Hamlet starts out with a dreary night, in which the night guards see a ghost of the old King Hamlet. The young Hamlet has returned for his father's funeral, which is dangerously close to his uncle, the new King Claudius's marriage with his mother. One night, Hamlet sees the ghost of his father, who tells him that King Claudius murdered him. This sends Hamlet on a mad spree to take revenge for his father's death. This also causes a riff between his relationship with Ophelia, leading to Ophelia's eventual madness and suicide. Throughout the play, Hamlet has many opportunities to murder his uncle, but decides against it. In the process however, he kills Polonius, causing his son, Laertes, to want revenge on Hamlet. While in the end Hamlet does avenge for his father, his mother, Ophelia, Guildenstern, Rosencrantz, as well as Laertes' death.
Basics
This play was written by Shakespeare in the 1600's, but is set in Denmark.
Main Characters:
Hamlet: A young man, the son of the previous king of Denmark. He is out to get revenge on his uncle who murdered his father. He is the love interest of Ophelia, but eventually drives her insane due to his constant pondering about revenge and death.
Claudius: Hamlet's uncle who killed his own brother, Hamlet's father, and married his wife. He has done many immoral acts, but goes to pray to repent his sins. It is unknown if his prayers were sincere. Claudius is the center of many troubles in Hamlet, and he manages to escape death on multiple occasions.
Ophelia: Polonius' daughter who is Hamlet's love interest. She is used by her father and the king to see what Hamlet is up to, but is found out soon enough. She is soon driven crazy, party on Hamlet's fault, party on her father and brother's fault, and party her own fault, and commits suicide.
Old King Hamlet: Hamlet's father, who is killed shortly before the start of the play. He was a kind and caring king, and the young Hamlet vows to avenge for his father. His ghost appears sporadically, guiding Hamlet towards the path to getting revenge.
Gertrude: Hamlet's mother who marries her brother in law. Although she cares about her new husband, she cares more for her son, and eventually sides with her son when he tells her about Claudius' previous sin of killing the old King Hamlet.
Narrative Voice
The point of view of Hamlet is quite neutral, as it follows around different characters at different points. However, it is more heavily centered around the title character Hamlet, as well as Ophelia and Gertrude. While Shakespeare's writing lacks stage directions, his imagery is plentiful, as he often uses characters' speech to describe the stage directions. The tone of this piece is rather melancholy, due to its focus on life vs. death. However, symbolism is not commonplace in Hamlet, and I was unable to find any immediate symbols.
Quotes
"To be or not to be, that is the question..." (Act III Scene 1).
This long soliloquy of Hamlet's is a key quote in the scene. Hamlet is wondering about what would be better, life or death. He contemplates suicide, showing that times are desperate and death might be even better than life. With this in mind, it shows that Denmark is in trouble. This can be used to prove that when times are tough, suicide does become a viable alternate to life.
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" ( Act I Scene 4).
Most importantly, this quote foreshadows all of the future mishaps and tragedies, such as suicide, murder, and the failure of a country in general. However, it also has another meaning. When someone says "Denmark", they often are referring to the king himself. By saying that something is rotten in Denmark would be saying that something is rotten with the king, which would be more than true, as Claudius had just unjustly become King of Denmark by killing his own brother.
Theme
Although revenge might feel worthwhile at first, it will be apparent later on that it hurts more people than those it intends to hurt.
This can be seen through the plot, as Hamlet's only goal is to get revenge for his father on King Claudius. He only intends to hurt Claudius, but in the process, his mother, Polonius, Laertes, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern also get hurt. He first started to hurt others unintentionally when he started to act mad, but this progressed throughout the play and ended up with the death of most of the main characters. The author's tone also propels this theme, as it provides for a dreary feeling whenever Hamlet attempts to kill Claudius.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN SYMBOLISM IS NOT COMMON PLACE IN HAMLET? Don't just look at inanimate objects, look for symbolism in lines the characters say or in their relationship to one another. For instance Ophelia's last lines are full of symbolism, of her possibly being pregnant, contemplating suicide, feeling hopeless and out of control. Claudius and King Hamlet are Cain and Abel. Cain, Claudius, killing his brother due to overwhelming jealousy. Also, there is no narrative voice in a play unless the writer is speaking through a character which does not happen. You need to describe the internal struggle within Hamlet. Him being an emerging Christian who is scarred at the thought of eternity if he were to murdur his uncle, but also wants to avenge his father. Young Fortinbras and Laertes act as foils for Hamlet. The ultimate theme is not about revenge coming back to hurt you. It is more about power corrupting people, how people neglect their fellow human being. There is so much more to the play than you are portraying. You need a more analytical plot summary that gets deeper into the play.
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