Hamlet what is

Hamlet escapes, returns to his homeland and finally achieves his revenge. The psychological effects of these upheavals on Hamlet lead to some of the greatest soliloquies in the English language and take the audience deep into the mind of Shakespeare's most famous protagonist. Ophelia, having been violently rejected by Hamlet, hears that her father has been murdered. She loses her mind and eventually drowns herself. Her brother, Laertes, returns to court at the head of an angry mob, determined to find out the truth.

Claudius convinces him that Hamlet is the only guilty party and agrees to help Laertes gain revenge. On learning of Hamlet's escape and return to his homeland, Claudius convinces Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a fencing match and advises Laertes on how to kill Hamlet during the duel without arousing suspicion. As a back-up plan, Claudius also poisons a glass of wine which he intends to offer to Hamlet.

Gertrude, however, drinks from the glass first and dies. During the duel, Hamlet is slightly wounded by Laertes, who has tipped his sword with a deadly poison. In the ensuing tussle, the swords get switched and Hamlet wounds Laertes with the poisoned one. Realising that he is about to die, and that Claudius has manipulated the situation, Laertes confesses everything, forgives Hamlet and dies. As the poison takes hold and he realises that he too is about to die, Hamlet finally carries through his dead father's wish for revenge.

He forces Claudius to drink the remaining poisoned wine, which quickly takes effect. Young Fortinbras arrives at the head of his army, ready to assume control of a state whose royal family has been destroyed by betrayal, murder and revenge. Studying Hamlet?

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Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is home from school to mourn the death of his father, King Hamlet, who has died two months earlier. When prompted to speak by Horatio, the ghost will not. During rehearsal, Hamlet and the actors plot to present Hamlet's play before the King and Queen. At the performance, Hamlet watches Claudius closely to see how he reacts.

The play provokes Claudius, and he interrupts the action by storming out. He immediately resolves to send Hamlet away. Hamlet is summoned by his distressed mother, Gertrude, and on the way, he happens upon Claudius kneeling and attempting to pray.

Hamlet reasons that to kill the King now would only send his soul to heaven rather than hell. Hamlet decides to spare his life for the time being. Polonius hides in Gertrude's room to protect her from her unpredicatable son. When Hamlet arrives to scold his mother, her hears Polonius moving behind the arras a kind of tapestry.

He stabs the tapestry and, in so doing, kills Polonius. The ghost of Hamlet's father reappears and warns his son not to delay revenge or upset his mother. Hamlet is sent to England, supposedly as an ambassador, just as King Fortinbras of Norway crosses Denmark with an army to attack Poland. During his journey, Hamlet discovers Claudius has a plan to have him killed once he arrives.

He returns to Denmark alone, sending his companions Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths in his place. What dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause. On the way back to Denmark, Hamlet meets Horatio in the graveyard along with a gravedigger , where they talk of the chances of life and death.

Ophelia's funeral procession arrives at the very same graveyard what luck! Hamlet confronts Laertes, Ophelia's brother, who has taken his father's place at the court. A duel is arranged between Hamlet and Laertes.