Hamlet Essay Essay, Research Paper

ACTS I & II:

A ghost visits the first scene and approaches two guards. They assume it is the late king of Denmark. They approach Hamlet about it and Hamlet wants to meet this apparition to talk with him. Hamlet is deeply upset with the new King because it is his uncle and he married his mother Gertrude. So the next day, Hamlet goes to meet the Ghost at the usual time that the ghost comes out. The ghost does turn out to be his father and they go to be alone while the ghost tells Hamlet how he dies. It tells him that his own brother murdered him, Hamlet?s uncle, by a poison put into his ear. Hamlet becomes so upset and turns crazy later in the story. In the meantime, Ophelia, Hamlet?s lover, is told by her brother Laertes to keep away from Hamlet that he is not worth it. Then her father Polonius becomes angry with her and tells her she is not allowed to see Hamlet anymore. So she obeys her father. Hamlet becomes mad and uncontrollable in what he says and does. He doesn?t like the fact that Polonius is keeping Ophelia away from him. So the King and Queen blame his madness to his being in love with Ophelia and not being able to see her anymore. The King sends out for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to come and keep company to Hamlet and maybe see what is it that is bothering him. Hamlet schedules a play to be put on for the King and Queen. He wants the theme to portray a reenactment of his uncle did to his father to see if there is guilt in the King?s eyes. Hamlet is doubting the ghost and thinks that maybe it was sent from hell and through his own melancholy made it seem as though the blame of his father?s death should be put on his uncle. The play will determine whether the apparition was real and telling the truth or not.

ACTS III & IV:

This act starts off with a confrontation with Ophelia and Hamlet. They have an argument and I think that Hamlet kind of dumped her. I don?t think that he trusts her that much anymore. Before the play Hamlet tells Horatio, a good friend of Hamlet?s, to watch the King as the scene of when the King dies and see if there is any guilt in his eyes. The play starts and Hamlet keeps interrupting it with him talking out loud. After the first scene Hamlet gets up and speaks about the poison but was only trying to refer it to the play at the same time to make the King uncomfortable and he succeeds. The King stops the play and the Queen is extremely upset because there was a mention of a Queen and her quick recovery of her husband?s death in the play. Polonius goes to Hamlet when everyone has left and tells him his mother is calling for him. The King meets with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern again and tells him that no one is safe with Hamlet being there and that he was going to be sent away to England with them. In another scene Hamlet goes to meet his mother and Polonius goes to secretly hide in the Queen?s chamber to make sure Hamlet does not try to do anything to her. They have an argument and from behind the curtains Polonius yells for help before Hamlet could do anything to the queen. It takes Hamlet by surprise and kills Polonius without knowing who he is first. He acts like nothing happened and the ghost appears again except that the Queen doesn?t see it. So she really is convinced that he is mad. The ghost leaves and Hamlet runs away with the body before anybody gets him. Hamlet is sent to England. Ophelia goes completely crazy ever since her father is killed. They put her away in the castle in a room that would drive anybody crazier then they already are. Laertes comes home from school to kill the King because he blames him for the killing of hiss father. The King finally puts some sense into Laertes and he sees his sister and what she has become. Laertes and the King meet and they make a plot to kill Hamlet. Then the Queen brings news to Laertes that his sister, Ophelia, escaped her cell and killed herself by drowning herself in a well.

ACT V:

This act opens up with 2 gravediggers preparing thew grave for Ophelia. Hamlet was due back on this day and he was just passing through while they were digging her grave. He had no idea that the grave was for her until the King, Queen, Laertes and others came to bury her. Hamlet comes forward and reveals himself from the darkness. They all go to the castle and prepare for a dual between Laertes and Hamlet. I am not sure on what the winner gets but Hamlet won the first hit. The King then throws a pearl into the cup in which the winner drinks from. The King jumps at the chance that Hamlet won because he poisoned the cup. Hamlet decides to try once more with Laertes and wins again. So when he went to drink from the cup decides to drink for him not knowing that it is poisoned and so the venom infects her. On the side Laertes is outraged and throws a hit to Hamlet and slices him with the sword. The queen is dying and she figures out why and says that the King poisoned her cup. Then she dies and Hamlet goes for the King and makes him drink from the same cup. The King then dies. Then from the stab wound inflicted by Hamlet, Laertes dies but before he dies he tells that the King was behind the whole conspiracy of poisoning Hamlet. Then Hamlet dies. As all this is happening, Norway was overtaking the castle. Fortinbras, the prince of Norway, comes in and sees what happened and decides to carry Hamlet out as a soldier and he is buried with honor.

Response:

I liked this story but it was so hard to understand what was happening. I read and reread passages to understand it and still there are some that I don?t understand. After I read Hamlet I was so sad with which the way it ended. Almost everyone dies. It was tragic indeed. But I have always liked Shakespeare and it amazes me how he plays with the word and the symbolism for everything is incredible. I thought that the story kind of dragged towards the end, maybe because it was so long to me. I thought that Hamlet was kind of crazy and he seemed kind of loud and obnoxious but who wouldn?t be after your uncle kills your father. I would probably go crazy also. I also felt so sorry for how Ophelia turned out to be so crazy. I liked her and I thought that it would have done both Hamlet and Ophelia to get married to each other and go away. I really enjoyed this play and seeing it in theatre would be so much better since it brings the characters to life as I have seen when I went to see Macbeth in theatre.