claudius is responsible for the poison before dying. Hamlet kills Claudius in anger and gives his consent for Fortinbras to take over. He stops Horatio from committing suicide, because someone has to live to tells his story. Hamlet dies. Fortinbras comes in and takes over.

Narrative Voice, etc:
 This is a play, so it doesn't really have a narrative voice. The author's point of view comes through in the work, especially with all of the social commentary. Shakespeare definitely expresses some resentment towards the government and upper classes in the play. All of the royalty act quite often out of selfishness, and everyone else is pretty much brain washed into letting them get away with almost anything they want (Claudius kills Old Hamlet and no one is even suspicious of him until the ghost scene; Ophelia, close to several members of the Royal family, gets to have a proper funeral even though she committed suicide; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern don't even have an identity, and they immediately give up their friendship with Hamlet upon the king's request). Shakespeare's past and point of view also come through in the tone and imagery of the work. He wrote Hamlet not long after his father and young son died. Lots of the imagery involves death and decay. Hamlet is holding the skull of Poor Yorick in one of his speeches. Also, a lot of Hamlet's word play and criticism of others has metaphors involving decay (maggots, dead dog, etc.) and death. The deaths of loved ones Shakespeare experienced before writing this play likely influenced the focus on death in the imagery. They probably also influenced the tone to some degree, which is quite dark and morbid. There is lots of contemplation of death and suicide and fate (specifically in the "To be or not to be," and "Fall of the Sparrow," speeches).

Symbols:
Yorick's skull- the inevitability of death
Poison- lies and the breaking of familial bonds
Flowers- Ophelia's sorrow and the message she is trying to send to each person in her crazy state
"Rank garden"- Garden of Eden (going off of that, Old Hamlet and Gertrude resemble Adam and Eve, while Claudius represents the Serpent)

Theme: In Hamlet, Shakespeare warns that when you don’t know who you are you are unable to effectively exercise moral judgement.

Due in large part to the insularity of his environment, Hamlet lacks an identity. His isolation in Elsinore prevents him from venturing out and trying new things to discover who he is. Because of this, he struggles to choose a path when he is faced with a moral dilemma regarding whether he should kill Claudius or not. He spends most of the play debating with himself, and even contemplating suicide. He doesn't know who he is and even what his opinions are, because he hasn't had much experience in the world outside Elsinore. This makes it hard for him to make up his mind and he ends up becoming a destructive force to those around him. He kills Polonius, and Ophelia dies because of him. Gertrude, Laertes, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern get caught up in everything, and get killed as well. Hamlet's indecisiveness made the final outcome a lot bloodier than it needed to be. If Hamlet had decided right away to kill Claudius or not to, then only a maximum of one person would die. He really doesn't end up choosing a path until the "Fall of the Sparrow" speech, but that's kind of because he was forced to. His lack of identity hinder his ability to exercise moral judgement, leading to tragic outcomes.

Quotes: 
"You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will more willingly part withal—except my life, except my life, except my life."

This quote really shows how troubled Hamlet is. He's basically saying that his own life means nothing to him and even that he wants to die. It reminds readers of how extreme Hamlet's depression and distress are, and how he's put significant thought into death and suicide.

" There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come—the readiness is all."

This quote is a big moment for Hamlet. He finally chooses a path. He decides that his fate is inevitable and he accepts that. It made me think about how much Hamlet has been through, and how much of a moral struggle he had been going through up to this point before just deciding that whatever happens happens and that his death is inevitable.