The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark recap

Prince Hamlet returns to a Danish court transformed by his father's death and his mother Gertrude's marriage to his uncle Claudius. His father's ghost says Claudius murdered him and demands revenge. Hamlet adopts erratic behavior while testing the accusation, alienating Ophelia and alarming the court. A play that mirrors the alleged murder provokes Claudius, confirming his guilt. Hamlet delays killing him, then mistakenly kills Ophelia's father Polonius and is sent toward England under a secret death order, which he redirects against Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Ophelia loses her sanity and dies; her brother Laertes returns seeking vengeance. Claudius arms Laertes with a poisoned sword and prepares poisoned wine for a fencing match. Gertrude drinks the wine, Laertes and Hamlet wound each other with the poisoned blade, and Laertes exposes the plot. Hamlet kills Claudius before dying. Fortinbras arrives to find the royal house destroyed and assumes rule, while Horatio survives to explain what happened.

Denmark is tense after the death of King Hamlet and the accession of his brother Claudius, who has also married the widowed Queen Gertrude. Guards at Elsinore have seen an armed ghost resembling the dead king, and Horatio brings Prince Hamlet to watch for it. Hamlet is already grieving and disgusted by his mother's quick remarriage. The ghost speaks privately to him, claiming that Claudius poured poison into the sleeping king's ear and stole both crown and queen. It commands Hamlet to avenge the murder while sparing Gertrude from physical harm. Hamlet makes Horatio and the guards swear secrecy and warns that he may behave strangely to conceal his purpose. Elsewhere, Laertes departs for France after warning his sister Ophelia not to trust Hamlet's courtship. Their father Polonius reinforces the warning and orders Ophelia to reject Hamlet. By the act's close, Hamlet accepts the burden of revenge but has only the ghost's account and no settled plan for acting on it.

Polonius sends a servant to investigate Laertes in Paris. Ophelia then reports that Hamlet came to her looking disordered and distraught; Polonius decides rejected love has driven the prince mad. Claudius and Gertrude invite Hamlet's old companions Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to discover the cause of his behavior. Ambassadors report that Norway has restrained Fortinbras from attacking Denmark, though his army will cross Danish territory toward Poland. Hamlet recognizes that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were summoned to watch him and refuses to confide in them. A company of actors arrives, and a player's emotional account of an ancient revenge sharpens Hamlet's shame at his own inaction. He asks the company to perform a drama about a ruler's murder and plans to add lines resembling the ghost's accusation. By observing Claudius during the performance, Hamlet hopes to obtain evidence stronger than a supernatural claim that might be misleading him.

Claudius and Polonius secretly observe a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet rejects her, condemns marriage and corruption, and leaves her grieving; Claudius concludes that frustrated love does not fully explain his danger. At the court performance, Hamlet comments pointedly as the actors stage a king's poisoning and the murderer's courtship of the widow. Claudius abruptly stops the play, convincing Hamlet and Horatio that the ghost spoke truth. Left alone, Claudius admits his guilt in prayer but finds himself unable to surrender the rewards of the crime. Hamlet discovers him kneeling and postpones revenge because he does not want to kill Claudius at a moment that appears spiritually favorable. During a heated confrontation with Gertrude, Hamlet hears someone hiding behind a curtain and thrusts his sword through it, killing Polonius, whom he had mistaken for Claudius. The ghost briefly returns to redirect Hamlet toward his neglected task. Gertrude cannot see it and becomes more alarmed about her son's state.

Hamlet conceals Polonius's body and treats Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with open contempt. Claudius sends him to England with them, secretly ordering the English king to execute Hamlet. On the way, Hamlet encounters troops led by Fortinbras's captain and is struck by their willingness to risk death over a small disputed territory, renewing his resolve. In Denmark, Ophelia's grief over her father's death overwhelms her sanity. Laertes returns at the head of an angry crowd, initially ready to overthrow Claudius, but the king redirects his demand for justice toward Hamlet. Ophelia appears distributing flowers and speaking in fragments, then later drowns in a stream. News arrives that Hamlet has escaped the voyage and is returning. Claudius and Laertes arrange a fencing match in which Laertes will use an unblunted sword coated with poison; Claudius also prepares a poisoned drink in case the blade fails. Their scheme is in place when Gertrude announces Ophelia's death.

Back in Denmark, Hamlet watches gravediggers prepare Ophelia's grave and reflects over the skull of the court jester Yorick, whom he knew as a child. When the funeral party arrives, Hamlet learns whose burial it is, declares his love for Ophelia, and grapples with the furious Laertes. Hamlet later tells Horatio that he found Claudius's execution order during the voyage, replaced it with instructions that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern be killed, and returned after a pirate attack. He accepts a fencing challenge against Laertes despite a sense of danger. During the match, Gertrude drinks from Claudius's poisoned cup. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned blade, but the men exchange weapons and Hamlet wounds Laertes with it. As Gertrude dies, Laertes confesses the conspiracy and identifies Claudius. Hamlet kills the king with both sword and poison. Laertes and Hamlet forgive one another before dying. Hamlet asks Horatio to live and tell the truth, naming Fortinbras as his likely successor. Fortinbras arrives, assumes authority over the ruined court, and orders military honors for Hamlet.

At Ophelia's funeral, Hamlet reveals himself and struggles with Laertes in the grave. Claudius then arranges their fencing match using a sharpened, poisoned blade and a poisoned cup as a second method. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the treated weapon; in the scuffle they exchange swords, and Hamlet wounds Laertes with it. Gertrude unknowingly drinks from the poisoned cup and dies. The dying Laertes admits the plot and blames Claudius. Hamlet stabs Claudius and forces him to drink the remaining poison, killing him, then forgives Laertes before both men die. Hamlet prevents Horatio from taking his own life and charges him to tell the true story. Fortinbras arrives from Poland, claims the Danish throne, and orders Hamlet honored as a soldier. The royal family is dead, and political authority passes to Norway's prince.