Copy Book Archive

The Tragedy of Hamlet The Prince of Denmark is bound to avenge his father’s murder.

In two parts

1600
Music: William Byrd and John Dowland

© DanNav, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0. Source

About this picture …

Kronborg Castle in Helsingør (Elsinore), the city in Denmark where Hamlet is set. © DanNav, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The Tragedy of Hamlet

Part 1 of 2

The Danish Prince came home to find his father mysteriously dead, and his uncle ready to marry his mother the Queen, and claim the crown.

HAMLET, heir to the throne of Denmark, was away from court when he heard his father had died, apparently of a snake-bite.

His distress only grew when he found, on his return to his home and to his love Ophelia, that his widowed mother was already preparing to marry his uncle, Claudius, so making him King in Hamlet’s place.

Yet that same night, the ghost of Hamlet’s father appeared. He told Hamlet how he had been poisoned by Claudius, and bound the boy to exact revenge.

Hamlet was caught in an agony of indecision, which he masked with increasingly eccentric behaviour.

It was only when his mother confronted him about his odd manner that things began to move.

As they talked, Hamlet heard a sound from behind the curtain. He struck with his sword, thinking it was a rat, and then, maybe Claudius. But it was Polonius, Ophelia’s father; Hamlet, too, was now a murderer of the innocent.

Jump to Part 2

Précis

Hamlet, heir to the throne of Denmark, returned home to find that his father was dead, and his uncle ready to marry the Queen and take the crown. His father’s ghost demanded that Hamlet avenge his murder. Even as he hesitated, unwilling to take any life, Hamlet killed the father of Ophelia, his lover, by accident. (56 / 60 words)

Part Two

© Rama, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0. Source

About this picture …

A rapier and its sword-basket.

HAMLET’S changed behaviour, and the death of her father, made Ophelia so unhappy that she cared nothing for her own life, and drowned in the river.

Claudius easily persuaded her brother Laertes to blame Hamlet. A supposedly friendly fencing match was arranged, in which only Laertes’s rapier would be sharpened, and tipped with poison.

Laertes managed to nick Hamlet with the poisoned tip, but in the struggle the swords changed hands, and to his horror Hamlet (who thought his sword was blunt) pierced Laertes through to the heart.

Amidst all this drama, no one noticed the Queen drink Hamlet’s wine — and the poison meant for him took his mother’s life.

Hamlet’s father, his mother, and Ophelia were all gone; he had killed Polonius and Laertes, and his own life was ebbing away. He now did what he had so long hesitated to do, and with his last strength, Hamlet ran Claudius through.

the end

Copy Book

Précis

After Ophelia drowned, Hamlet’s uncle Claudius offered to help her brother Laertes revenge himself on Hamlet in a sham fencing match. Laertes fatally wounded Hamlet, but both he and Hamlet’s mother were killed by poison intended for Hamlet. With his last breath, Hamlet avenged them and his father by killing Claudius. (51 / 60 words)

Source

Based on ‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

Suggested Music

1 2

Pavan and Galliard a 6 in C Major

William Byrd (1538-1623)

Performed by Fretwork.

Media not showing? Let me know!

Lachrimae Pavan

John Dowland (1563-1626)

Performed by Fretwork.

Media not showing? Let me know!

Related Posts

for The Tragedy of Hamlet

Stories in Short

Much Ado About Nothing

Don Pedro’s brother John tries to ensure that the course of true love does not run smooth.

Stories in Short

The Tempest

A duke with a passion for the art of enchantment is stranded by his enemies on a deserted island.

Stories in Short

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Hermia and her lover Lysander elope from Athens, only to become tangled with squabbling fairies in the woods.

Stories in Short

Two Gentlemen of Verona

Parted from his beloved Julia, Proteus follows his friend Valentine to Milan, where he meets the bewitching Silvia.

Stories in Short (27)
All Stories (1522)
Worksheets (14)
Word Games (5)