Written by William Shakespeare

The king of Denmark is dead. The queen, Gertrude, has married the dead king’s brother, Claudius. The dead king’s son Hamlet, prince of Denmark, meets his father’s ghost on the tower of the castle. The ghost tells him that Claudius is guilty of his murder and asks Hamlet to take revenge. Hamlet pretends to be mad to have more time and observe the behaviour of the king and queen. His brilliant and sensitive mind is undecided about what to do and he even contemplates suicide. Hamlet then asks actors in a Court play to show a scene like that of his father’ s murder, to observe the king’s reaction. The king’ s confusion confirms the ghost’s revelation. Claudius is guilty of Hamlet’s father’s death. Hamlet kills Polonius, father of Ophelia whom Hamlet loves. Ophelia becomes mad and kills herself. Polonius ‘ son, Laertes swears revenge. The king organizes a duel between Hamlet and Laertes to murder Hamlet. Laertes uses a poisoned foil. Hamlet is killed but before that he mortally hurts Laertes and the king. The queen by mistake drinks a poisoned cup made for Hamlet and dies. After these tragic events, Fortinbras, Norwegian prince,becomes the king of Denmark.

HAMLET Hamlet is the protagonist of the tragedy. He manifests radical contradictions, his actions are instinctive, uncivil and ferocious but sometimes becomes cautious, courteous and tender. Contrary to the ideal hero he appears with negative qualities : indecisiveness, hastiness, hate, brutality, and obsession, so he seems a common man marked by pain. In particular he tortures himself with memories of his father and he is shocked by the behaviour of his mother. He asks himself about human kind condition and psychological problems.

Gertrude: is the queen of Denmark, Hamlet's mother and wife of Claudius Gertrude is the antithesis of her son. Hamlet thinks that she is a disloyal woman without moral principles because she has married her brother-in- law almost immediately after the death of her husband. Gertrude is shallow, and thinks only about her body and external pleasures.

Claudius He is the brother of the dead king, and his murderer and successor to the throne of Denmark. His primary role in the play is to create Hamlet's confusion and anger. He is an intelligent and capable ruler

 Polonius: is the father of Ophelia and Laertes, courtier and minister of the usurper king. He is killed by Hamlet.  Ophelia: daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, she loves Hamlet and at the news of the death of his father, she drowns.  Laertes: Son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia, accuses Hamlet for the death of Ophelia  Fortinbras: prince of Norway

Shakespeare analyzes the meaning of life,and especially the ideas of love and death. Ambiguity and indecisions are the key-note of the tragedy. REVENGE AMBIGUITY DOUBTS AND INDECISIONS

 “Hamlet” is considered the tragedy of revenge, a theatrical genre much in vogue at the time of Shakespeare.  The play within the play is the moment in which Hamlet gets the proof of the guilt of Claudius so he can begin to prepare his plan against him.  In this way revenge can happen only after the research on the name of the guilty: it is necessary to verify the statements of the ghost.  Hamlet hated Claudius also before he knows the truth about the murder of his father, but his anger increased after her mother’s marriage and after the usurpation of the throne.  He wants revenge for his honour and for father’s.

 He pretends to be crazy to achieve its purpose more easily, to confuse his mother and his uncle and to hide his plan. In order to seem harmless and mocks the king, staging the representation of the true death of his father  Appearance is in contrast with reality that disgusts him and he would escape from it through suicide  A false madness can turn into real madness

 It’s also the play of doubts and indecisions which are familiar to a modern condition of the life tormented by a lack of certainties and an inability to communicate.  Hamlet torments himself with his thougths. In fact we find a lot of his philosophical reasonings about death and the deep essence of soul.  Hamlet thinks that all the pains,after his father's death, can be overcome through death. He doesn’t only refer to himself but to all men,their injuries,and their insolence.  The soliloquy of Hamlet “ to be or not to be” represents those doubts: he asks himself if is better to die, not knowing the future, or to suffer in all the time of the life, knowing the expected events. Man prefers to suffer instead of dealing with the unexpected.

« To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep… No more, and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to: ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil Must give us pause. There’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life, For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Th’oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th’unworthy takes When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action. »