Hamlet – Comprehensive study guide.
Act 1, Scene 1: Ghost appears to soilders, they decide to tell Hamlet.
Act 1, Scene 2: New king, Hamlets 1st Soliloquy, Hamlet learns about ghost.
Act 1, Scene 3: Laertes and Polonius warn Ophilia to stay away from Hamlet.
Act 1, Scene 4: The ghost appears to Hamlet and the soilders.
Act 1, Scene 5: The ghosts message.
Act 2, Scene 1: Ophilia tells Polonius of Hamlets strange silent visit.
Act 2, Scene 2: King sends R&G to investigate Hamlets madness. Polonius’s theory of hamlets madness, Polonius examines Hamlet, R&G examine Hamlet, Players arrive, Hamlets second soliloquy.
Act 3, Scene 1: King and Polonius spy on Hamlet abusing Ophilia. Third soliloquy “to be or not to be’’ King decides to send Hamlet to england. Polonius decides he will spy on Hamlet and Gertrude.
Act 3, Scene 2: The mouse trap/murder of gonzago preformed, king leaves, Hamlet sent to speak with Gertrude.
Act 3, Scene 3: King prays, admits to murder, Hamlet passes up chance to kill.
Act 3, Scene 4: Hamlet in Gertrudes chamber, Hamlet kills Polonius, Ghosts last appearence.
Act 4, Scene 1: Queen reports Polonius’s killing. R&G go to find Hamlet.
Act 4, Scene 2: R&G and Claudius try to get hamlet to admit where the body is.
Act 4, Scene 3: Hamlet is sent to England.
Act 4, Scene 4: Hamlet sees Fortinbras leading his army to Poland, Fourth soliloquy.
Act 4, Scene 5: Ophelia’s madness, Laertes demands revenge with commoners.
Act 4, Scene 6: Sailors tell Horatio that Hamlet has returned to Denmark.
Act 4: Scene 7: The King and Laertes plan to kill Hamlet another way, Gertrude tells of Ophelias suicide.
Act 5, Scene 1: Hamlet and Gravediggers, Ophilias funeral, Hamlet and Laertes fight.
Act 5, Scene 2: Hamlet tells horatio how he returned to Denmark, Fencing match, Death of Laertes, Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius. Fortinbrass takes over.
Act 1, Scene 1
Claudius is the king of Denmark when the play opens. The late king hamlet is already when the play begins. Hamlet is the son of the late king and thusfore the Prince of Denmark. Claudious has married the late kings wife, Hamlets mother Gertrude.
A ghost appears to two soldiers, Marcellus and Bernardo while they are on guard duty outside the palace of Elsinore, Denmark. The ghost appears to be almost identical to the late king Hamlet, wearing the same suit of arms etc. Marcellus and Bernardo decide to tell Horatio, who decides to inform Hamlet.
Act 1, Scene 2
It is the morning after the Ghost is witnessed. The king is giving a speech to his courtenners. Hamlet publically disociates himself from his new stepfather with a clever pun.
‘’A little more than kin, and less than kind’’
Afterwords Claudius turns to Hamlet and asks him why he is still mourning his fathers death (as hamlet is still wearing funeral cloths) why ‘’ the clouds still hang ‘’ upon him. Gertrude also appeals to Hamlet to cheer up. Claudius reminds Hamlet that all fathers die, and that Hamlet is still in line for the throne after Claudius dies.
This is where the first sliloquie of the play take place. Hamlet is now alone and we hear that he wishes he could die, that his skin would ‘’melt’’ and that he could evaporate and cease to exist. The contimplates suicide and wishes that God hadn’t made suicide ‘’self-slaughter’’ a sin. Anguished, Hamlet laments his father’s death and Gertrude’s hastly marrage to Claudious.
‘’O, most wicket speed to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets’’
Hamlet remembers how deeply in love his parents seemed. He is pissed off at the thought of that now, considering less than two months on his mother married his fathers far inferior brother Claudious.
"O that this too too solid flesh would melt"
Hamlet quiets suddenly as Horatio comes into the room. He is followed by the two soilders Marcellus and Bernardo. Horatio was a close friend of Hamlet at the university in Wittenberg. Hamlet is happy to see him. Horatio explains to Hamlet that he came to see the late King Hamlets funeral. Hamlet curtky replies that Horatio came to see his mother’s wedding. Horatio then tells Hamlet about the ghost and hamlet agrees to keep watch in hope that he will see his fathers ghost.
Act 1, Scene 3
Polonius is Claudius’s right hand man, Lairtez is is Polonius’s Son and Ophelia his daughter. In Polonius’s house, Laertes prepares to leave for france. When he is saying goodbye to Ophilia he warns her not to fall in love with Hamlet. Laertez claims that Hamlet is too far above her as he is royalty to love her Honorably.Also That Hamlet is not only responcible for his own feelings but for his position in the state, it may be impossible for him to marry her and that he is only trying to seduce her.
Polonius asks Ophilia what Lairtez said to her before he left. Ophilia says that it was ‘’something touching Lord Hamlet’’. Polonius asks her about her relationship with Hamlet. She tells him that Hamlet claims to love her. Polonius strongly echos Laertes advice and does not let Ophilia see Hamlet anymore. Ophilia pledges to obey her father.
Act 1, Scene 4
It is now night time outside the castle. Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus are waiting for the ghost to appear. Eventually around midnight the ghost appears, and hamlet calls out to it. The ghost calls hamlet to follow it out into the night. Horatio and Marcellus urge Hamlet not to follow, begging him to consider the ghost may lead him into danger.
Hamlet himself is unsure whether the ghost is infact his fathers spirit or some sort of evil demon. But Hamlet declares he has nothing to live for and that the ghost will not be able to harm him. He follows after the ghost and dissapears into the darkness. Horatio says that the heavens will look after hamlet, although after a few moments.
‘’Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’’ – Marceilles (the guard)
Marceulles is refering to both the idea that the ghost is a ominious omen for Denmark and to the larger theme of the connection between the moral legitimacy of the ruler and the health of the state of Denmark.
Marcellus says they should follow and try to protect Hamlet, after a moment they both follow after Hamlet and the ghost.
Act 1, Scene 5
In the darkness the ghost speaks to Hamlet, he claims to be Hamlets father and has come to ask Hamlet to revenge his death.
‘’Foul and Unnatural Murder’’ – The ghost.
Hamlet is shocked to find out that his father has been murdered. The ghost continues on to tell Hamlet how as he slept in the garden a villian poured poison in his ear, The very villian who now wears the crown – Claudius.
‘’The serpent that did sting thy fathers life/ Now wears his crown”
The ghost exhorts (strongly encourages) Hamlet to seek revenge, telling him that Claudius has corrupted Denmark and Gertrude, having taken her from her first marriage and seduced her into the foul lust of their incestuous union. But the ghost urges Hamlet not to take action against his mother and instead ‘’leave her to heaven’’ and to her own conscience.
‘’Let not the royal bed of Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest.’’
As the dawn breaks the ghost dissapears. Hamlet swears to remember the ghost and to revenge his fathers foul and unnatural murder. Horatio and Marcellus arrive and frantically ask Hamlet what happened. Hamlet is shaken and refuses to tell them. Hamlet then insists that they swear not to tell anyone what they have seen and to never reveal his motives. He tells them that he may pretend to be a madman, or take an ‘’antic disposition’’
Act 2, Scene 1
This first part of this scen is cut from many plays so dont waste your important session time studying it.
Ophelia rushes in to Polonius, really fightenend. She excalims how Hamlet came into her closet (study/sewing room) without warning. He grabbed her wrist, stared at her, sighed, and left.. all without saying a word. His clothes were scraggy, unbuttoned and unlaced.
However, Polonius isn’t confuzed, He immediately jumps to the conclusion that
‘’This is the very ecstacy of love’’
He says that he is sorry to have misjudged Hamlets lust for her, But Polonius seems more interested in rushing off to tell Claudius. He makes a comment in witch it is better that he tells Claudius rather than not.
Act 2, Scene 2
The scene take place within the castle, Hamlets friends from Wittenberg, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are welcomed by Claudious and Gertrude. The king and queen are increasingly concerned with Hamlet’s errative behavior and his apparent inability to recover from his fathers death. Claudious and Gertrude ask Rosencranz and Guildernstern to meet up with Hamlet in Elsinore in the hope that they might be able to cheer Hamlet out of his melancholy, or at least discover the true cause of it. The lads agree to investigate and Gertrude has servants take them to her ‘’too much changed’’ son Hamlet.
Polonius enters the room anouncing the return of ambassadors who were sent to Norawary.
Eventually Polonius turns to the subject of Hamlet with the King. After a while Polonius says that the Prince is mad in love with Ophelia and he continues to show Claudius and Gertrude letters and love poems that Hamlet has given to Ophilia. Polonius proposes a plan to test his theory that this is the cause of Hamlets insanity. Polonius’s plan is to hide behind an arras (a curtain) in the lobby and listen in on Hamlet as Ophilia confronts him. This will enable them to see whether or not Hamlet is gone mad over Ophilia. The king agrees to the plan. Gertrude sees Hamlet coming and Polonius decides to speak with this prince. Gertrude and Claudius exit.
Polonius attempts to speak with Hamlet, who appears insane. Hamlet calls Polonius a ‘’fishmonger’’ and answers all of Polonius’s questions irrationally, But in many of Hamlets seeming insane statements are subtle comments about Polonius’s pomposity (overrated self image) and old age. Polonius comments that Hamlet is clearly mad but his replies are often ‘’pregnant’’ with meaning.
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t” -Polnius
As Polonius leaves, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern enter. Hamlet seems pleased to see them. They discuss Hamlets unhappiness about the recent affairs in Denmark. Hamlet then asks them why the have come, they claim to have meerly wanted to visit him. Hamlet sternly declairs that he knows that the King and queen have sent them and Rosencrantz and Guildernstern admit to this being the truth. Hamlet says that he knows that they were sent because of his meloncholy in witch everything and everyone appears sterile and worthless.
Rosencrantz smiles and tells Hamlet that a group of traveling actors will preform a play, and that this should cheer him up. The trumpets blow, announcing the arrival of the actors. Hamlet tells Rosencrants and Guildenstern that they are welcome to stay but that his ‘’uncle-father’’ and ‘’aunt-mother’’ are caught up with his madness. He is mad only some of the time and sane the rest of the time.
‘’ I am but mad north north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.”
Polonius now enters and announces the arrival of the ‘’players’’ (actors). The actors follow him into the room. Hamlet welcomes them and asks one of them to give a speech about the fall of Troy and the death of the Trojan king and queen. Hamlet is impressed with the actors speech and asks Polonius to have them escorted to guestrooms. He announces that the next night they will hear “the murder of Gonzago’’ preformed, with a additional short speech that he will write himself. Hamlet leaves Rosencrantz and Guildernstern and now stands alone in the room.
(Soliloquay)
Here is a solaquay where Hamlet immeditly begins cursing himself. He bitterly comments that the player (actor) who gave the speech about Troy, was able to summon a depth of feeling, emotion and expression for long-dead figures that mean nothing to him, While Hamlet is unable to take action, even with his far more powerful motives. Hamlet decides to come up with a trap for Claudious. His plan is to have the Players preform a play closly resembling the murder of King Hamlet. Hamlet figures that if the king is guilty he will show some visable sign of guilt when he sees his sin reenacted on stage. Then, Hamlet comes to the conclusion that he will obtain definitive proof of Claudius’s guilt.
‘’The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king’’
(end of Soliloquay)
Act 3, Scene 1
Claudius and Gertrude discuss Hamlet’s irrational behavior with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlets friends say they could not figure out the cause of his melancholy. They tell the king an queen about Hamlets enthusiasm for the players. Encouraged, Gertrude and Claudius agree to go and see the play. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave. Claudius asks Gertrude to leave as well as he and Polonius want to spy on Hamlet and Ophelia. Polonius asks Ophelia to walk around the lobby. Polonius hears Hamlet coming , He and the Kng hide.
(Soliloquay)
Hamlet enters, speaking thoughtfully to himself, He is contemplating the question whether or not he should commit suicide to end his pain/
‘’To be, or not to be: that is the question”
Hamlet continues stating that the miseries of life are so bad that no one would willingly bear them, except that they are afraid of ‘’something after death’’ Because we do not know what happens to us after death, we would rather ‘’bear those ills we have’’ rather than ‘’fly to others that we know not of’’
(end of Solioquay)
In mid thought hamlet sees Ophelia coming. As Polonius orderen, she tells hamlet that she wishes to return the tokens of love he has given her. Hamlet gets pissed off and Angrilly denies to have given her anything. He claims to have never loved as ophelia as well as claiming to once of loved her. Hamlet bitterly comments on the wretchedness of humankind and then insults Ophielia by telling her to become a nun.
‘’Get thee to a nunery’’ rather than become a ‘’breeder of sinners’’
Hamlet then goes on to criticize women for making men behave like monsters and for contributing to the world’s dishonesty by painting their faces more beautiful than they are.
Nb.- Misogyny = General hatrad of women by men
He then works himself into a rage, Hamlet denounces Ophelia, Women: (Frailty they name is woman’’), Men: (“Man delights non me”) and Humankind in general: (“A foul and pestilent congregation of vapours”) As Hamlet storms out, Ophelia mourns Hamlet’s once ‘’Noble mind’’ that now has apparently lapsed into madness.
During this scene Hamlet insults Polonius (‘’that he may play the fool nowhere but in his own house”) and Threatens Claudius (“Those who are married, all but one should live’’) so it is possible that he is aware of their presence.
Claudius and Polonius come out from behind the tapestry. Claudius says that Hamlet’s strange behavior is clearly not due to his love for Ophilia, He also says that Hamlets speech does not seem like one of insanity. Claudius says that he fears that Hamlets melancholy sits on something dangerous in Hamlets soul and when it comes out he fears what will happen. He declares that he will send Hamlet to England, in the hope that a change of scenery will help him (“expell”) get over his troubles. Polonius agrees to this idea, but he still believes that Hamlet’s agitation is becuase of his love for Ophelia. Polonius asks Claudius to send Hamlet to Gertrude’s ‘’chamber’’ after the play, where Polonius can hide again and watch their conversation secretly. Here he hopes to learn for certain whether Hamlet is really mad with love. Claudius agrees, saying that:
‘’Madness in great ones’’ must be carefully watched.
Act 3, Scene 2
It is now evening in the castle hall where the play will take place. Hamlet anxiously lectures the players on how to act the parts he has written. Horatio enters and Hamlet is pleased to see him and praises him on his qualities of self-control. Since Horatio already knows that Claudius is suspected of late kings murder, He asks Horatio to keep a close eye on Claudius to watch out for any eratic behavior that they could discuss after. Horatio agrees, saying that if Claudius shows any signs of guilt, he will detect them.
The audiens now pours into the room, Hamlet warns Horatio that he will start acting strange. When Claudius asks how Hamlet is his responce depicts insanity. Hamlet asks Polonius about his historyas an Actor and torments Ophelia with erotic puns.
The players begin to enact the play in full, and we learn that the man who kills the king is the kings nephew. Hamlet keeps a running commentry throughout. Through the commentry Hamlet continuly teases ophilia with sexual references. The queen leaves the king to sleep, and while he is sleeping, a man murderes him by pouring poison in his ear.
When the murderer pours the poison into the kings ear, Claudius gets up and cries out for the light. This means the play comes to a sudden halt and the whole hall errupts. The king flees the room, followed by the audience. The scene quiets.
Hamlet is now left alone with Hoatio and they both agree that Claudius’s behavior was telling. Now Hamlet is extremely excited. He continues to act frantic and scatterbrained, inventing little poems. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive to tell Hamlet that he is wanted in his mother’s chamber. Rosencrantz asks hamlet about the cause of his ‘’disteper’’ again. Hamlet replies angrily and accuses the two of trying to play him as if he were a musical “pipe’’. Polonius enters and asks Hamlet to go to visit the queen. Hamlet says he will go to her in a moment and asks for a moment alone.
He readys himself to speak with his mother, resolving to be brutually honest with her but not to lose control of himself:
‘’I will speak daggers to her, but use none’’
Act 3, Scene 3
Elsewhere in the castle, King Claudius speaks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Claudius is badly shaken by the play and considers Hamlet’s apparent madness to be dangerous, Claudius asks the pair to escort Hamlet to England immediately. The pair leave to make plans.
Polonius enters and reminds Claudius of his plan to hide behind the tapastry and listen in on Hamlet and Gertrude. Polonius promices to tell Claudius what he overhears. Polonius then leaves to go spy.
Claudius is now alone, here we hear Claudius admit to murdering the King. Claudius expresses guilt and remorse over his sin. A brother’s murder he says, is the oldest sin and ‘’hath the primal eldest curse upon’t ‘’. He wants to ask for forgiveness, but he says that he is unprepared to give up that which he gained by committing the murder. Ie. The crown and the queen. He then falls to his knees and begins to pray.
Hamlet sneeks to the room and prepares himself to kill the unseeing Claudius. But it suddenly occurs to him that if he kills Claudius while he is praying, Claudius’s soul will be sent to heaven. This is hardly an adequate revenge.
Hamlet decides to kill Claudius when he is sinning (drunk, angry or lustful) Hamlet leaves. Claudius gets up and declares that he has been unable to pray sincerly.
‘’My words fly up, my thoughts remain below’’
Act 3, Scene 4 (climax)
This scene takes place in Gertrude’s chamber. Polonius is hiding behind an arras (tapestry) waiting to eavesdrop on the conversation and to find the true cause of Hamlets madness. Polonius encourages Gertrude to be harsh with Hamlet regarding his bizarre and threatening behavior. Gertrude agrees.
Hamlet storms into Gertrude’s chamber and asks his mother why she has sent for him. She says that he has offended his father (meaning Claudius) Hamlet interrupts her and says she has offended his father (meaning the dead King). By marrying Claudius. Hamlet abuses her with an almost violent intensity and declares that it is his intention to make her fully aware of the depth of her sin.
Fearing for her life Gertrude cries out for help. From behind the arras Polonius hearing her, also cries out for help. Hamlet now realises that someone is behind he arras listening in and assuming that it is claudius, Hamlet cries:‘’How Now!, a rat?’’ Then he draws a sword and stabs it through the arras, killing the unseeing Polonius.
Gertrude asks what Hamlet has just done. Hamlet replies ‘’Nay, I know not:/Is it the king?” The queen says his action was a ‘’rash and bloody’’deed. He replies that it was almost as rash and bloody as murdering a king and marrying his brother. Gertrude is shocked and responds ‘’ as kill a king!’’ Hamlet replies saying she heard him correctly.
Hamlet lifts the arras to discover Polonius’s body. He realises that he killed a relatively innocent man. He bids the old man farewell calling him a ‘’ intruding fool’’
Hamlet now turns to his mother. Insteed of turning to the fact that Claudius murdered the King, Hamlet procastonates on guilting Gertrude. Hamlet shows her a picture of the dead king and a picture of Claudius. He bitterly comments continously on the superiarty of his late father to Claudius. Gertrude pleads with hamlet to stop, and says that he has turned her eyes onto her soul and she hates what she sees. Hamlet continues to denounce her and abuse Claudius, until, suddenly the ghost of his father appears again.
Hamlet speaks to the ghost but Gertrude cannot see it. She believes Hamlet to be crazy. The Ghost reminds Hamlet of his purpose, That Hamlet has not yet killed Claudius and he much achieve his revenge. Hamlet describes the ghost to Gertrude but she sees nothing, The Ghost dissapears. Hamlet despertly tries to convince Gertrude that he is not mad, and that he merely feigned madness all along. He says he is not mad but ‘’mad in craft’’ Hamlet begs Gertrude not to tell anyone this, and because she is still shaken from him condeming her, she agrees. Hamlet reminds his mother that he must sail to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and he says he will treat them with suspision as he is aware that their loyalties are with Claudius. Hamlet then leaves the room dragging Polonius’s body with him.
Act 4, Scene 1
Gertrude runs into Claudius who is chatting with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Gertrude tells Claudius she wants to speak alone. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave. Gertrude says that hamlet is insane and she also tells him that Hamlet killed Polonius. Claudius realises that if he were to be the one hiding behind the arras, he would of been killed. Claudius wonders aloud how he can tell the public without damaging his hold on Denmark. He also tells Gertrude that he must ship Hamlet to England immediatly and to find a way to explain Hamlet’s misdeed to the court and the public. He then calls Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, tells them about the murder and sends them to find Hamlet.
Act 4, Scene 2
Elsewhere in Elsinore Hamlet just finished disposing of Polonius’s body. It is (‘’safely stowed’’) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come in and ask Hamlet where he hid the body. Hamlet confuses the two with witty responces such as:
Feigning (taking) offence to being questioned, Hamlet accouses the two of being spies for Claudius. After a while he agrees to allow Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to take him to see Claudius.
Act 4, Scene 3
The king is telling a group of attendants about Polonius’s death and his intention to send Hamlet to England. Hamlet is brought to Claudius under guard and presured to reveal where he hid Polonius’s body. Hamlet responds with clever yet subtle apparently insane responces,
‘’At supper’’ ; “Not where he eats, but where he is eaten’’
“The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body’’
but eventually reveles that his body is under the stairs. The king dispatches his attendants to look there. The king tells Hamlet that he must leave for England at once, Hamlet enthusiastically agrees. He exits along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Claudius is not alone and states his hope that England will obey the sealed orderes he sent in a letter to have Hamlet put to death. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have this letter.
Act 4, Scene 4 (climax)
This scene is set on the border to denmark. Young Prince Fortinbrass marches at the head of his army travelling through Denmark on the way to attack Poland. Prince Fortinbras orders his captain to ask the King of Denmark for permission to travel through his lands. On his way he encounters Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on their way to the ship bound for England. Hamlet is curious about the cause of the conflict, The man tells him that the armies will fight over
‘’A little patch of land / That hath in it no profit but the name’’
Hamlet is astonished by the thought that a bloody war could be fought over something so insignificant. Hamlet marvels that human beings are able to act so passionatly and violently over such little matters. By comparison, Hamlet has a great amount to gain from seeking his own bloody revenge on Claudious, and yet is still delaying to act.
‘’How all occasions do inform against me’’
Hamlet is disgusted with himself for failing to gain revenge and declares that from this moment on, his thoughts will be bloody.
‘’My thoughts be bloody, or nothing worth’’
Act 4, Scene 5
Gertrude and Horatio discuss Ophilia. Gertrude does not wish to see her, but Horatio says that Ophilia should be pitped. Horatio explains that Ophilias grief has made her go insane.
Ophilia enters with flowers in her hands. She is clearly gone mad. She is holding flowers and sings strange songs. Claudius enters and sees Ophilia. He says that her grief comes fromher father’s death. A gentleman enters to warn the king that Laertes has come with a mob of commenors. The mob whispers ‘’Laertes shall be king’’. A furious Laertes storms into the hall, with the ambition to avenge his fathers death. Claudius talks Laertes down calmly, asks him to hear his version of events and bluntly blames Hamlet for the death of his father.
Act 5, Scene 1
In the churchyard, two gravediggers shovel out a grave for Ophelia. They argue whether Ophelia should be buried in the churchyard, since her death looks like a suicide. The first gravedigger, speaks cleverly and mischievously.
Hamlet and Horatio enter at a distance and watch the gravediggers work. Hamlet looks with wonder at the skulls they excavate to make room for the fresh grave and speculates darkly about what occupations the owners of these skulls served in life. Hamlet asks the gravedigger whose grave he digs, and the gravedigger spars with him verbally, first claiming that the grave is his own, since he is digging it, then that the grave belongs to no man and no woman, because men and women are living things and the occupant of the grave will be dead. At last he admits that it belongs to one “that was a woman sir; but, rest her soul, she’s dead”.
Hamlet picks up a skull, and the gravedigger tells him that the skull belonged to Yorick, King Hamlet’s jester. Hamlet tells Horatio that as a child he knew Yorick and is appalled at the sight of the skull. He realizes forcefully that all men will eventually become dust, even great men like Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Hamlet imagines that Julius Caesar has disintegrated and is now part of the dust used to patch up a wall.
Suddenly, the funeral procession for Ophelia enters the churchyard, including Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes, and many mourning courtiers. Hamlet, wondering who has died, notices that the funeral rites seem “maimed,” indicating that the dead man or woman took his or her own life. He and Horatio hide as the procession approaches the grave.
As Ophelia is laid in the earth, Hamlet realizes it is she who has died. At the same moment, Laertes becomes infuriated with the priest, who says that to give Ophelia a proper Christian burial would profane the dead.
Laertes leaps into Ophelia’s grave to hold her once again in his arms. Grief-stricken and outraged, Hamlet bursts upon the company, declaring in agonized fury his own love for Ophelia. He leaps into the grave and fights with Laertes, saying that
“forty thousand brothers / Could not, with all their quantity of love, / make up my sum”
Hamlet cries that he would do things for Ophelia that Laertes could not dream of.
Hamlet and Laertes are pulled apart by the funeral company. Gertrude and Claudius declare that Hamlet is mad. Hamlet storms off, and Horatio follows. The king urges Laertes to be patient, and to remember their plan for revenge.
Act 5, Scene 2
It is the next day at Elsinore Castle, Hamlet tells Horatio how he swapped the letter on the boat to England with one saying that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are to be killed. Hamlet says he is not sympatethic towards Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as they betrayed, but he does show remorse for showing such hostility towards Laertes. He compares Laertes’ desire to avenge his fathers death with his own.
Their conversation is interrupted by Osric. Osric is a foolish courtier who agrees with absolutly everything Hamlet says. He has come to tell them that Claudius wants Hamlet to fence with Laertes, and the king as made a bet with Laertes that Hamlet will win. Finally a lord comes in and asks Hamlet if he is ready for the match. Hamlet agrees to fight. The royal family enter the hall. Hamlet asks Laertes to forgive him. Laertes says he will not forgive him until a elder, has advised him. But in the meantime, he accepts Hamlets offer of loe.
They select their blunt swords. The king says that if Hamlet wins the first or second hit, He will drink to Hamlet’s health and then throw into the cup a valuable gem (witch is actually the poison) and give the wine to hamlet. The duel begins Hamlet gets the first hit in, but declines to drink from the cup. They play another round. Hamlet gets the second hit in too. Gertrude now gets up to drink from the cup, Claudius tries to stop her but she drinks anyway. Claudius mumurs ‘’it is the poison’d cup: it is too late’’
Laertes says that to wound Hamlet with the poisoned sword is almost against his conscience, but they fight again and Laertes hits Hamelt with the sword drawing blood. They start having a proper fight and manage to exchange swords, Hamlet wounds Laertes with the poisoned sword.
Gertrude falls and Laertes who is poisoned by his own sword, says
“I am justly kill’d with my own treachery’’.
Gertrude then moans that the cup must have been poisoned, she calls out to Hamelt, then dies.
Laertes tells Hamlet that they both are going too die, then proclaims that it was all the kings idea. The poison in the cup and the poison on the swords.
Hamlet in a fury, runs at Claudius with the poisoned sword and stabs him with hit, then forces him to drink the poisoned wine. Claudius dies, crying out for help. Hamlet exchanges a last forgiveness with Laeters, who dies after absolving Hamlet.
There is a sound of marching, Fortinbras has come from Poland. Hamlet tells Horatio again that he is dying, He urges Horatio not to take his own life because of the great loss’s, Insteed he wants him to stay alive and tell his story. He says that he wishes Fortinbras to be made King of Denmark, then Hamlet dies.
Fortinbras marches into the room accompied by the English ambassadors, who announce that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Horatio says that he will tell everyone the story that led to the gruesome display in the room. Fortinbras then orders for Hamlet to be carried away like a soldier.
