For example he is not as heartless as his behaviour suggests and we get an insight into his remorse for the bad things he has done. That’s where the term ‘hoisted by one’s own petard’ comes from – Hamlet’s description to Horatio of what he thinks is going to happen.Ĭlaudius is one of the most rounded of Shakespeare’s villains. So many characters die in that scene that Shakespeare has to bring in extra characters to carry the bodies off the stage! During the course of the play all those who have plotted against Hamlet die in the execution of their plots. The duel takes place in the final scene of the play. Matters do take their own course and the wrongdoers do meet their ends in the final scene.Ĭlaudius arranges a fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes, the son of Polonius, recently killed accidentally by Hamlet and he and Laertes plot to murder Hamlet in the match by poisoning the tip of Laertes’ sword. A Christian theme creeps into the text here as Hamlet decides to let Heaven punish the wrongdoers. He gives up all thought of avenging his father’s death, deciding that he will just allow matters to take their course. Hamlet manages to escape from that trap and, with the help of pirates, returns to Denmark. He and his most senior aide, Polonius, spy on him themselves as well, and as the threat grows, he finally sends Hamlet on a mission to England and gives instructions to the English king to execute him. He employs some of Hamlet’s fellow students to spy on him. He is a ruthless murderer sheltering behind the facade of a genial, likeable king. But that doesn’t stop Claudius from regarding him as a threat and he begins to plot against Hamlet’s life. For several reasons he just can’t bring himself to act. Hamlet finds himself paralysed by his inability to know what to do and is simply unable to do as the ghost has instructed him. Hamlet goes to the battlements and his father’s ghost appears and tells him that he was murdered by his brother and that Hamlet should avenge his murder. He tells Hamlet that the guards on the castle battlements have seen the ghost of the dead king and that he should check it out for himself.
Hamlet’s university friend, Horatio, has also come for the king’s funeral. He’s also galled by Claudius’ pleasure-seeking habits – his eating and drinking and his excessive sexual appetite.īoth Claudius and Gertrude attempt to break through to Hamlet, imploring him to take off his black mourning suit and realise that everyone dies, that one just has to get back to normal and carry on with one’s life. What is particularly galling for Hamlet is that his mother has married this man who, compared with his late father, is a parody of a king.
The young man he has disinherited is an inexperienced student, a private, inward-looking man, not having the first idea of how to deal with the situation in which he finds himself. It is a giddy situation, everything happening very fast, and Hamlet is stunned into a surly sulk.Ĭlaudius is a smooth-tongued, self-assured and convincing man – an experienced politician – and he slips easily into the role of king, where he takes command and presents himself as a charismatic national leader. On the death of his father, the king of Denmark, the young prince returns from university to the Danish court at Elsinore Castle only to find that his father’s brother, Claudius has not only managed to make himself king, but has also married his brother’s widow, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Each Shakespeare’s play name links to a range of resources about each play: Character summaries, plot outlines, example essays and famous quotes, soliloquies and monologues: All’s Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry VIII Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry V Julius Caesar King John King Lear Loves Labour’s Lost Macbeth Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor A Midsummer Night’s Dream Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles Richard II Richard III Romeo & Juliet The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus & Cressida Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Winter’s Tale This list of Shakespeare plays brings together all 38 plays in alphabetical order. Plays It is believed that Shakespeare wrote 38 plays in total between 15.