Dramaturgy of the 16th - 17th centuries was an integral and perhaps the most important part of the literature of that time. This kind literary creativity was the closest and most understandable to the broad masses; it was a spectacle that made it possible to convey to the viewer the feelings and thoughts of the author. One of the most prominent representatives of dramaturgy of that time, who is read and reread to this day, performances based on his works are staged, analyzed philosophical concepts, is William Shakespeare.
Genius English poet, an actor and playwright lies in the ability to show the realities of life, to penetrate the soul of every viewer, to find in it a response to his philosophical statements through feelings familiar to every person. The theatrical action of that time took place on a platform in the middle of the square; the actors could descend into the “hall” during the play. The viewer became, as it were, a participant in everything that was happening. Nowadays, such an effect of presence is unattainable even when using 3D technologies. Them higher value in the theater the word of the author, the language and style of the work were received. Shakespeare's talent is manifested largely in his linguistic manner of presenting the plot. Simple and somewhat ornate, it differs from the language of the streets, allowing the viewer to rise above everyday life, to stand for a while on a par with the characters in the play, people of the upper class. And the genius is confirmed by the fact that this has not lost its significance in later times - we get the opportunity to become for some time accomplices in the events of medieval Europe.
Many of his contemporaries, and after them subsequent generations, considered the tragedy “Hamlet - Prince of Denmark” to be the pinnacle of Shakespeare’s creativity. This work of a recognized English classic has become one of the most significant for Russian literary thought. It is no coincidence that Hamlet's tragedy has been translated into Russian more than forty times. This interest is caused not only by the phenomenon of medieval drama and literary talent the author, that is certain. Hamlet is a work that reflects the “eternal image” of a seeker of truth, a moral philosopher and a man who has stepped above his era. The galaxy of such people, which began with Hamlet and Don Quixote, continued in Russian literature with the images of “superfluous people” by Onegin and Pechorin, and further in the works of Turgenev, Dobrolyubov, Dostoevsky. This line is native to the Russian seeking soul.
History of creation - The tragedy of Hamlet in the romanticism of the 17th century
How many of Shakespeare's works are based on literary short stories early Middle Ages, and the plot of the tragedy Hamlet was borrowed by him from the Icelandic chronicles of the 12th century. However, this plot is not something original for the “dark time”. The theme of the struggle for power, regardless of moral standards, and the theme of revenge are present in many works of all times. Based on this, Shakespeare's romanticism created the image of a man protesting against the foundations of his time, looking for a way out of these shackles of conventions to the norms of pure morality, but who himself is a hostage existing rules and laws. Crown Prince, a romantic and philosopher who asks the eternal questions of existence and, at the same time, is forced in reality to fight in the way that was customary at that time - “he is not his own master, his hands are tied by his birth” (Act I, Scene III), and this causes an internal protest in him.
(Antique engraving - London, 17th century)
England, in the year the tragedy was written and staged, was experiencing crucial moment in its feudal history(1601), which is why the play contains that certain gloom, real or imaginary decline in the state - “Something has rotted in the Danish kingdom” (Act I, Scene IV). But we are more interested in the eternal questions “about good and evil, about fierce hatred and holy love,” which are so clearly and so ambiguously spelled out by the genius of Shakespeare. In full accordance with romanticism in art, the play contains characters with distinct moral categories, an obvious villain, a wonderful hero, there is a love line, but the author goes further. Romantic hero refuses to follow the canons of time in his revenge. One of key figures tragedy - Polonius, does not appear to us in an unambiguous light. The topic of betrayal is discussed in several storylines and is also offered to the viewer. From the obvious betrayal of the king and the queen’s disloyalty to the memory of her late husband, to the trivial betrayal of student friends who are not averse to finding out secrets from the prince for the king’s mercy.
Description of the tragedy (the plot of the tragedy and its main features)
Ilsinore, the castle of the Danish kings, the night guard with Horatio, Hamlet's friend, meets the ghost of the deceased king. Horatio tells Hamlet about this meeting and he decides to personally meet with his father's shadow. The ghost tells the prince terrible story of his death. The king's death turns out to be a vile murder committed by his brother Claudius. After this meeting, a turning point occurs in Hamlet’s consciousness. What is learned is superimposed on the fact of the too-quick wedding of the king’s widow, Hamlet’s mother, and his murderer brother. Hamlet is obsessed with the idea of revenge, but is in doubt. He must see for himself. Feigning madness, Hamlet observes everything. Polonius, the king's advisor and the father of Hamlet's beloved, tries to explain to the king and queen such changes in the prince as a rejected love. Previously, he forbade his daughter Ophelia to accept Hamlet's advances. These prohibitions destroy the idyll of love and subsequently lead to depression and insanity of the girl. The king makes his attempts to find out the thoughts and plans of his stepson; he is tormented by doubts and his sin. Hamlet's former student friends, hired by him, are with him inseparably, but to no avail. The shock of what he learned makes Hamlet think even more about the meaning of life, about such categories as freedom and morality, about eternal question the immortality of the soul, the frailty of existence.
Meanwhile, a troupe of traveling actors appears in Ilsinore, and Hamlet persuades them to insert several lines into the theatrical action, denouncing the king of fratricide. During the course of the performance, Claudius betrays himself with confusion, Hamlet’s doubts about his guilt are dispelled. He tries to talk to his mother, throw accusations at her, but the ghost that appears forbids him to take revenge on his mother. A tragic accident aggravates the tension in the royal chambers - Hamlet kills Polonius, who hid behind the curtains out of curiosity during this conversation, mistaking him for Claudius. Hamlet was sent to England to hide these unfortunate accidents. His spy friends are going with him. Claudius gives them a letter for the King of England asking them to execute the prince. Hamlet, who managed to accidentally read the letter, makes corrections in it. As a result, traitors are executed, and he returns to Denmark.
Laertes, the son of Polonius, also returns to Denmark; the tragic news of the death of his sister Ophelia as a result of her insanity due to love, as well as the murder of his father, pushes him into an alliance with Claudius in the matter of revenge. Claudius provokes a sword fight between two young men, Laertes' blade is deliberately poisoned. Without stopping there, Claudius also poisons the wine in order to make Hamlet drunk in case of victory. During the duel, Hamlet is wounded by a poisoned blade, but finds mutual understanding with Laertes. The duel continues, during which the opponents exchange swords, now Laertes is also wounded with a poisoned sword. Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude, cannot stand the tension of the duel and drinks poisoned wine for her son's victory. Claudius is also killed, only the only one left alive true friend Hamlet Horace. The troops of the Norwegian prince enter the capital of Denmark, who occupies the Danish throne.
Main characters
As can be seen from the entire development of the plot, the theme of revenge fades into the background before moral quests Main character. Committing revenge is impossible for him in the expression that is customary in that society. Even after being convinced of his uncle’s guilt, he does not become his executioner, but only his accuser. In contrast, Laertes makes a deal with the king; for him, revenge is above all, he follows the traditions of his time. The love line in tragedy is only additional means show the moral images of that time, highlight Hamlet’s spiritual search. Main actors The plays are Prince Hamlet and the King's advisor Polonius. It is in the moral foundations of these two people that the conflict of time is expressed. Not a conflict between good and evil, but a difference in the moral levels of the two positive characters- the main line of the play, brilliantly shown by Shakespeare.
An intelligent, devoted and honest servant of the king and fatherland, a caring father and a respected citizen of his country. He is sincerely trying to help the king understand Hamlet, he is sincerely trying to understand Hamlet himself. His moral principles are impeccable at the level of that time. Sending his son to study in France, he instructs him in the rules of behavior, which can still be cited without changes today, they are so wise and universal for any time. Worried about moral character daughter, he admonishes her to refuse Hamlet’s advances, explaining the class difference between them and not excluding the possibility that the prince’s attitude towards the girl is not serious. At the same time, according to his moral views corresponding to that time, there is nothing prejudiced in such frivolity on the part of the young man. With his distrust of the prince and the will of his father, he destroys their love. For the same reasons, he does not trust his own son, sending a servant to him as a spy. His plan for observing him is simple - to find acquaintances and, having slightly denigrated his son, lure out the frank truth about his behavior away from home. Overhearing a conversation between an angry son and mother in the royal chambers is also not something wrong for him. With all his actions and thoughts, Polonius seems smart and kind person, even in Hamlet's madness he sees him rational thoughts and gives them credit. But he is a typical representative of society, which puts so much pressure on Hamlet with its deceit and duplicity. And this is a tragedy that is understandable not only in modern society, but also the London public early XVII century. Such duplicity evokes protest by its presence in modern world.
Hero with strong spirit and an extraordinary mind, searching and doubting, who became one step above the rest of society in his morality. He is able to look at himself from the outside, he is able to analyze those around him and analyze his thoughts and actions. But he is also a product of that era and that connects him. Traditions and society impose a certain stereotype of behavior on him, which he can no longer accept. Based on the plot of revenge, the whole tragedy of the situation is shown when a young man sees evil not just in one vile act, but in the entire society in which such actions are justified. This young man calls upon himself to live in accordance with the highest morality, responsibility for all his actions. The family tragedy only makes him think more about moral values. Such a thinking person cannot help but raise for himself universal human philosophical questions. The famous monologue “To be or not to be” is only the tip of such reasoning, which is woven into all his dialogues with friends and enemies, in conversations with random people. But the imperfection of society and the environment still pushes him to impulsive, often unjustified actions, which are then difficult for him and ultimately lead to death. After all, the guilt in the death of Ophelia and random error during the murder of Polonius and his inability to understand Laertes’ grief, he is oppressed and chained.
Laertes, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, Horatio
All these persons are introduced into the plot as Hamlet’s entourage and characterize ordinary society, positive and correct in the understanding of that time. Even looking at them from modern point From our point of view, we can recognize their actions as logical and consistent. The struggle for power and adultery, revenge for the murdered father and the girl's first love, enmity with neighboring states and the acquisition of lands as a result of knightly tournaments. And only Hamlet stands head and shoulders above this society, stuck waist-deep in family traditions succession to the throne. Hamlet's three friends - Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - are representatives of the nobility, courtiers. For two of them, spying on a friend is not something wrong, and only one remains a faithful listener and interlocutor, a smart adviser. An interlocutor, but nothing more. Hamlet is left alone before his fate, society and the entire kingdom.
Analysis - the idea of the tragedy of the Danish prince Hamlet
Shakespeare's main idea was to show psychological portraits contemporaries based on the feudalism of the “dark times”, a new generation growing up in society that can change the world for the better. Competent, searching and freedom-loving. It is no coincidence that in the play Denmark is called a prison, which, according to the author, was the entire society of that time. But Shakespeare's genius was expressed in the ability to describe everything in halftones, without slipping into the grotesque. Most of the characters are positive people and respected according to the canons of that time; they reason quite sensibly and fairly.
Hamlet is shown as an introspective man, spiritually strong, but still bound by conventions. The inability to act, the inability, makes it similar to “ extra people"Russian literature. But it carries within itself a charge of moral purity and the desire of society for the better. The genius of this work lies in the fact that all these questions are relevant in the modern world, in all countries and on all continents, regardless of political structure. And the language and stanza of the English playwright captivate with their perfection and originality, forcing you to reread the works several times, turn to performances, listen to productions, look for something new, hidden in the depths of centuries.
Castle in Elsinore. There is a square in front of the castle. Danish officers are standing guard - Bernard and Marcellus. Later, Horatio, the learned friend of the Danish prince Hamlet, approaches them. Having heard a story about the appearance at night of a ghost similar to the late Danish king, Horatio came to verify the veracity of this story. He himself considers all this a fantasy, but at midnight the formidable ghost of the king actually appears in the square, in full military garb. Shocked, Horatio wants to talk to him. Later, reflecting on what happened, he comes to the conclusion that the appearance of a ghost is a bad sign for the state; troubled times. Horatio decides to report the vision to his friend Hamlet, who, due to sudden death father was forced to interrupt his studies in Wittenberg.
Hamlet is grieving the loss, but his grief is also intensified by the fact that his mother almost immediately after the death of his father married his brother. Hamlet doesn't consider his uncle worthy person, he is disgusted and disgusted to watch what is happening.
Having learned from Horatio about the night ghost, Hamlet is sure that there is something evil hidden in this. He waits for night to fall.
The ghost of his father told Hamlet about the terrible crime. When the king was calmly resting in the garden, brother poured the deadly juice of henbane into his ear. The king died in his sleep, losing both his crown and his queen at once. The ghost of the father asks his son to avenge him and, having said goodbye, leaves.
Hamlet's whole world turned upside down.
He vows to avenge his father's death. He asks his friends to keep this conversation a secret and not to be surprised by his strange behavior.
At this time, Polonius, a close nobleman of the king, sends his son Laertes to Paris to study. Laertes gives his sister Ophelia some brotherly instructions as he leaves. It turns out that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia. But it is precisely this feeling that the brother warns his sister against. After all, Hamlet does not belong to himself, he must think about the health of the entire state.
Polonius confirms his son's words and forbids Ophelia to communicate with Hamlet. She tells her father about the prince's recent visit, when he seemed to her to be a little out of his mind. Polonius thinks that the prince's strange behavior is due to the fact that he is madly in love with Ophelia. He decides to tell the king about this.
The king notices Hamlet's strange behavior, he does not know how to explain its reason. The king's conscience, burdened with murder, does not give him peace. He summons Hamlet's old friends - Guildestern and Rosencrantz. Promising “the royal mercy” as a reward, the king instructs them to find out his secret from Hamlet. Polonius arrives and tells the king about his assumption regarding the prince's madness. He even brought Hamlet’s letter to Ophelia, which he took from his daughter, as proof of his words. To make sure of Hamlet's feelings, Polonius is going to send his daughter to the gallery, where the prince often visits.
Hamlet understands that Guildestern and Rosencrantz were sent to him by the king, so their attempts to find out his secret are in vain.
Having learned that tragic actors have arrived from the capital, Hamlet decides to use them in order to verify the guilt of the king. The prince really liked these actors before. Now he agrees that they will stage a play about the death of Priam, and Hamlet will add a couple of poems of his own composition to it. The actors agree. Hamlet asks the first actor to read a soliloquy about the murder of Priam. The actor copes with the task brilliantly. Worried, Hamlet ponders what he must know for sure about the crime. With the help of actors, he wants to “lasso the king’s conscience.”
The king again calls Guildestern and Rosencrantz to his place to find out about the fulfillment of his order. They honestly admit that they were unable to find out anything, and also tell the king about the arrival of the capital’s actors and that Hamlet invites the king and queen to the performance.
Walking alone, the Danish prince pronounces his famous monologue: “To be or not to be - that is the question...”. He reflects on why people hold on to life so tightly. And he comes to the conclusion that people are frightened by the unknown of what will happen after death, because this is already forever.
Ophelia comes to Hamlet. He understands that she came at the request of the king and her father, and that their conversation is sure to be overheard. Hamlet pretends to be crazy and advises Ophelia to go to a monastery. The gullible girl falls into despair after hearing his speech. She believed in his madness. But the king was finally convinced that love was not the reason for the strange behavior of the prince. Hamlet asks his friend Horatio to watch the king during the performance. The play is on, and Hamlet comments on it. The main character is poisoned in the garden to take away his power and his wife.
The king could not stand the last scene. He rose from his seat, and a commotion began in the hall. The game was stopped. Everyone left. Hamlet and Horatio were left alone. They are now sure of the king’s guilt; he gave himself away.
Guildestern and Rosencrantz return. They tell Hamlet that the king is very upset and the queen does not understand the behavior of her son. Hamlet gives Guildestern a flute and asks him to play it. He says that he does not master this art. Then the angry Hamlet declares that it is also not worth trying to play on him and his feelings. Polonius calls the prince to his mother, the queen.
The king is overcome by fear, a bad conscience torments him. He understands that his sin is serious and vile. But the crime has already been committed, and the king can only pray. He kneels and begs God for forgiveness.
Walking into his mother’s chambers, Hamlet sees the king alone, but does not want to kill him during prayer.
To eavesdrop on the prince's conversation with his mother, Polonius hides in the queen's chambers.
Hamlet is filled with indignation. He is angry with his mother and speaks very impudently to her. Frightened, the queen screams. At this time, Polonius reveals his presence. Thinking it is the king, Hamlet stabs him with his sword in a rage. The Queen begs her son for mercy, repenting of her behavior. Suddenly a ghost appears, which only Hamlet can see. It seems to the Queen that he is speaking to emptiness like a madman. The ghost demands Hamlet to spare the queen.
The queen tells the king that Hamlet, in a fit of madness, killed Polonius, but now regrets it. The king decides to bury Polonius secretly so that rumors do not arise. And he urgently sends Hamlet to England, Guildestern and Rosencrantz - along with him, accompanying him. The king gives the young people a letter, which must be secretly handed over to the Briton. The letter contains a request to kill Hamlet.
On the way to the ship, Hamlet and his “friends” meet an armed army. These are Norwegian soldiers, they are going to fight with Poland over a piece of land. Hamlet is amazed that even such a trivial dispute cannot be resolved peacefully by people.
After this incident, Hamlet thinks a lot about his own indecision. After all, Prince Fortinbras easily sends twenty thousand soldiers to their deaths just because his honor is hurt. But Hamlet, whose father was killed and his mother lives in shame, does not know what he should do. He decides to take bloody revenge.
Upon learning of his father's death, Laertes secretly returns from Paris. At home, he also learns that Ophelia has gone crazy with grief, because her father died at the hands of Hamlet. Armed Laertes bursts into the king's chambers, he is thirsty for revenge. The king blames Hamlet for all the misfortunes. A messenger appears with a letter from the prince, informing him of Hamlet's return. The king does not understand what happened, but he already has another vile plan ready.
He wants to arrange a duel between Hamlet and Laertes. To ensure that Hamlet is killed, the end of Laertes' sword will be smeared with poison. Laertes agrees.
The Queen sadly reports the death of Ophelia. She fell into the river while hanging her wreaths on the branches of a tree.
The gravediggers dig a hole and, in the meantime, exchange jokes.
Horatio and Hamlet appear. Hamlet talks about the futility of all life on earth. They see a funeral procession approaching. Ophelia is buried. Laertes rushes into the grave and asks to bury him with his sister. Hamlet cannot stand this falsehood. He says that he truly loved her. He and Laertes attack each other. The king separates them. He reminds Laertes of the planned duel, in which the result is known in advance. The king is not satisfied with the unpredictability; he demands that Laertes not rush things.
Hamlet privately tells Horatio about what happened to him. He was able to read the king's accompanying letter asking for Hamlet to be executed. Using his father’s signet, Hamlet changed the letter, writing in it: “The donors must be killed immediately.” On the way, robbers attacked the ship, Hamlet was captured and taken to Denmark. Now he is ready for revenge.
The king's close associate Osric reports that the king is betting that Hamlet will defeat Laertes in a duel. Hamlet goes to the duel, but his heart foresees a trap.
Before the battle begins, the prince asks Laertes for forgiveness. He admits that he killed his father in a fit of madness.
To be on the safe side, the king prepared a goblet of poisoned wine. He will offer it to Hamlet if he wants to drink. Laertes wounds Hamlet, they exchange rapiers, and now Hamlet wounds Laertes. The king does not have time to stop the queen, and she drinks wine from the cup for Hamlet's victory. Before her death, she manages to tell her son that the wine is poisoned. Laertes confesses his betrayal through the fault of the king.
Hamlet kills the king with a poisoned blade and dies himself. Horatio also wants to follow his friend, finishing the poisoned wine. But before his death, Hamlet turns to his friend: “Breathe in the harsh world, so that my / Tell the story.” Horatio tells Fortinbras and the English ambassadors about the tragedy that happened. Fortinbras gives the order: “Let Hamlet be raised to the platform like a warrior...”
“Hamlet” - Shakespeare's tragedy, summary which is presented below. There is a record of it from July 1602 as “recently performed.” A short “bad” quarto was published in 1603, another text, already twice as long, in 1604-1605. In the Folio (1623), several fragments were added that were not in the second quarto, and some, on the contrary, were omitted. The main non-dramatic source of the play was the narrative placed by Saxo Grammaticus in his “Acts of the Danes” as presented by Belfort in “ Tragic stories” (Histoires Tragiques).
The brother of the recently deceased old Hamlet, King of Denmark, Claudius usurps the throne and marries his widow Gertrude. The young Prince Hamlet, returning from the University of Wittenberg, learns from the ghost of his father that he was killed by Claudius, who poured poison into his ear. The Ghost tells Hamlet to take revenge on the murderer, but not to harm Gertrude.
Hamlet warns his friend Horatio and the guard (who also saw the ghost) that he intends to pretend to be mad, and makes them swear to secrecy. Immediately after his famous monologue-meditation “To be or not to be” (III, i), he renounces his beloved, Ophelia, while he is watched by Claudius and Ophelia’s father, Polonius. He welcomes the arrival of a troupe of traveling actors and orders them to perform a play about fratricide (“The Mousetrap”). Claudius, in fear and anger, interrupts the performance when the actor Lucian acts out the scene of the murder of his uncle, into whose ear he pours poison.
Before accusing his mother of passion for Claudius, he kills the old chancellor Polonius in her bedroom, stabbing him through the carpet with a sword. Claudius sends Hamlet away to England, handing him a pre-sealed letter ordering him to be killed upon arrival. However, Hamlet manages to deceive Claudius. He returns to Denmark, having first sent his old friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, his uncle's spies, to their deaths.
During his absence, Ophelia goes mad from grief caused by the death of her father, as well as the fact that Hamlet abandoned her. She is found drowned. Ophelia's brother, Laertes, returns from France with the intention of avenging his sister's death. Hamlet and Laertes meet in the cemetery where Ophelia is to be buried and fight in her grave. Claudius arranges a sword duel between Hamlet and Laertes. He hands Laertes a poisoned sword. But as a result of the exchange of weapons, both Hamlet and Laertes die. Before this, Gertrude drinks poison from a cup intended for her son, and Hamlet, dying, manages to kill Claudius. The Norwegian prince Fortinbras, mentioned throughout the play, the personification of military heroism, returns after successful war with Poland and arranges a funeral for Hamlet according to military tradition.
Scene one
Elsinore. The square in front of Kronberg Castle. Soldier Francisco stands guard. He is replaced by Officer Bernardo. Hamlet's friend Horatio and officer Marcellus appear in the square. The latter asks Bernardo if he has encountered a ghost already seen twice by the castle guards?
Horatio, who does not believe in spirits, sees a ghost resembling the late king. With his question about who is in front of him, he insults the spirit and it disappears. Horatio sees what happened as “a sign of strange unrest for the state.” Marcellus wonders why ammunition is being bought up and guns are being cast all over the country? Horatio explains that during his lifetime the king signed a treaty with Fortinbras, according to which the lands of both states were put on the battlefield. Hamlet, who won the battle, brought new territory to Denmark, but young Fortinbras turned to mercenaries to regain what was lost, which plunged the country into preparations for war. Bernardo believes that the appearance of the ghost is connected with the disasters awaiting Denmark. Horatio agrees with him, citing as an example the signs that preceded the death of Julius Caesar, and, noticing the returning ghost, tries to find out from him how he can be useful to him? The king does not answer and disappears with the rooster crowing. Horatio decides to tell Hamlet everything.
Scene two
The main hall in the castle. Enters to the sound of trumpets The Royal Family and courtiers. Claudius notifies everyone of the wedding with his sister and the queen. To stop Fortinbras' military plans, the king sends a letter to his uncle, the Norwegian. The message is carried by the courtiers - Voltimand and Cornelius.
The son of Polonius, Laertes, asks Claudius for permission to return to France. The Queen tries to persuade Hamlet to stop mourning for his father. Claudius rejects his nephew's request to return to study in Wittenberg. The Queen asks her son to stay in Elsinore. Hamlet agrees. When everyone leaves, the young man talks to himself about the vile betrayal of his mother, who got married a month after her husband’s funeral.
Hamlet asks Horatio why he is not in Wittenberg. The friend replies that he sailed to the king’s funeral. Hamlet ironically remarks that it’s more likely to go to the queen’s wedding. Horatio, Marcellus and Bernardo tell the prince about the appearance of the ghost. Hamlet asks them to keep what happened a secret.
Scene three
A room in Polonius's house. Laertes says goodbye to Ophelia and warns his sister not to believe Hamlet’s feelings, like all royals, who are not in control of their desires.
Polonius blesses his son on the road, bequeathing to him how to behave correctly in France. Ophelia tells her father about love confessions prince. Polonius orders his daughter to stop communicating with Hamlet.
Scene four
Claudius feasts to the roar of cannons. At twelve at night the ghost of the old king appears in the square in front of the castle. Hamlet asks him about the reasons for this. The ghost beckons the prince to follow him. Horatio and Marcellus ask Hamlet not to follow the spirit.
Scene five
The Ghost tells Hamlet the story of his murder. Contrary to the story spread throughout Denmark that the king died from a snake bite, the death of old Hamlet came at the hands of Claudius, who poured poisonous henbane juice into his sleeping ears. Some time before this, the queen cheated on her husband with his brother. The ghost calls out to Hamlet for retribution, but his mother asks him not to touch him.
Left alone, Hamlet swears that he will forget about everything except revenge. Horatio and Marcellus approach him and ask him to tell him what the ghost told him. The prince refuses. He makes his friends swear on his sword to remain silent about what they saw and calmly accept any eccentricities he throws out. The ghost echoes his son with the word: “Swear.”
Act two
Scene one
Polonius sends his servant Reynaldo with a letter to Laertes, but at the beginning he asks him to find out everything possible about his son’s behavior. Frightened Ophelia tells her father about Hamlet's crazy behavior. Polonius decides that the prince is crazy with love for his daughter.
Scene two
The king summons Hamlet's childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to the court so that they can help find out the reason for the prince's madness. Voltimand brings the Norwegian's answer: the latter forbids his nephew to fight with Denmark and allows him to use hired troops to march on Poland. Polonius tells the royal couple about Hamlet's love for Ophelia.
In a conversation with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet calls Denmark a prison. The prince realizes that his friends did not come of their own free will.
The capital's tragedians arrive in Elsinore. Hamlet warmly welcomes the actors and asks one of them to read Aeneas’s monologue to Dido, in which the ancient hero talks about the murder of Priam by Pyrrhus. Polonius houses the tragedians in the castle. Hamlet asks the first actor to act out “The Murder of Gonzago”, inserting into it a soliloquy he wrote.
Left alone, the prince admires the actor’s passionate performance and mourns his own powerlessness. Hamlet is not completely sure that the ghost that appeared to him was not the Devil, therefore, before passing a death sentence on his uncle, he wants to make sure that the latter is guilty.
Act three
Scene one
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell the king that they have been unable to determine the cause of the prince's madness. Claudius and Polonius arrange a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia.
Hamlet tries to understand what stops a person from committing suicide, pronouncing his famous monologue: “To be or not to be?” Ophelia wants to return the prince's gifts. Hamlet tells the girl that he never loved her and orders her to go to a monastery.
Claudius understands that Hamlet is not mad and, especially not from love. He decides to send the prince to England to collect the lost tribute, hoping to protect himself from the danger posed by his nephew.
Scene two
Hamlet gives instructions to the actors and asks Polonius to invite the royal couple to the performance, and Horatio to carefully monitor the impression that the play will make on Claudius.
The king and queen, along with their courtiers, prepare to watch the performance. Hamlet lays his head on Ophelia's lap. Actors act out the scene of the murder of the old king in pantomime. In the next episode, the actor-queen swears to the actor-king that after his death she will never marry another. In the scene in which Lucian poisons Gonzago, the king and his retinue leave the hall.
Rosencrantz conveys a request to Hamlet to appear to his mother and once again tries to find out the reason for his friend’s madness. Polonius again calls the prince to the queen.
Scene three
The king orders Rosencrantz and Guildestern to take Hamlet to England. Polonius informs Claudius that he is going to hide behind the carpet to eavesdrop on the prince’s conversation with his mother.
The king tries to pray, but does not know whether repentance can atone for the sin of fratricide? Finding his father's murderer on his knees, Hamlet does not dare to pierce him with a sword, since Claudius' soul will go straight to heaven.
Scene four
Polonius asks the queen to behave more strictly with her son and hides behind the carpet. Hamlet is rude to his mother. Frightened Gertrude decides that her son wants to kill her. She calls for help. Polonius joins her. Hamlet stabs the carpet, thinking that the king is hiding behind it. Polonius dies. The prince tells his mother that he wants to pierce her heart, if this is still possible.
Hamlet shames his mother for betrayal. The queen, conscious of her guilt, asks to be spared. Hamlet sees a ghost. Gertrude is horrified, deciding that her son is truly insane. The ghost explains to Hamlet that he came to strengthen his resolve and asks him to calm his mother down. The prince tells the queen about the ghost.
Gertrude confesses to her son that he cut her heart. Hamlet asks his mother to take the path of virtue, but at the same time, succumbing to the king’s caresses, to tell him that he is not mad, but simply very cunning. The Queen says she will never be able to do this.
Act Four
Scene one
The Queen tells Claudius about the murder of Polonius. The king asks Rosencrantz and Guildestern to get along with the prince, take the body from him and take it to the chapel.
Scene two
Rosencrantz tries in vain to find out where Hamlet hid Polonius' body.
Scene three
Hamlet makes fun of the king, saying that Polonius is at dinner, where worms eat him, and in heaven, where the king's servants can go to find what the king needs. In the end, the prince admits that he hid the body in the area of the gallery staircase.
Claudius sends servants to search for Polonius and explains to Hamlet that he, for his own good, must leave for England. Left alone, the king argues that the grateful Briton should repay the debt by killing Danish prince.
Scene four
Fortinbras sends soldiers to inform the King of Denmark about the passage of the Norwegian army through local lands. The Norwegian captain tells Hamlet about the purpose of his military commander’s campaign - for a meaningless piece of Polish land. The prince is amazed that twenty thousand people will die for someone else's ambition, while he, the son of a murdered father, is unable to decide on righteous revenge.
Scene five
The first nobleman tells the queen about Ophelia's madness. Horatio believes that it is better to accept the girl so that she does not sow confusion in the minds of people. Ophelia comes and sings strange songs and grieves for her father. The king asks Horatio to look after Polonius's mad daughter.
Laertes, who secretly returned from France, leads the mob, who proclaim him king. Claudius swears that he is innocent of the death of Polonius. The sight of the mad Ophelia arouses in Laertes an even greater thirst for revenge. The girl gives flowers to everyone present.
The king invites Laertes to gather the wisest of his friends to judge how guilty Claudius is in the death of Polonius.
Scene six
The sailors give Horatio a letter from Hamlet. The prince notifies his friend that he has been captured by pirates, asks him to convey the letters he sent to the king and immediately rush to his aid.
Scene seven
The king explains to Laertes that he did not punish Hamlet because of his love for the queen and fear of the crowd, which could make a martyr out of the Danish prince.
The messenger brings Claudius a letter from his nephew, in which he writes that he was landed naked in the Danish kingdom and wants to come to him for an audience. Laertes asks the king to allow Hamlet to return to punish him for killing his father. The king wonders how ready Laertes is to do this? The son of Polonius promises to kill Hamlet by moistening the tip of his sword with poisonous ointment. The king decides to play it safe and also prepare a poisoned cup for the duel.
The Queen brings news of the death of Ophelia, who drowned in the river where she fell while hanging wreaths on a coastal willow.
Act five
Scene one
The gravediggers dig Ophelia's final resting place and discuss her death. The first gravedigger considers it wrong to bury a suicide according to Christian custom. The second believes that this is being done because Ophelia is noble lady. The first gravedigger sends the second one for vodka. Seeing how the cemetery attendant throws skulls out of the ground, Hamlet wonders who they belonged to during life?
The prince asks the gravedigger for whom the grave is intended, but cannot get a clear answer. The cemetery attendant says that the skull he dug out of the ground belongs to the royal jester Yorick, who lay in the ground for twenty-three years. Hamlet talks about the frailty of life.
The first priest explains to Laertes that they cannot bury Ophelia entirely according to church rites. Laertes jumps into his grave to last time say goodbye to your sister. Hamlet joins him. Laertes attacks the prince. Royal servants separate the young people.
Scene two
Hamlet tells Horatio how he found Claudius’ letter, rewrote it (with the order to immediately kill the donors) and sealed it with his father’s signet. Osric notifies the prince that the king has placed a large bet on him. Hamlet agrees to take part in the battle with Laertes. Horatio invites his friend to abandon the competition.
Marcellus, Bernard, Danish officers, the learned friend of the Danish prince Hamlet - Horatio came to the square of the castle in Elsinore, they wanted to make sure of the existence of the ghost of the Danish king, who had recently died. And they saw what they wanted. The widow, Hamlet's mother, immediately after her husband's death married the brother of the late king, which greatly upset Hamlet, because he considered his uncle unworthy person. Hamlet himself, due to the death of his father, interrupted his studies and came home.
Horatio tells his friend about the ghost of the Danish king he saw. Hamlet regards his appearance as a warning of some kind of trouble. The prince decides to meet his father's ghost. Night falls and the Danish king appears, who tells the secret of his death to his son. He says that he died at the hands of his brother, who poured the deadly juice of henbane into the then-living king. It was then that the king died, and thereby lost not only his life, but also his son, queen and crown. He asks Hamlet to take revenge on his murderer. The ghost disappeared, and Hamlet firmly decided to take revenge, and asked his friends, who had heard everything, to forget it and not be surprised by his behavior.
A little later, the reader learns that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia, the daughter of a close nobleman of the king, whose name was Polonius. Her brother Laertes, who was going to study in Paris, as well as the girl’s father, tried to convince her to give up Hamlet. Ophelia herself says that Hamlet, during last meeting I was not myself. Polonius explains this by Hamlet’s great love for Ophelia, from which the prince goes crazy. Hamlet's uncle also notices the change in his nephew's behavior and asks Hamlet's former friends Rosencrantz and Guildestern to find out his secret from the prince, but this idea was not successful, since Hamlet realized that they were sent by the king, the murderer of his father. Then Polonius comes to the Danish king, who talks about Great love the prince to Ophelia, he shows Hamlet's letter and says that he wants to make sure of this by sending Ophelia to the gallery where Hamlet visits. But Hamlet even then realized that this was all for a reason, and began to pretend to be crazy in front of Ophelia.
The Danish prince has come up with a plan, thanks to which he will be able to understand whether his uncle is a murderer or not. He decides to invite the king and queen to the performance of the visiting artists. Hamlet negotiates with the actors that they will play the poisoning scene and insert a verse that the prince himself composed. Everything goes according to the prince's plan. And when the poisoning scene was shown, the king got up and left, confusion began.
The king thought a lot about what he did. He repented of this, prayed a lot, but it was too late. Hamlet was called to a conversation by his mother. Polonius decides to overhear their conversation. The prince begins to speak very emotionally to the queen, and then the ghost of his father appears in the room, who asks the prince not to be rude to his mother. The Queen does not understand that Hamlet is not talking to himself, but to his dead father. The prince, in turn, seeing that someone is eavesdropping on the conversation, decides that it is the king, and shouting “Rat!” Polonius stabs him with a sword.
After this, the king decides to send Hamlet to England, accompanied by Rosencrantz and Guildestern, who are carrying a letter to Britain, which states the king's order to execute Hamlet. He buries Polonium secretly so that rumors do not appear. When Hamlet is with his former friends While setting off on the ship, the prince saw an army that had set out from Norway to Poland to fight over a small piece of land. At this moment, Hamlet realizes that they are fighting over a trifle, and he cannot decide to go to war because of a more compelling reason.
Laertes returns to the city, shocked by the death of his father. Ophelia goes crazy because of Polonius' death. Laertes learns from the king that Hamlet is the culprit. The prince, in turn, decides to go to war and writes a letter that he is returning. Then the king, suspecting something evil, persuades the narrow-minded Laertes to a duel, in which Laertes will have a secret advantage, the end of his sword will be smeared with deadly poison. At this moment, the queen announces that Ophelia has died. During her funeral, Laertes began to insincerely show his deep shock at the death of his sister, he began to jump into the grave and ask to be buried with Ophelia. But Hamlet began to shout that all of Laertes’ regret was false, and that even the love of forty brothers could not compare with Hamlet’s love for Ophelia.
In a personal conversation between Hamlet and Horatio, the prince tells his friend that he read the king’s letter about Hamlet’s execution and, using the king’s seal, replaced the letter, which contained an order to execute those who delivered this letter. And so Rosencrantz and Guildestern sail on the ship, not knowing that they are carrying their sentence.
A little later, Hamlet is informed about the king's argument, in which he argued that Hamlet would win the duel with Laertes. The prince agrees to a duel, realizing that they have started something against him. Before the fight, he asks Laertes for forgiveness. The king, deciding to play it safe, places a goblet of poisoned wine in addition to the poisoned end of the sword, in case Hamlet wants to drink. During the duel, Laertes wounds Hamlet, then they exchange swords and Hamlet wounds his opponent. The queen drinks poisoned wine for her son's victory and dies. Laertes confesses his betrayal to Hamlet and tells him that the king is the culprit of all the troubles. Hamlet wounds the king with a poisoned sword and dies. Horatio also wanted to be poisoned by poisoned wine because of the death of his friend, but Hamlet told him to live in a harsh world in order to tell his story. Later, Hamlet was raised onto the platform like a warrior.
