HAMLET

HAMLET
William Shakespeare

1. HAMLET AND HIS FATHER’S GHOST


Hamlet was the Prince of Denmark. He was a brave an noble young ma. He was fond of manly games and pastimes. He was then changed totally. This change happened because of a great sorrow that had fallen on him. In a mysterious way his father, old king Hamlet, suddenly died. Hamlet loved his father more than anything in the world. He was broken hearted. His sorrow increased when his mother married her husband’s death. Claudius was a very cunning and wicked man. Then he became the king of Denmark.

Day after day and night after night Hamlet grieved over these sad events. Not only this, a dreadful suspicion filled his mind. He had been told that while his father was sleeping in his garden he had died from the bite of s snake. Various types of thoughts came into his mind. Was this true? Had his uncle murdered him? Had his mother known about his uncle’s evil purpose? Had his mother helped him in it? The noble mind of the young prince was tormented and he was almost mad. Hamlets best friend was Horatio. Once day he came to the prince with a strange story. The soldiers on guard on the castle walls had seen the ghost of old king Hamlet. At midnight it had appeared in the armour of the old king. They had seen its face and had noted the deep sadness on it. It had opened it mouth to speak to them. At that moment the morning cock had crowed and it had vanished.

Hamlet could not rest till he had seen the ghost himself and spoken to it. He thought the ghost had some message for him. He felt that perhaps it would tell him the truth about his father’s death. He also felt that possibly it would ask him to revenge it.

The next night Hamlet and Horatio were waiting on the castle wall. There was a guard on the wall. The noise of feasting and laughter reached them from the inside of the castle. In the icy wind and darkness they stood trembling.

Suddenly Horatio touched Hamlet’s arm. He whispered, “Look my lord. Here it comes!”

The ghost of his father stood in front of young hamlet.
2. HAMLET PRETENDS MADNESS

In great agitation hamlet asked, “Are you my father.”

The ghost did not speak. It beckoned Hamlet to leave his two companions and to follow it to the end of the castle wall. Horatio feared for his friend’s safety and tried to hold him back. But Hamlet pushed him away roughly and followed the ghost.

The ghost began, “They told you that a snake killed me when I was sleeping in my garden. Oh! Hamlet! The snake that killed me was your uncle. Revenge my cruel murder. But do not kill your mother. Leave her to the torment of her conscience. Remember! Remember!” The ghost said these words and was gone.

Hamlet returned to his two companions. He made them promise never to speak of what they had seen that night. He told Horatio what the ghost had said Moreover, he told him of strange plan that he had made suddenly. He was going to behave as if he were really mad. He could hide his real feelings from his uncle in this way. At the same time he could spy on him more easily.

The speech and behavior of hamlet became stranger than ever. The king and the Queen did not think that Hamlet knew of their guilt, but they saw that something was driving Hamlet mad. What could it be? There was an old man named Polonius. He was a wise courtier. He said that he knew the cause of Hamlet’s madness. He also said it was love Hamlet’s love for his lovely daughter Ophelia. Polonius had seen that Hamlet was in love with his daughter. Naturally he was happy. However he advised his daughter Ophelia to behave coldly towards the young prince. Ophelia was a very obedient daughter. So she obeyed him. Polonius told the king and the Queen that Ophelia’s coldness was the cause of Hamlet’s madness. They believed their wise and faithful adviser.

In the meantime, hamlet was tormented by doubts and despair. He blamed himself for doing nothing to revenge his father. It was hard for him to kill her mother’s second husband because he loved his mother. Besides; he could not be sure that the ghost’s story was true. Was the ghost a devil in the disguise of his father? And had that devil in come to make him do evil? Hamlet was disturbed too much mentally. He even thought of killing himself.

3. THE PLAY


Soon hamlet got an opportunity to find out whether King Claudius was guilty or not. It happened that a company of actors came to act a play in the castle before the king and the court. Hamlet knew them well. He welcomed them warmly. Then he remembered a play that they had acted before. The name of that play was “The Murder of Gonzago.” How a duke named Gonzago had been poisoned by his cousin in his garden was shown in that play. This cousin had afterwards married the duke’s wife. Hamlet asked the actors if they could act that play. They answered that they could and he said, “Tomorrow night you shall act it before the king and the Queen. But I wish you to put in a few lines of my won.

Hamlet made a few changes in the play so that it was more like the murder of king Hamlet. Hamlet thought, “Now when the king and the Queen see this play, their faces will show whether they are guilty or not. I shall watch them closely. “Hamlet told Horatio of his plan and asked him to watch with him. He said, “If the play does not make them show strong feelings, then the ghost was not my father’s spirit and Claudius is no guilty.”

The king, the Queen and whole court gathered to watch the play following night. Hamlet and Horatio sat at a little distance form the others. It was a place from where they could watch the king closely without anyone noticing them.

The curtain rose. The scene showed the duke Gonzago and his wife sitting side by side. The Duchess was saying, “If you die, I shall never marry again. Only a woman who has killed her first husband marries a second one.” Hamlet saw his mother grow deathly pale at these words.

The next scene showed Gonzago asleep, in his orchard. A man came noiselessly up to him. He knelt beside him and poured poison into his ear. At this the guilty king cried out in horror. “Look!” hamlet said loudly to him, “He’s poisoning him so that he can get his land. In the next scene you’ll see how he gets his wife as well.”

The strange behavior of the king and Queen astonished the courtiers. Now Hamlet was certain that Claudius had murdered his father. He knew that now he had to take his revenge without any delay.


4. HAMLET KILLS POLONIUS


A messenger came to Hamlet. He told him that the Queen wished to speak to him at once in private. Claudius had made the Queen agree to send for hamlet. He wanted to know how much his step-son knew. Claudius was in great distress. He knelt down and tried to pray for forgiveness. On his way to his mothers room Hamlet saw him kneeling there. He could easily have killed him but he did not do that. Quietly he went past him.

The Queen was waiting for her son. She was not alone. At her request Polonius was hiding behind the curtains. He would be her witness. When hamlet came in the Queen began, “hamlet, you have deeply offended your father.”

To this hamlet said, “Mother you have deeply offended my father.” Hamlet was ready to kill his mother in his excited state. But he remembered his father’s order and did not touch her. He tried to make her confess her guilt. He would show her how bad she was and then leave her to the torment of her conscience.

Hamlet caught hole of his mother’s wrist to make her sit down. She was afraid and cried out. “What will murder me? Help! Help!

Polonius was hidden behind the curtains. He thought that hamlet was going to kill his mother. He shouted, “Help! Help! Hamlet thought that it was the king. He drew his sword. He pushed it through the curtain and through the body of Polonius as well.”

Polonius died at once. The Queen cried, “Oh what a rash and bloody deed this is!”

Hamlet answered, “A rash and bloody deed! It is not so bad as killing a king and marrying his brother!”

Hamlet blamed his mother bitterly and sadly for forgetting her dead husband so quickly and for marrying his brother. He pointed to the portraits of his father and Claudius. He cried, “Look at my father’s picture. Here you see a noble and just man. And now look at this other picture. Here you see a liar, a villain and murderer. How could you be so blind as not to see the difference? Are you not ashamed?”

The Queen was filled with shame she begged, “Stop!” She could bear no more. She sank into a chair almost fainting.

At that time the ghost of old king Hamlet again appeared to Hamlet. It said, “Have pity on her. Leave her now. But have no pity no Claudius. Take your revenge on him remember!”

Then it vanished.

5. OPHELIS’S FUNERAL

Now King Claudius planned to get rid of Hamlet. The people were fond of the young prince. So he had to be careful. He sent Hamlet to England with two courtiers. The people were told that Hamlet was sailing on state business. But the courtiers were given a letter for the king of England. In this letter Claudius asked the king of England to put Hamlet to death as soon as he arrived.

On board the ship hamlet found the letter. He opened it and read it. He rubbed out his own name and in its place wrote the names of the two courtiers. Then he sealed the letter with his father’s seal and put it back in its place.

On the following day the ship was attacked by sea-robbers. They took Hamlet prisoner and carried him off with them. The courtiers went on their way in their ship to England. There they were put to death. Hamlet was landed by the pirates on the coast of Denmark. The place was not far from the royal castle. From there Hamlet wrote to Horatio. In it he asked his friend to come to him as soon as he could. Horatio came and learned of Hamlet’s adventure. He also learned about the king’s cruel plan.

Horatio and Hamlet set out for the royal castle. When they came to churchyard, they stopped. They spoke to tow men who were digging a grave. While they were talking to the grave-diggers a funeral procession entered the churchyard. The kind and the Queen were at the head of it. Among the mourners was Laertes, the brother of Ophelia. Hamlet and his companion hid themselves behind a gravestone and listened to the funeral service.

They heard the priest say that he could not read the regular funeral service because the dead woman had taken her own life. They heard Laertes shout at the priest, “I tell you, she will be singing in heaven while you are howling in hell.” Then the Queen scattered flowers over the coffin. She said, “I hoped to give you flowers for you wedding. Never did I think of she tering them over your grave, sweet Ophelia!”

Ophelia! It was Ophelia who was dead! Ophelia had killed herself! “And,” thought Hamlet, she killed herself because of me. my strange behavior, my murder of her father. Oh! He was filled with grief and remorse.

Laertes was wild with sorrow. He leapt into his sister’s grave. Hamlet also jumped in after him. Laertes held Hamlet responsible for two deaths. So he caught Hamlet by the throat. In the grave, the two men fought fiercely till they were separated by the others. Hamlet shouted wildly, “Forty thousand brothers could never love Ophelia as much as I did!” He wept bitter tears as Horatio took him away.



5. THE FATAL FENCING MATCH


As his first plan to get rid of hamlet had failed, Claudius thought of second one. He used Laertes as his tool. Laertes was ready to carry out the king’s wishes to revenge his father and his sister. He agreed to fight. Hamlets in fencing match and use a sword with a sharp point. The use of such a sword was forbidden in matches. Moreover he would put poison on the point so that even a scratch would mean death.

Hamlet readily agreed to fight with Laertes. He however thought that the match was a friendly one. He took it as a sign of goodwill on the part of Laertes. The king’s evil plan did not end there. He wanted to make Hamlet’s death more certain, so he prepared a cup of poisoned wine. In the middle of the match he would drink a cop of wine to the success of his stepson. Then he would give Hamlet the cup of poisoned wine. Hamlet would certainly be thirsty, so he would drink that and die.
The match began. Hamlet showed himself to be the better fence. Then there was a pause for the two fencers to rest. The king drank to Hamlet’s success and gave Hamlet the poisoned cup. Hamlet said, “Later I will drink later.” The match was continued.

Now Laertes was striking harder Claudius watched and waited for the fatal blow. He did not see the Queen reach out her hand towards the poisoned cup and drink it. At that moment Laertes wounded Hamlet slightly with his sharp-pointed sword. Hamlet was now aware of Laertes shameful deceit. He threw himself in his enemy. He seized Laertes sword and wounded him with it.

The kind shouted, “Separate them! Stop the fight!”

There was a sudden cry from the Queen. She called out that she had been poisoned and she fell down dead.


6. THE REAT IS SILENCE


Hamlet felt that there was evil on all sides of him. He shouted to the attendants to shut the door so that no one would escape. “Treachery!” he shouted. “Seek it out!” then Laertes fell to the ground. “The treachery is in me. Hamlet,” he cried. “And you too must die. No medicine can save you. The king ………………….. The king’s to blame.” He pushed, “Forgive me, Hamlet,” he begged with his last breath. The king’s evil plot was now clear to Hamlet. He had only a few moments of life left but they were enough for him to take his revenge. He rushed towards the king, struck him hard with the poisoned sword and killed him on the spot.

Hamlet fell to the ground then. He knew that he was going to die. He was too weak to stand. He called Horatio with his last remaining strength. Horatio came, and Hamlet begged him to tell the word the true story of his father’s death and his own revenge. Horatio was overcome with grief so he held out his hand for the poisoned cup. He had no wish to live after his friend’s death. But hamlet stopped him and made him promise to live on and tell the true story of the tragedy. The last words he uttered before his death were; “The rest is silence.”

Horatio gaze sadly at his dead friend. His eyes were full of tears. He said, “Good night, sweet Prince and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”