Hamlet Summary and Analysis

A ghost appears to some people guarding Elsinore castle. One of the people is Hamlet's friend, Horatio. Horatio goes to tell Hamlet. The man is his father, King Hamlet. King Hamlet tells his son that he was murdered by the newly-crowned king, King Hamlet's brother, Claudius. Claudius has also married King Hamlet's wife, Gertrude. Hamlet then seeks vengeance from Claudius. Hamlet begins to feign madness to help his long, drawn out plot to kill his uncle, Claudius. Claudius gets Hamlet's friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet. In addition, Polonius and Claudius decide to spy on Hamlet when he is speaking to Polonius's daughter, Ophelia. Hamlet flips out in his conversation with Ophelia. He tells her "Get thee to a nunnery" (131). A troupe of actors come to visit Elsinore. Hamlet gets the actors to act in a play where a usurper kills the king and marries the queen. Hamlet is using this to make sure that Claudius killed King Hamlet. He'll base his judgement off of his reaction. Claudius gets distraught and leaves halfway through the play. Hamlet then goes off to murk Claudius. However, Hamlet decides against killing Claudius because he is at prayer. While praying, Claudius admits to killing King Hamlet. Hamlet goes off to talk to his mother about all of this. Polonius is hiding in the bedroom and Hamlet hears him, so he stabs the tapestry Polonius is hiding behind, killing him. Hamlet is then sent off to England for his misdeeds. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are given direct orders from Claudius to have the king of England execute Hamlet. Ophelia "drowns" because of her father's death. Laertes catches wind of his father's and sister's death. Claudius tells him that it was all Hamlet's doing. Claudius comes up with a two part plan to kill Hamlet. Step one: have Laertes challenge Hamlet to a fencing match. Laertes will use a poisoned blade. Step two: Claudius will poison Hamlet. Hamlet is abducted by pirates and brought back. Hamlet comes back and is informed by Osric of the upcoming duel. Hamlet accepts and proceeds to the fight. Gertrude drinks from the poisoned drink. Then, Hamlet gets stabbed. Laertes gets stabbed with the poisoned sword and tells Hamlet about the king's plan. Hamlet then proceeds to stab Claudius. Hamlet dies. Fortinbras enters and orders a hero's burial for Hamlet.

Hamlet is a play about power, and the acquisition of power. The play would not have started unless Claudius had his power grab against King Hamlet. Claudius tries to change his fate by killing the king. He tries to speed up the process as to how he gets power. Hamlet is also interested in disposing of the power by killing Claudius. Hamlet also takes fate into his own hands by trying to kill Claudius. Also, having the power concentrated in Elsinore creates a very incestuous environment. The power in the castle causes characters to die from the power grabs of others.