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Summary Hamlet summaries (Grade 12)
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Summaries of the drama:Hamlet
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, Over view of the play
- Tragedy
- Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words
- The character Hamlet is regarded as Shakespeare’s ‘Man of Words’ (340 speeches)
Setting
- within or near the castle of Elsinore in Denmark
- late 1600s (Medieval period)
Type of play
Why is Hamlet a tragedy?
- The tragic character is caught up in a destiny that cannot be avoided.
- Hamlet’s destiny is to avenge the murder of his father: a destiny thrust upon him by
his father’s ghost.
- This destiny is not in accordance with his nature.
- This results in intense inner con ict within Hamlet.
Also:
- A tragedy is when the audience is able to identify with the hero and admire him for his
qualities, but then he is brought to destruction by a fatal aw in his personality.
- This aw brings about intense suffering that usually leads to the death of the hero.
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, Summary of the play
- Prince Hamlet, son of King Hamlet of Denmark, has returned from university in
Wittenberg to attend his father's funeral.
- Not surprisingly, he is deeply depressed, especially as his detested uncle, Claudius,
soon becomes the new king of Denmark and marries Queen Gertrude, young
Hamlet's mother. (In Shakespeare's time, marrying a brother-in-law was considered
incestuous.)
- In the opening scene, in the dark of night, the fearful sentries see the murdered king's
ghost on the ramparts of Elsinore castle.
- Later, Hamlet hears the Ghost claim that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius,
who had seduced Gertrude.
- The Ghost demands that his son avenge the crime that has deprived him 'of life, of
crown, of queen'.
- However, the Prince is to spare his mother. From then on, Hamlet is obsessed with
thoughts of his mother's adultery and with his mission of revenge.
- First, he pretends to be mad.
- Disillusioned with womankind, he violently repulses Ophelia, the woman he actually
loves.
- Hamlet delays taking action against Claudius, seesawing between indecision and
determination, before nally hitting on a plan - to stage a play that portrays his uncle's
crimes.
- The plan succeeds and con rms Claudius's guilt.
- Immediately after this, Hamlet has a golden opportunity to kill his defenceless uncle at
prayer but decides against it, as this would mean sending his victim to heaven.
- Soon after this, he violently scolds his mother and mistakenly kills Polonius, the father
of his beloved Ophelia.
- Claudius sends Hamlet to England with orders for his execution by the English king.
- Meanwhile, maddened with grief, Ophelia drowns herself Claudius convinces
Ophelia's brother, Laertes, that Hamlet is to blame for her death.
- When news comes that Hamlet has returned to Denmark, Claudius and Laertes hatch
a plot to kill him.
- Hamlet meets with his friend, Horatio, and tells him how, helped by some pirates, he
foiled his uncle's plan to send him to England - and to his death.
- At Ophelia's grave, after matching wits with the Gravediggers, Hamlet contemplates
the realities of death, later concluding that 'the readiness is all' - he is prepared to
accept whatever fate God has in store for him.
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