The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

1. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark By William Shakespeare (or Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford…)

2. The big ideas

3. Trust. The standards we hold people to Machiavellian politics – being one way, but acting another (false pretense) Revenge or justice – what’s the difference?

4. Uncertainty – how sure do you have to be about something before you act upon it? • Before you give a guilty verdict? • Before you give a death sentence? • “Beyond a reasonable doubt.” • Appearance vs. Reality • The difficulty of knowing the truth about others • Guilt / innocence • Motivations • Feelings • Sanity / insanity

5. School  real life. • Or theory  real life. How close are they? • Think physics – are your calculations 100% correct? • Real people – predictions, knowledge of others. Are your theories ever wrong? • Suicide. • Why do some people kill themselves? • What happens after we die? • Do people who commit suicide automatically go to hell?

6. Other things you should know

7. Ere = before • E’en = even. Is’t = is it. • Denmark = country & the king. • Same thing. • Norway, same thing. • Us/we – royal 1st person • No Fear Shakespeare on sparknotes.com

8. Act 1

9. Act 1, Scene 1 Scene: On the castle platform It is time for the night guards to change shifts. Barnardo is on guard duty. Marcelus and Horatio come to the platform. Marcellus is an army officer and Horatio is a friend of Hamlet. They have come to watch the castle with Barnardo because Barnardo has seen a ghost! Barnardo wants Horatio to see the ghost, too.

10. Horatio and Marcellus ask Barnardo if the ghost has appeared yet. • Barnardo starts to say no, then the ghost appears! • Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo think that the ghost looks like Hamlet's father, the late king. • The ghost is dressed like a soldier.  

11. Horatio tries to talk to the ghost. The ghost does not speak. Then, the ghost goes away. • Horatio tries to figure out why the ghost of the late king has come to the castle. • He wants to find out if the ghost has a message for them.  

12. The ghost appears one more time. • Then, the sun begins to come up and the ghost goes away. • Horatio says that he must tell prince Hamlet about the ghost. • Prince Hamlet is very upset about the death of his father. • Prince Hamlet must know about the ghost that looks like his father.

13. Act 1, Scene 2 • Scene: In the castle, the king is before a large crowd • The King and Queen speak to everybody else about anything else before they speak to Hamlet. • They should speak to him first because of his rank as the Prince. • This is an obvious slap in the face. • Hamlet is in a corner by himself, very upset because his father, the King, recently died.

14. Hamlet is also angry at his mother, the Queen. • She has remarried his father's brother, Claudius. • Incest! • She and Claudius were married just two months after Hamlet's father died. • Hamlet's uncle is now the King of Denmark. • Shouldn’t Hamlet be king? Just sayin’…

15. Claudius has an advisor named Polonius. • Polonius has a son named Laertes, who goes to school in France and came home when Claudius became King. • Now, Laertes wants to go back to school. • He must ask permission from his father and the King.

16. The new king and the queen act worried about Hamlet. • They want him to get on with his life. • Claudius tells Hamlet that he must prepare to be a king someday. • Slap in the face – Hamlet should be king now. • Being sad might show people that Hamlet is weak.

17. Hamlet's friend, Horatio, finds him. • Horatio says that he came for the funeral of the late king, Hamlet's father. • Hamlet makes a joke about staying for his mother's wedding to the new king, Claudius. • Horatio tells Hamlet that he saw a ghost in the castle. • He tells Hamlet that the ghost looked like his father. • Hamlet wants to see the ghost.

18. Act 1, Scene 3 • Laertes gets ready to go back to school in France. • He says goodbye to his sister, Ophelia. • He really cares about Ophelia, so he advises her that Hamlet cannot ever marry her. • He is a prince and she is not from a noble family. • He says to be careful. • Ophelia believes that Hamlet loves her. • Laertes does not want Ophelia to be hurt.

19. Laertes’ father, Polonius, likes to make many speeches. • He gives Laertes some advice before he leaves for France. • He warns him to be careful of what he says and does. • He tells him not to dress too fancily because clothes "oft make the man.“ • He tells him not to borrow or lend money. He tells his son that sometimes you will lose the money and the friend. • "This above all," he says, "to thine own self be true!“ • After Laertes leaves, Ophelia tells her father that she loves Hamlet.

20. Act 1, Scene 4 That night, Hamlet meets with Horatio and Marcellus to see the ghost. Marcellus says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” The ghost motions to ask Hamlet follow him so they can speak Hamlet alone.

21. Marcellus and Horatio do not want Hamlet to go alone. • They think that the ghost may trick Hamlet. • Hamlet does not listen to them and follows the ghost to another part of the platform. • He wants to hear what the ghost has to say to him.

22. Act 1, Scene 5 • The ghost tells Hamlet that he is the ghost of Hamlet's dead father. • He says that Claudius murdered him. • Claudius put poison in his ear while he slept. • Claudius stole his crown and his wife, the queen.

23. Then, the ghost tells Hamlet that he must "avenge" his death. The ghost wants Hamlet to tell people that Claudius killed him, but he does not want anything bad to happen to Queen Gertrude.

24. Hamlet hears his friends calling to him, and the ghost goes away. Marcellus and Horatio find Hamlet. They ask him to tell them about the ghost. Hamlet does not tell them the whole story. He asks them not to tell anyone what they saw. Then, Hamlet tells Horatio that he will pretend to be mad so that he can spy on Claudius and Gertrude. In this play, "mad" means that someone cannot control the way they act anymore.

25. Act 2

26. Act 2, Scene 1 Polonius has two plans. Plan #1: Laertes. He gives letters and money to his messenger, Reynoldo. He wants Reynoldo to take the letters and money to Laertes in France. Then, he tells the messenger to spy on Laertes – to learn the truth by lying.

27. Plan #2: Hamlet. • Polonius told Ophelia not to answer any of Hamlet's letters. He told Ophelia to pretend that she does not like Hamlet. • Ophelia tells Polonius that Hamlet came to visit her. • She said that his clothes looked very messy. • Hamlet was not making sense when he spoke to her. • Polonius thinks that Hamlet is upset about Ophelia. • He thinks that Hamlet is mad. • Polonius will tell Claudius that Hamlet is mad.

28. Act 2, Scene 2 • Now the king and queen have a plan. • They invite two old friends of Hamlet named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to the castle. • They ask the friends to spy on Hamlet for them. • They want to know how Hamlet behaves with others in the castle.

29. Polonius comes in and tells the king and queen that Hamlet is acting mad. • He says that it is because Ophelia will not see him anymore. • The queen believes that Hamlet is upset about his father's death. • She hopes that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can tell her more about Hamlet.

30. At first, Hamlet is happy to see his old friends. • He asks them why they have come to the castle, calling the castle his prison. • First, his friends lie to Hamlet about why they are here. • Then, they admit to Hamlet that the king and queen have asked them to spy on Hamlet. • This makes Hamlet upset, and he knows he can’t trust these two. • Then, a group of actors (players) arrive at the castle. • Hamlet gets an idea about a play…

31. Hamlet asks the actors to put on a play, but he wants to add some lines to the play. • The new lines will show how his father was killed. • He wants to see how the king behaves when he sees the play. • Hamlet says, "The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.“ • If the king is upset by the play, it will help Hamlet verify what the ghost told him.  

32. Act 3

33. Act 3, Scene 1 When Hamlet is alone, he thinks about killing himself. He thinks aloud, “To be, or not to be, – that is the question.” Hamlet is worried about what happens after death – “To die. To sleep, perchance to dream…” He chooses to stay alive because he doesn’t know what comes next.

34. Polonius and the King want to spy on Hamlet. They have Ophelia walk into the room where Hamlet is thinking while they hide and listen to them. Hamlet knows that they are spying on him. Hamlet pretends to be angry with Ophelia because he knows that the king and Polonius asked Ophelia to help them spy on him. Hamlet tells Ophelia that he does not love her. He calls her “two-faced.” Understandably, this makes Ophelia very upset.

35. Polonius and the King think that he must be mad to say such things. • The King wants to send Hamlet away. • He thinks that Hamlet knows about his spying. • Polonius wants to spy on Hamlet one more time. • He wants to hide in Queen Gertrude's room to hear Hamlet talk to his mother. • The King agrees to this plan.

36. Act 3, Scene 2 • Hamlet told the players to put on a play about a king that was poisoned. • This is how Hamlet's father was murdered. • Hamlet invites Claudius to see the play, and the king and queen agree to go. • Hamlet wants to see how the king acts when he sees the play. • He asks Horatio to watch the king's reaction to the play.

37. The king gets very upset by the play. He gets up and runs out. • Now he knows that the ghost was telling the truth. • Notice how happy Hamlet is when he learns the truth about something. • Even if it’s something horrible, like his father’s death – he knows.

38. Act 3, Scene 3 Hamlet plans to kill Claudius. When he goes to do it, he finds Claudius praying. Hamlet thinks about what will happen after he kills the king.

39. Hamlet waits because he believes that if he kills him while he is praying, he will send Claudius to heaven. • Hamlet would rather kill Claudius when he is sinning so he’ll be sure to go to Hell. • Hamlet decides to wait to kill Claudius. • But at the end of the scene, Claudius says… • D’oh!

40. Act 3, Scene 4 Polonius thinks that Hamlet is upset about Ophelia. But Claudius thinks that Hamlet knows how he killed King Hamlet. They both think that they need to get rid of Hamlet.

41. Claudius plans to send Hamlet away to England. • He tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to take Hamlet to England. • Claudius plans to have Hamlet killed in England. • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do not know about this.

42. Polonius tells Hamlet that the queen wishes to see him right away Polonius will spy on Hamlet when he goes to see his mother, the queen.

43. Hamlet goes to see his mother. She is worried about Hamlet. • Hamlet is upset that she married Claudius. • He wants her to see that Claudius is trash compared to his father. • Talking about his uncle makes Hamlet angry. • Then, he sees the ghost again. • The ghost reminds him not to hurt Gertrude. • Gertrude can’t see the ghost. Is the ghost really there, or is Hamlet insane? • It’s tough to say. Others could see the ghost before… • But it chose not to talk to them… Maybe it’s choosing not to be visible so as not to shock Gertrude.

44. Polonius is hiding behind a curtain. • Because of something she says, Polonius is afraid that Hamlet will hurt Gertrude. • He calls out for help. • Hamlet hears someone behind the curtain and stabs him with his sword, thinking it is Claudius. • Hamlet kills Polonius! • Very important: Notice what Hamlet says before he knows whom he killed.

45. Act 4

46. Act 4, Scene 1 • The queen tells the Claudius that Hamlet has killed Polonius. • She says that Hamlet has gone mad. • Claudius, however, believes Hamlet was trying to kill him. • He tells the queen that they must make up a story about Polonius so they don’t get blamed for his death. • Then, Claudius says that Hamlet must leave the country. • He tells the queen that this will keep Hamlet safe.

47. Claudius sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to get Hamlet and Polonius' body.

48. Act 4, Scene 2 • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find Hamlet. • Hamlet knows they are following the king's orders, and he does not tell them what he did with Polonius. • He also makes fun of them by speaking in riddles. • He seems insane. • But he’s also very upset that his friends are working for his enemy, Claudius.

49. Act 4, Scene 3 • Claudius realizes he cannot put Hamlet in jail for killing Polonius. • The people of Denmark love Hamlet. • Putting him in jail would cause "a riot.“ • Claudius makes it look like he cares about Hamlet.

50. Guildenstern and the guards bring Hamlet to Claudius. • Hamlet will not tell what he did with Polonius. • He acts insane again by speaking in riddles. • Claudius tells Hamlet that he is sending him to England. • He says that he will be safe in England. • Then, Claudius makes plans to have the King of England kill Hamlet.