William Shakespeare. "Hamlet". Summary

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The pinnacle of Shakespeare's work, of course, is "Hamlet". The summary is unlikely to be able to convey all the dramaturgy and philosophical significance of the work, but it will still give some idea.

So, Elsinore, the Kingdom of Denmark. At night, at the guard post,

in front of the castle appears the ghost of the late king, Hamlet's father. The faithful friend of the prince, Horatio, informs him of this and the excited Hamlet immediately goes to the meeting. Forced to wander until atonement for his sins, the king tells his son about the betrayal of his brother, the current king of Denmark, Claudius, who, having killed him, seized the throne and married the widow Gertrude. The ghost of the king calls for revenge for the murder and incest and wants Hamlet to do it. The summary only partially allows us to describe the deep sadness of the prince from the secret revealed to him, he is immersed in thought. In his passionate monologues, he is disappointed in life values, reveals grief from the loss of his father, is indignant at the marriage of his mother, who has not yet worn out the shoes in which she walkedbehind his stepfather's coffin and unleashes his anger on his uncle, who raised his hand to his brother!

Putting on the mask of a madman, Hamlet thinks out a plan of revenge and allows himself to say whatever he thinks. Everyone is worried about the behavior of the prince. The nobleman Polonius, who forbade his daughter Ophellia to reciprocate the feelings of the prince, believes that this was the reason for Hamlet's madness. But convincing everyone of his madness, the prince is also cruel to Ophelia, offering her to go to the monastery.

"To be or not to be?" the tormented prince asks a philosophical question. At this time, a troupe of actors comes to the castle and Hamlet takes advantage of this. The summary of the play they played, according to the prince's intention, was diluted with a scene of his own composition, exposing the king in his atrocities. As proof of the words of the ghost, the king leaves the show in a rage and decides to get rid of his insane nephew at all costs. The death of the scheming Polonius accelerates the course of events. In a fit of rage, during a quarrel with his mother, Hamlet pierces through the nobleman hiding behind the carpet, secretly hoping that Claudius is there.

The king decides to immediately send the prince to England, handing over his death warrant to his accompanying friends. But the plot is revealed, Hamlet is captured by the pirates and safely returned to Elsinore. Ophelia, mad with sadness, drowned in the river. Returning Laertes, who vowed to avenge his father and sister, they announce that the culprit of all deaths is Hamlet. Summary does not allow to convey the depth of the prince's reflections on the frailty of the earthexistence in the cemetery scene during Ophelia's funeral. Holding the skull of the court jester Yorick in his hands, Hamlet talks about life after death and comes to the conclusion that no matter who you are in life, everyone's fate is only to become clay.

Unaware of Laertes' conspiracy with the king, Hamlet agrees to a duel. Armed with a poisoned rapier, Laertes dies and wounds Hamlet, who, before his death, manages to avenge his father by thrusting his cunning weapon into the king. The Queen Mother dies after drinking wine with poison, such a fate for her sins Shakespeare prepared.

Hamlet… The summary of this tragedy is not enough to present a complete picture of this deadly drama. Horace also wants to die with his friend, but Hamlet begs him to live and testify to the accomplished revenge. Hamlet is buried with full honors as a warrior and as a hero.

With the work of Shakespeare, a cultured person should get acquainted deeper, not only by reading the summary. "Hamlet" is the greatest work in which critics never cease to find more and more vital thoughts.