Hamlet Summary and Analysis

Author: William Shakespeare

Setting, Plot, and Characters: Prince Hamlet of Denmark returns home from college after his father’s death to see his uncle Claudius’ coronation. Once he arrives, he learns that the ghost of his father has been appearing for the past few days. That night he confronts the ghost with his friend Horatio. The ghost takes Hamlet aside and reveals to him that his death was actually a poisoning at the hands of Claudius, who killed King Hamlet to take the throne and marry his wife, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. The ghost tells Hamlet to avenge him and disappears. Hamlet decides to begin to feign madness while he thinks on the subject of Claudius’ murder. Meanwhile, Polonius, the king’s right-hand man, bids his son Laertes goodbye and learns of Hamlet’s love for his daughter Ophelia. The king and Polonius use Ophelia to try to discover the cause of Hamlet’s madness and monitor one of their meetings. Hamlet decides to stage a play for the royal court to see if Claudius is truly guilty. He hires a group of players and they perform for Claudius, who leaves in the middle of the play, agitated. Hamlet, convinced of his uncle’s guilt, moves to murder him, but has to go see his mother first. Once there, he berates Gertrude until his father’s ghost tells him to stop. Polonius, who hid behind a screen before Hamlet entered Gertrude’s closet, is discovered and stabbed to death by Hamlet. Claudius sends Hamlet to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and a letter to England’s king asking for Hamlet to be executed. Hamlet discovers the letter and changes it to have R+G killed. He is the promptly attacked by friendly pirates who return him to Denmark. During this Ophelia goes mad and commits suicide. Claudius convinces a devastated Laertes to poison Hamlet in a duel. At the duel, Laertes stabs Hamlet, Hamlet stabs Laertes, Gertrude drinks poison, Hamlet stabs Claudius, and everybody dies.

Analysis: Shakespeare has a very objective voice and he lets his characters speak for themselves. It is a play, so we can’t really say too much about his point of view, but it seems as if he supports the will of God. However, Shakespeare is also pretty critical of the monarchy as a whole, although he attempts to disguise this fact by setting the story outside of England. The tone of the play is quite somber and melodramatic. There isn’t much good in Hamlet. Much of the imagery in the play is a result of Hamlet’s long monologues and soliloquies, which describe death and the fear of death pretty often and at length. One of the symbols is poison, which represents lies and deceit. In the scene where Ophelia is giving out flowers following her father’s death, many directors assume that she gives the rue to Gertrude because of its dual symbolism. One definition of rue is bitter regret. Also, back then the flower was often used to perform abortions. Since it is very likely that both Ophelia and Gertrude were pregnant at the time, it makes sense that Ophelia would have some sort of camaraderie with the woman. Lastly, Yorick’s skull is a symbol of the inevitable death and decay of every person.   

Cool Quotes:

“Hamlet: But come, for England. Farewell, dear mother.

King: Thy loving father, Hamlet.” (IV.iii.58-59)

Throughout the play the audience must constantly question the extent of Hamlet’s madness. At certain parts of the work, it seems like Hamlet himself cannot even tell the difference between his fake madness and real madness. This quote shows this confusion in an almost comedic way.

“Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,

With juice of cursed hebona in a vial,

And in the porches of my ears did pour

The leperous distilment;” (I.v.68-71)
One of the major motifs of Hamlet is poison. The entire atmosphere at Elsinore contributes to the poisonous relationships between the characters. For example, Gertrude, with or without old Hamlet's knowledge, was cheating on him for quite some time. Also, the relationship between Prince Hamlet in his mother has some disturbingly Oedipal undertones. The gossip that surrounds the castle could be described as poison in the ear, as directly symbolized in this quote.  

THEME: Moral confusion along with isolation can lead to paranoia and corruption and the upset of the natural order.
Shakespeare highlights the isolation of Elsinore with various recurring motifs, such as having only one major commoner character in Horatio, who is the most normal of all the characters. Also, the actual geographical location of Elsinore is isolated. Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras all act as foils to each other. All three of these men have murdered fathers and must decide whether or not to avenge their deaths, causing moral confusion. However, each of them is able to leave the isolation of royal life and are then somewhat able to choose their own paths. Hamlet’s paranoia about suicide and death is one of the driving forces of the play. Most of his actions are driven by this paranoia. Claudius is also constantly paranoid that Hamlet will ruin his new life, so he commissions other people to spy on Hamlet and even attempts to send him to his death.