Hamlet In a Nutshell
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is in mourning for his father and deeply disturbed by the speedy remarriage of his mother, Gertrude, to Claudius, her deceased husband’s brother. When his father’s ghost reveals that he was murdered by Claudius, Hamlet decides to feign madness until an opportunity for revenge presents itself. Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain, thinks that Hamlet’s behaviour springs from love for his daughter, Ophelia, but Claudius suspects otherwise when he sees Hamlet savagely berating her. The arrival of a traveling theatre company gives Hamlet the idea of re-enacting his father’s murder to startle Claudius into revealing his guilt. The performance causes an uproar and as Gertrude remonstrates with her son, Hamlet kills the eavesdropping Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius. Ophelia, driven mad by grief, later commits suicide. Having already evaded one attempt by Claudius to have him put to death, Hamlet agrees to a fencing match with Ophelia’s brother, Laertes – who secretly poisons the tip of his sword. Both combatants, however, receive wounds from the poisoned blade. The dying Laertes reveals the plot, whereupon Hamlet kills Claudius before succumbing to his own inevitable fate.
