Hamlet the king of Denmark

King Hamlet of Denmark passed away; his brother Claudius inherited the throne of Denmark. Claudius then married the King’s widow, Queen Gertrude. The sad Queen had to move on her life, therefore, she was quite happy when Claudius married her. But not everyone was happy for this marriage. The King Hamlet’s son, Prince Hamlet, was not happy. He felt sad for himself and his mother. He knew much about his uncle, Claudius. As far as he knew, Claudius was not a good man. He recognized Claudius as a cheater and deceitful person. So when Claudius was proclaimed to be the Danish King and married his mother, Prince Hamlet was angry, sad and uncomfortable. The sad prince was no longer close to his mother. He now talked more a lot to his best friend, Horatio.

One chilly night in Elsinore, the Danish Royal Castle, several guards around the castle claimed to witness a ghost. The guards believed that the ghost was King Hamlet. It was quite unbelievable but however, the rumor finally reached Prince Hamlet’s ear. Prince Hamlet then secretly went into the woods around the castle to prove the rumor. It was true. The ghost appeared before the eyes of Prince Hamlet. The Prince then cried sadly when he saw the ghost of his own father that he loved so much. The ghost showed his sad and pale face. Surprisingly, the ghost opened his mouth and began to talk to Hamlet. The ghost told Hamlet that he was really truly Hamlet’s father. The ghost revealed the shocking truth; the ghost, The King Hamlet, Hamlet’s father, was not died, but he was murdered. Hamlet shocked hearing this, but he was not surprised when the ghost told him that the one who murdered him was Claudius. The ghost told that Claudius poured poison into the King’s ears. Hamlet then decided to take revenge to Claudius, the new King of Denmark, Hamlet’s step father.

Back in the castle, Hamlet felt a little bit confused. He wanted to take the revenge but he got no evidence to prove that Claudius was guilty. Hamlet then got an idea. He invited some actors to perform a story in the castle. He also invited his mother and Claudius to watch the play. Hamlet asked the actors to perform how a man killed his older brother to get his older brother’s throne, so that the man could inherit the kingdom and marry his older brother’s wife. Just the same story as Hamlet believed about the murder of his father by Claudius. Hamlet planned to see the Claudius reaction when the scene of the murdering played. Hamlet paid full attention to Claudius’s facial expression. When the scene of the murdering happened, Claudius seemed very nervous. He stood up and left the room immediately without telling the reason to Gertrude and Hamlet. This is it; Hamlet was thinking; Claudius is guilty! Since then, he promised himself to kill Claudius with his own hands, when the right time came.

To save the plan of the revenge and to remove the track of the plan, Hamlet pretended to be insane. He now acted like a depressed man. He showed his sad face at all times even when his heart was full of passion and willingness to kill Claudius. He did this so that Claudius was not suspicious to Hamlet’s plan.

Now everyone was worried for Hamlet’s strange behavior. Hamlet truly looked like a crazy and depressed man. His mother, Claudius, even Horatio felt worried about his condition. There was another person who felt worried about Hamlet too. She was Ophelia, the daughter or Polonius, the most trusted chamberlain in the castle, who was also the servant of Claudius. Ophelia and Hamlet liked each other. They actually loved each other but they didn’t admit that, especially now, in this condition, when Hamlet was thinking and planning something more serious.

Days passed, Hamlet was still acting crazy. He didn’t talk to anyone. Claudius worried that Hamlet would go crazy far. Claudius worried that Hamlet might plan something also crazy or even dangerous for Claudius. So, secretly, Claudius ordered Polonius to follow Hamlet everywhere he went and every time he started to talk to somebody.

One day, when Gertrude finally could not be patient Hamlet’s behavior, she called Hamlet into her room. She wanted to talk to Hamlet why he acted strange these days. Polonius heard about this meeting. He decided to hide somewhere to seek the useful information from the talk between Hamlet and his mother.

Gertrude and Hamlet were in the room. Gertrude disappointedly asked and wondered why Hamlet was now changing to be strange. There it went, the words of disappointment from Hamlet about the life of her mother getting married with Claudius, came out dramatically. Hamlet also demanded for an explanation to his mother for his father’s death. When Gertrude could not answer why King Hamlet died, Hamlet became very angry. Suddenly, Hamlet heard noise from the curtain. He was sure there was someone hiding behind the curtain. Believing it was Claudius, Hamlet suddenly drew his sword and stabbed it deeply into the curtain. Blood faded in the curtain. There fell a body, but it was not Claudius. It was Polonius.

Ophelia was mad hearing this. She could not believe it was Hamlet who killed Polonius, her father. Ophelia was so depressed that she finally committed suicide by drowning herself into big and strong current river. Laertes, the son of Polonius, Ophelia’s older brother who was staying in France, finally heard about this. In rage, he sailed back to Denmark, searching the murderer of his father and the one who should be responsible for his sister’s suicide.

ack in Elsinore, when Laertes was deeply in grief in front of his father’s and his sister’s grave, the sly Claudius approached him. Claudius convinced him that the only one who was supposed to be responsible for his family’s death was Hamlet. No one else but Hamlet. Laertes believed this. Sometime later, Laertes came to the castle, and in great anger, he challenged Hamlet to have a sword duel. Hamlet was totally confused and feeling bad about this. He did not kill Polonius in purpose. He was also still in grief that the woman he loved, Ophelia, killed herself. In a great stress, pressure and confuse, Hamlet could not say a word but accepting the challenge.

The next day, the duel officially began. The room was full of spectators, including Claudius, Gertrude and Horatio. At the moment before the duel started, the sly Claudius spread Laertes’s sword with deadly poison. Claudius hoped that Hamlet would die fast even Laertes gave Hamlet a small cut. Even if Hamlet won the duel, Claudius had prepared the backup plan; Claudius poured poison into a glass of wine, and gave it to Hamlet after the duel, pretending to be the wine of celebration.

So the match began. At the first part, Hamlet dominated the duel. He cut Laertes many times. He could have killed Laertes, but in Hamlet’s mind, the vision of Ophelia always came across. It was no surprise since Laertes was Ophelia’s true brother. They looked alike.

The first round was over. When Hamlet was approaching his place, Claudius offered Hamlet a glass of wine that he already set up. Claudius did this because he was worried that Hamlet would win the duel. But somehow, Hamlet refused the wine. He felt lazy to drink the wine offered by his step father. He just didn’t feel like to drink it. The match was not over yet, he was thinking.

The second round began. Hamlet now was in the opposite condition. He was hurt by Laertes several times. Laertes somehow dominated the match. The match now turned into fierce and serious fight. The both men seemed passionate to kill each other. Strange thing happened; Hamlet felt so weak. He was cut several times, so that meant the poison cut him several times. Hamlet felt that he was not as strong as the first round.

In the middle of the fierce fight, not far from the men were fighting; there was a person fell down to the ground. It was a woman. It was Gertrude. Hamlet suddenly stopped fighting and ran to his mother. He held his mother in his arms. He saw an empty glass rolled just next to his mother. He took it and smelled it. It smelled of wine. He soon found out that it was the wine which should be drunk by Hamlet, the wine that was offered by Claudius. Hamlet now realized why Claudius was so kind to give Hamlet the wine. The wine was poured with poison. Gertrude soon died in Hamlet’s holding arms. Hamlet felt the world stopped.

When Hamlet was still in shock for his mother’s death, Laertes who was still in rage, attacked Hamlet. He did not wish to stop the fight. But it did not take a long time. Even when Hamlet got a stab, Hamlet successfully killed Laertes and knocked him down. After killing Laertes, with little energy left, he ran to approach Claudius and successfully stabbed him to death. He was now satisfied that he already accomplished his revenge.

Not soon after the death of Gertrude, Laertes and Claudius, Hamlet felt his body weaker. He finally fell to the ground. The poison was almost done working. Horatio soon ran to Hamlet and hold Hamlet with his arms. But Hamlet could not feel Horatio’s arms. He even could not feel his own body. Finally, without saying any last word, Hamlet took his last breath and died in his best friend’s arms.

Horatio had lived to spread the story of the life of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark.