Hamlet Characters And Plot Detailed Questions
And Expert Answers
king claudius - ANS king of denmark, hamlet's uncle, killed his brother hamlet sr.
hamlet sr./ghost - ANS recently dead king of denmark, hamlet's father, former
husband of gertrude
gertrude - ANS hamlet's mother, queen of denmark, wife of claudius
prince hamlet - ANS future king of denmark, depressed and enraged about the
death of his father
polonius - ANS father of laertes and ophelia, king's advisor
laertes - ANS son of polonius and brother of ophelia
ophelia - ANS hamlet's love interest, daughter of polonius
horatio - ANS hamlet's best friend
fortinbras - ANS Prince of Norway, looking to avenge the death of his father and
reclaim land from denmark, lost his father fortinbras sr.
, elsinore - ANS royal castle of denmark
act 1 scene 1 - ANS -guarding against invasion by fortinbras (so the rumor goes)
-ghost appears; horatio is unable to communicate with it-it appears to resemble
hamlet sr. and is dressed for battle
-horatio explains that a while back hamlet sr. killed fortinbras sr. in a duel to the
death-the result of this was that norway had to forfeit territories to denmark;
fortinbras jr. now grown up has decided to reclaim those lost territories, with force
if necessary
-horatio and the guards decide to make hamlet aware of this apparition
act 1 scene 2 - ANS -claudius announces to the royal court that he, through sad
circumstances, is now king of denmark and married to gertrude- this will allow
denmark to be unified and able to move on
-claudius dismisses the threats to denmark from fortinbras, and dispatches
ambassadors to take a letter to old norway (king), insisting he control fortinbras
-laertes asks to return to college in france, claudius grants this request
-claudius and gertrude attempt to persuade hamlet to perk up-everyone dies,
that's part of life; hamlet is announced as successor to throne, and asked not to
return to college in wittenburg (germany)- he agrees (mostly to please his mom)
-in hamlet's first soliloquy, he wishes he could fade away from all these problems,
even hints at suicide-obviously bothered by mother and uncle claudius
-horatio tells hamlet of the apparition- hamlet will guard with the watch
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