Summary of Hamlet
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s one of the most quoted works in English language & is often included on list of world’s greatest literature.Hamlet, son of the king of Denmark, is summoned home for his father’s funeral & his mother’s wedding to his uncle. In a supernatural episode, he discovers that his uncle, whom he hates, anyway, murdered his father. The convoluted plot- the most complicated & most interesting in all literature- he manages to feign madness the “prime minister”, love & then unlove an innocent whom he drives to madness, plot & then unplot against the uncle, direct a play within a play, successfully conspire against the lives of two well-meaning friends, & finally take his revenge on the uncle, but only at the cost of almost every life on stage, including his own & his mother.Prince Hamlet of Denmark is urged by his father’s Ghost to avenge his murder at the ha scholarships for moms nds of the dead king’s brother, now King Claudius; to make matter worse, Claudius has married the widow, Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude. Denmark is under threat of invasion from young Fortinbras who seeks to regain lands lost to Hamlet’s father by Fortinbras’s father. Claudius sends words to the King of Norway (Fortinbras’s uncle) to curb Fortinbras’s aggression. In the meantime, Hamlet feigns madness with his family & friends, including his beloved, Ophelia, sister to ?Laertes’ & daughter to Polonius. Both Polonius & Laertes warn Ophelia against Hamlet’s amorous advances. Laertes is given permission to return to his studies in Paris.Claudius directs Gertrude to try to learn the cause of Hamlet’s odd behavior; they suspects it is the old King’s death & their own recent marriage. Meantime, Claudius & Polonious eavesdrop on Ophelia & Hamlet, who spurns her & appears mad.