SmartPass Audio Education Study Guide to Hamlet (Dramatised) recap

Prince Hamlet returns to Elsinore after his father's death and learns from the dead king's ghost that his uncle Claudius committed the murder before taking the crown and marrying Queen Gertrude. Hamlet adopts an erratic manner while testing the accusation, and a performance recreating the crime convinces him of Claudius's guilt. His delay and secrecy damage Ophelia and draw her father Polonius, her brother Laertes, and Hamlet's former friends into the conflict. Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius and is sent toward execution in England, but escapes. Ophelia loses her reason and drowns; Laertes returns seeking revenge and joins Claudius in a poisoned fencing plot. During the match Gertrude drinks poisoned wine, Laertes and Hamlet are both cut by the poisoned blade, and Laertes exposes the scheme. Hamlet kills Claudius before dying. Horatio survives to tell the story, while Fortinbras enters the ruined court and takes control of Denmark.

On the battlements at Elsinore, guards and Hamlet's friend Horatio see an armed apparition resembling the recently dead King Hamlet. Denmark is also preparing against possible action by the Norwegian prince Fortinbras. Inside the court, the dead king's brother Claudius has taken the throne and married Queen Gertrude. Prince Hamlet remains in mourning and resents both the marriage and the pressure to accept it. Horatio tells him about the apparition. Meanwhile, Laertes prepares to return to France and warns his sister Ophelia that Hamlet's romantic interest may not survive the obligations of royalty. Their father Polonius orders Ophelia to reject Hamlet's approaches. Hamlet goes to the night watch, where the apparition signals that it wants to speak with him alone.

The ghost claims to be Hamlet's father and says Claudius murdered him by pouring poison into his ear. It demands revenge against Claudius but tells Hamlet not to harm Gertrude. Hamlet makes Horatio and the guard Marcellus swear secrecy and hints that he may behave strangely as part of his response. Later, Ophelia reports that Hamlet has visited her in a disturbed state, and Polonius decides frustrated love explains the prince's conduct. Claudius and Gertrude summon Hamlet's old acquaintances Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to learn what is wrong. Hamlet quickly realizes they are acting for the king. A traveling acting company arrives, giving Hamlet a way to test the ghost's accusation: he plans a performance that resembles the alleged murder and will study Claudius's reaction.

Claudius and Polonius secretly observe an encounter between Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet rejects her and directs bitter attacks at love, marriage, and deception; Claudius concludes that love alone does not explain his behavior. Hamlet then stages the actors' account of a ruler killed through poison by a relative who wins the widow. Claudius abruptly stops the performance, which Hamlet and Horatio take as confirmation of guilt. Claudius tries to pray, acknowledging his crime to himself but finding that he cannot surrender the benefits gained from it. Hamlet comes upon him and could strike, yet delays because he fears killing a man at prayer may reward rather than punish him. Hamlet instead goes to confront Gertrude in her room while Polonius hides behind a hanging to listen.

During the confrontation with his mother, Hamlet hears movement behind the hanging and thrusts his sword through it, killing Polonius without first seeing whom he has struck. He condemns Gertrude's marriage and sees the ghost again, though Gertrude cannot see it. Claudius now regards Hamlet as immediately dangerous. He sends the prince to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, secretly enclosing orders for Hamlet's execution. Hamlet conceals Polonius's body before being forced to reveal its location. On the road he encounters troops connected with Fortinbras and is struck by the contrast between their readiness for action and his own delays. Back at Elsinore, Ophelia is overcome by her father's death and Hamlet's absence, speaking and singing in disordered fragments. Laertes returns at the head of an angry crowd, demanding an account of his father's death.

Hamlet sends word that he has returned to Denmark after pirates intercepted his voyage. Claudius redirects Laertes's anger toward Hamlet and proposes a fencing match in which Laertes will use a sharpened blade coated with poison. Claudius prepares poisoned wine as a second means of ensuring Hamlet's death. Gertrude then reports that Ophelia has drowned after falling into a stream. At the cemetery, Hamlet speaks with a gravedigger and reflects on the remains of people once known to him. The funeral party arrives, and Hamlet realizes the grave is Ophelia's. Laertes leaps into it in grief; Hamlet reveals himself, insists that his love for Ophelia was profound, and struggles with Laertes before they are separated. The court moves toward the fencing match under the appearance of reconciliation.

Hamlet tells Horatio that he discovered the execution order aboard the ship and replaced it with one condemning Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Despite an uneasy feeling, he accepts the fencing match with Laertes. Hamlet apologizes for his earlier conduct, and Laertes outwardly accepts while retaining the poisoned weapon. During the bout Gertrude drinks from Claudius's poisoned cup. Laertes wounds Hamlet; in the ensuing scuffle the men exchange swords, and Hamlet wounds Laertes with the same poisoned point. Gertrude dies, and Laertes confesses the plot and names Claudius. Hamlet kills Claudius with the blade and poisoned drink. Laertes and Hamlet die soon afterward, reconciled. Hamlet charges Horatio to tell the truth and supports Fortinbras's claim before his death. Fortinbras arrives to find the royal house destroyed, assumes authority in Denmark, and orders honors for Hamlet as Horatio prepares to recount the causes of the disaster.

At the arranged fencing match, Hamlet scores the first touches against Laertes but refuses the poisoned wine Claudius has prepared. Gertrude drinks from the cup without knowing the danger and collapses. Laertes then wounds Hamlet with the poisoned blade; in the struggle they exchange weapons, and Hamlet wounds Laertes with it. The dying Laertes admits the plot and identifies Claudius as its author. Hamlet stabs the king and forces him to drink the remaining poison, killing him. Hamlet and Laertes forgive one another before Laertes dies. With the poison overcoming him, Hamlet asks Horatio to live and give an accurate account of the events, then gives his support to Fortinbras as the next ruler and dies. Fortinbras arrives after returning from Poland, finds the Danish royal family destroyed, claims his right to the kingdom, and orders military honors for Hamlet. Horatio remains to explain how revenge, surveillance, accident, and planned murder brought the court to this end.