Summary
Summary Hamlet notes
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this document includes both a complete in-depth and short summary of the events that take place in Hamlet as well as themes, symbols, and character analysis on every character.
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Act 1:Scene 1:
Setting: at a castle in Elsinore Denmark at near midnight
Characters:
Barnardo - guard
Marcellus - guard
Francisco - guard
Horatio - scholar
Ghost - the late king
Hamlet - protagonist (only mentioned)
Main events or key points:
➢ Barnardo and Francisco claimed to have seen a ghost, Horatio is skeptical
➢ The ghost wears the late king’s armor.
➢ Prince Fortinbras wants to take back his father’s land he lost in battle.
➢ The ghost appears again but doesn’t speak.l
Summary:
❖ Barnardo (guard on sentry duty) enters to relieve his comrade Francisco when suddenly two figures
emerge from the darkness. It is Marcellus and Horatio.
❖ Barnardo and Francisco claimed to have seen a ghost and Horatio is skeptical about this so-called
ghost. Horatio is surprised when the ghost does appear.
❖ They notice the ghost resembles the dead king and even wears the same armor he went to the
battlefield.
❖ Marcellus and Barnardo urge Horatio to speak to the ghost since they are uneducated soldiers while
Horatio is a scholar but when Horatio tries to speak to the ghost it disappears.
, ❖ Marcellus states this is the second time the ghost appeared. Horatio thinks this is bad news and an
ominous event in Denmark
❖ Marcellus wonders why there’s so much tension between Denmark and Norway. Here Horatio
explains that the Late King Hamlet killed the Late King Fortinbras therefore claiming his territory
❖ Young Fortinbras is preparing to take back the land that his father has lost as an act of vengeance
❖ The ghost appears again, Horatio pleads for the ghost to speak, they hear the crowing of the rooster
and the ghosts disappear. The men agree that the crowing of the rooster expels evil. Horatio wants
to tell Hamlet about the ghost
Quotes:
Marcellus:
- Horatio says ‘tis but our fantasy, And will not let belief take hold of him
- Thus twice before, …
- We do it wrong, being so majestical, To offer it the show of violence. → he says it was foolish to
intimidate the ghost
Horatio:
- Tush, tush, ‘twill not appear.
- Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak!
- In what particular thought to work I know not;
- But in the gross and scope of my opinion,
- This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
- I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion!
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me:
If there be any good thing to be done,
That may to thee do ease and grace to me,
Speak to me:
- If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
- Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, O, speak! → pleads for the ghost to speak
Barnardo:
- Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!
- How now, Horatio! you tremble and look pale:
Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you on't?
,Scene 2:
Characters:
Claudius - new king
Voltemand - messengers
and Cornelius
Gertrude - Hamlets mother
Laertes - Polonius’s son
Polonius - important political figure/ advisor
Ophelia - Polonius’s daughter
Main events/ key points:
➢ Within a month Gertrude married Hamlet’s uncle.
➢ Claudius is king.
➢ Introduction to Polonius, Ophelia and Laertes..
➢ Gertrude and Claudius tell Hamlet that the time for grieving is over.
➢ Hamlet’s first soliloquy where he expresses anger and wishes to commit suicide.
➢ Horatio tells Hamlet about the ghost and Hamlet wants to speak with the ghost.
Summary
❖ Claudius makes his inaugural speech where he reveals he is Hamlet's uncle and brother to the dead
King and is now taking over the throne of Denmark by marrying the queen( which is unacceptable
and illegal in the 17 century in England)
❖ Claudius says while it’s respectful to grieve the King it’s wise to move on as there are pressing
matters at hand.
❖ Young Fortinbras demands the piece of land his father lost in battle. Claudius males his first order to
sends two messengers, Voltemnad and Cornelius to deliver a cease-fire letter to the current king of
Norway (Fortinbras’s uncle)
❖ King of Norway doesn’t know what Fortinbras is up to
❖ Claudius hopes that once he delivers the letter to King Norway that Fortinbras will stop
❖ During his inaugural event which Laertes is present for ( however is in the middle of his academic
pursuit in France) as well as Polonius and Ophelia
❖ Laertes respectfully asks Claudius to leave early to head back to Paris, Claudius asks if Polonius
agrees instead, and Polonius begs Claudius to allow him to go back to France
❖ Gertrude wants Hamlet to stop wearing black, she finds it weird that Hamlet is still grieving while she
has a new husband. She says all that lives must die which Hamlet agrees with but gets angry when
Gertrude asks why he seems to be having a particularly more difficult time getting over the king’s
death.
❖ Claudius says its normal for a son to grieve when a father dies but to overdo it is not manly
❖ Hamlet original plan was to go back to Wittenburg to resume his studies but Claudius says he must
stay in Denmark, only once Gertrude asks Hamlet to stay is when he agrees
❖ Claudius says he’s happy that Hamlet will stay and calls upon a party and gets drunk. Everyone
leaves except Hamlet.
❖ Hamlet meets with his close friend/schoolmate Horatio. Horatio tells Hamlet about the ghost and
Hamlet is in disbelief but agrees to keep watch to speak with the ghost himself
, Hamlet's third soliloquy
This soliloquy reveals Hamlet’s plot to reveal his uncle’s guilty. It also gives the audience insight into
Hamlet’s internal conflict, his deep thoughts and his emotional side. His mood shifts from self-loathing to
determination.
Parallel structure:
Prince Hamlet: Prince Fortinbras:
Recently lost his father Recently lost his father
Uncle is now king Uncle is now king
Will go behind his uncles back Goes behind his uncles’ back
Analysis
★ Why does Claudius ask Polonius for permission to allow Laertes to leave?
- It is formal and highlights the political nature of Claudius and Polonius as it is unnecessary
for the king to ask permission from his subordinates as Polonius does not need to ask
permission where he has been given absolute authority [upon his seal…] by doing so they
show their political competence (clever politician)
★ How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
- Claudius asks why Hamlet is still upset about the late King’s death as he did say in his
speech it is time to move on
- Hamlet cleverly responds by saying “Not so, my lord. I am too much I’ the sun” depending on
which word [son/sun] is used the meaning changes dramatically:
- First meaning: I am happy, I’m in the sun
- Second (hidden) meaning: being your son is too much for me (reluctantly obliged to
be Claudius’s son)
★ Why seems it so particular with thee?
- Gertrude asks Hamlet why it seems he is having a particularly hard time getting over the
death to which Hamlet responds by saying seems to be grieving? No, he is grieving
Hamlet’s first soliloquy:
Hamlet wishes suicide was not a sin from God, he is extremely upset that his mother married so early and it
was incestuous. He thinks to himself how could it be possible that his mother loved his father so much yet
marries as soon as he dies the thought of all of this makes him extremely angry at Claudius and maybe
even angrier at his mother [ so angry that his anger turns to women in general]
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