Hamlet - Video Summary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Visit us at www.gradesaver... to read the full video transcript and our study guide for this classic play, which includes a full list of characters, themes, and much more.
Hamlet is a tragedy written by Shakespeare at the turn of the 16th century. The play’s story, which can be traced back to a 12th-century Latin text, is about a Danish prince named Hamlet who seeks to avenge his father’s murder at the hands of his uncle, Claudius. The play is not only Shakespeare’s longest, but also one of his most iconic.
At the start of the play, the king of Denmark has died, and his brother Claudius has assumed the throne and married his late brother’s wife, Queen Gertrude. Consumed with grief over his father’s sudden death, Prince Hamlet is appalled by his mother’s marriage to Claudius, whose character is, he believes, inferior to that of his deceased father.
Little does Hamlet know, the ghost of his dead father appeared to his skeptical friend Horatio and two castle sentries the previous night. When Horatio tells Hamlet of this sighting, Hamlet decides to watch for the ghost himself that evening. Soon, the ghost appears. Addressing only Hamlet, the ghost says he’s come from purgatory to demand vengeance against his brother Claudius, who murdered him by pouring poison into his ear. Hamlet is shocked and vows to avenge his father’s murder by killing Claudius.
Meanwhile, Claudius’ chief advisor Polonius is concerned about his daughter Ophelia, who loves Hamlet but is confused by his gloomy mood lately. At first, Polonius orders his daughter to stay away from Hamlet, but he later becomes convinced that Ophelia’s lack of affection is the reason for Hamlet’s melancholy. Polonius decides to observe the couple together in secret, hiding behind a tapestry with Claudius. But when Ophelia tries to flirt with Hamlet, his mind is on his father’s murder, and he rebukes her advances, proving Polonius wrong.
Next, Claudius recruits Hamlet’s school friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to discover the reason for Hamlet’s foul mood, but Hamlet quickly realizes that his friends are working against him as spies. Dodging his questions, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Hamlet that they ran into a troupe of actors on their way to the castle and invited them along to perform for the court. Hamlet decides to have these actors perform a play based on the murder of his father, to see how Claudius reacts. If he seems rattled by the performance, it will prove his guilt.
Meanwhile, Claudius learns that Fortinbras, the prince of enemy Norway, has expressed interest in waging war on Denmark, owing to the recent change in the country’s leadership. Claudius is reassured, however, when he learns that Norway’s king has forbade Fortinbras from invading Denmark, and that the Norwegian army intends to invade a small area in Poland instead. To do so, they need Claudius’ permission to march through Denmark, which he grants.
That evening, Claudius indeed seems disturbed by the performance of Hamlet’s play, and even storms out, convincing Hamlet of his guilt. Hamlet decides to tell his mother, but on his way to her chamber, Hamlet overhears Claudius confessing his sins, including the murder, to God. Hamlet nearly kills Claudius, but stops short, realizing that if he killed his uncle while he was praying, Claudius would go straight to heaven.
Hamlet goes to Gertrude’s chamber and tries to convince his mother of Claudius’ evil character. Meanwhile, Polonius is once again spying on their conversation from behind a curtain. At one point, Gertrude misinterprets Hamlet’s words, thinking he intends to kill her. She screams out for help, causing Polonius to scream as well. Assuming it is Claudius behind the curtain, Hamlet stabs at the fabric, killing Polonius.
Following Polonius’ death, Hamlet’s friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern escort Hamlet on a diplomatic mission to England at the request of Claudius. However, Hamlet is unaware that Claudius gave them a letter for the English king, instructing him to have Hamlet killed upon his arrival. Soon, Hamlet discovers this letter in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s possession and secretly replaces it with one asking that his friends be killed instead of him.
Meanwhile, Polonius’ son Laertes, upset over his father’s murder, confronts Claudius and threatens to seize the throne from him with the help of an angry mob. Claudius assures him that Hamlet is responsible, and together, they decide to arrange for a casual duel between Hamlet and Laertes, who is a skilled swordsman. Secretly, they plan to line Laertes’ sword with poison, ensuring that even a small wound will kill Hamlet. As an added precaution, Claudius will prepare a cup of poison to give to Hamlet during the fight.
Returning home from his journey, Hamlet passes through a cemetery, encountering a gravedigger in the midst of preparing a new grave.
A very important thing that you don’t mention is that Hamlet is a tragic hero. He has heroic qualities but has one fatal flaw. He over thinks things which leads to procrastination. Upon careful exampination of the chapel scene, you’ll notice that Claudius isn’t actually asking for forgiveness. He basically is saying that he is already neck deep in all of this and there is no way out now. He wouldn’t have gone straight to heaven if he had been killed right then and there. Hamlet is no killer, and so he looks for any excuse to not do the deed. When Hamlets father says that Claudius murdered him, he doesn’t believe him. He puts on a “mask of antic disposition” and says that he must know for sure if his dad is telling the truth. Deep down he knows he is, but he cannot accept the role he’s given. Even after he finds out that Claudius did in fact kill his father via the play, he STILL puts the killing off. Hamlets procrastination and over thinking brings on his downfall, as well as others around him. He is truly, a tragic hero.
It’s worth nothing that there is some contention in the (vast) Hamlet scholarship about this perspective. For centuries, beginning with the first actor to play Hamlet, Richard Burbage, the character was played as a rather straightforward hero-type, who spends the play nobly getting to the bottom of things. It was really only once Freud (and later Olivier, with his “Tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind” reading of the play) came along, around the dawn of the 20th century, that the view of Hamlet as a procrastinator became commonly accepted. Now, that’s not to say that that perspective is wrong; I think there’s a ton of textual support for it, which you allude to, but I think the context is important/interesting.
He has a tragic story I guess but that hardly makes him a “hero”
I was under the impression that Claudius is actually praying in the strict sense of it, so Hamlet spared him. This explanation is great indeed.
A+
Hamlet has many heroic qualities: loyalty, honesty, morality & popularity.@LightYagami-ik1cg
This is absolutely great, but one thing to add. Some people say that Ophelia’s death was an accident, but others say that it was suicide. So, it’s really up to interpretation.
even there is no answer on comments
She drowned herself
She was plucking flowers for her father grave on the side of river and fell to that river. At that time she was mad so it considered as her suicide. I myself studied this drama word by word and I am pretty sure of it. Thanks
she was killed because Claudius believed she was a threat
excellent. We can actually hear what the person is saying, articulate and no unnecessary background music while the person is communicating. This is for learning not entertainment/learning. Bravo
I love to listen to summaries because I cant read! Im 1!
signed,
Joey (age 1)
I prefer this cuz I can't remember it if I just read it and I have an exam in 2 days
Ophelia did not kill herself due to Hamlet's rejection. She killed herself cuz she couldn't handle her father's death.
yes!!
In addition to Hamlet's rejection
Hamlets rejection played a big role in Ophelia's descent into madness
Denying that Ophelia died because Hamlet’s rejection drove her to madness is basically admitting you didn’t read or watch the play.
Thank god I found this, I have an exam about this story, GREAT VIDEO
Same man
me too
Same 🤣
same lmaoo
same
My favorite part of Hamlet was when he said "it's hammin' time" and then hammed all those other guys
"Let 's ham."
who LET him HAM 🤣😂
nice
read the whole play in class didn't remember 90% of it thx
Lmaoo 1:22 , “Hamlet is shocked”!
Hamlet: 😐
Lol😂
the exam is in 5 minutes, wish me luck
Wish luck my friend
How did it go?
How did it go?
Now it's one month 😅
We all come here 5min before the exam.😂
I’m not sure why we are told Ophelia killed herself? Not according to Shakespeare in Gertrude’s speech: Ophelia went mad, was playing by the river, making flower wreaths. She climbed a willow tree to hang the flower garlands on it, a bow broke and she fell in the water. Floating in the river, like her element, she didn’t understand the danger and her heavy dress sank her. Nothing here tells us she drowns herself by will. More like a death by insanity. The image correlates with an ondine/rusalka - a spirit of a drown beautiful young girl, that lives on in the river.
it seems pretty obvious that a woman who had her partner go mad and her dad die is depressed, during this time suicide would lead to the one who committed to be buried out of the churches grave yard. Gertrude even if she knows why she died would never state it was suicide. especially when it's clear she was not in the correct head space during this time
Claudius had her killed because he thought she was a threat////why didn't the person who witnessed her death try to help her? Its a made up report...
@@thebookwormhotel5336
That’s a fair point you know! Never thought of that
I have an exam tomorrow about this..
This really helped cause i didn’t read the book oops🙂
Sir,you did a great job,you have written the full story in description box.No other man didn't do this thing in their videos...
Thank you so much sir, for this...
Thanks!!
Thank you so much for your summary.This is very useful
Love The Artwork. Hats Off To Dan Ekis, Esau Figueroa And Claudi Giuliani.
They are phenomenal!
Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country referenced some voice lines from Hamlet, especially the Villain Chang feeding those voice lines to taunt James T Kirk
Thanks for the video easy to digest and understand the overview of the story, I only came here because I heard the director of sons of anarchy modeled his show after hamlet and it’s interesting to see how accurate that is
needed this for an essay, thank you for doing gods work lol
Anytime mate🙏
DID U PASS I NEED TO KNOW
Bill was one heck of a writer !
Dude youre a life saver l have un exam tommorow for this story thank you so much for making this video this helped alot
Not Me Watching This On The Morning Of The Exam 😭😭👌🏻
Am writing p2 tommorow and this is useful
This is an awesome story that I read when I was a senior in high school it made be a tradity it's a fun play to create
So basically the lion king with people
The lion king was a bit inspired by hamlet, yeah
This channel is the real saviour ❤
Thank you
Last exam and I'm finally done with school aghh
Thank you so much for this episodes
The transformation evident in this piece is remarkable. A book with akin material was a major milestone in my life. "The Art of Meaningful Relationships in the 21st Century" by Leo Flint
This is a great vid!
I'm about to watch a foreign language version of this play and i needed a rundown so bad
I just read this magnificent story and come here to remember it all. Great video
I loved it, keep up good the work!
As a tragedy, it's very effective and masterful. As something from which there is a lesson to be had, this fails communicating any moral righteous or otherwise.
There is no arc it's a straight up circle. A new foreign king to yet again uphold the vises and sins of the appointed royalty. Maybe I'm missing the point and the medium which is a classical tragedy, maybe not. Is it a commentary on the ever separate but ubiquitous agency of Monarchy? On how murder is such a effective political tool governments all over the world practically have made it legal? Age old lessons that were well trodden even when Shakespeare wrote this.
I’m writing tomorrow my final paper 2 tomorrow this was very helpful
The book is kak until i watched the drama😭❤️obrigado is thank u
Please add subtitles...❤
I owe you so much that you cannot even imagine
omg thanks so much for this!!
Happy to help!
Great video. Thanks. Now to look up Ophelia.
Every shakespearic main male protagonist have an underlying tone of the people closest to them driving them into madness and revenge ,i have observed this in hamlet and maqbeth,but not in merchant of venice ,thats why merchant of venice story will always be my first preference
Thanks for this😢❤
ophelia was driven to madness by the killing of her father, not by hamlet's rejection. Maybe his rejection played a part in her madness, but the last straw was the murder of her father. we don't know if it was suicide or an accident caused by her madness, its up for interpretation
Well, she has driven mad with grief for her father but also that Hamlet (who she loved but is rejected by him) murdered her father in cold blood
thank you
Great video thank u so much
This is great
12 th century latin text... Hamlet tragedy... Denmark royalty ....
Thanks! This was useful
Not here for an exam, I just like the story
It helped a lot, great video
No, Hamlet is about Henry and Ann Boleyn,etc
Complete
But why did Claudius want hamlet to stay
he didn't which is why he sent him away to be killed... but if you mean why didnt claudius kill him from the get go? well hamlet was well liked by the general public and also claudius wouldnt have wanted to upset gertrude so it wouldnt have been tactful for claudius to murder hamlet as he would have received a lot of backlash
Very nice
why is hamlet so fine istg
Fr💀
Not everyone contemplating sbout Ophelia's death when Shakespear explains in Getrutes speech hw she collected flowers and sang at the river she fell in of course she couldn't swim becoz in those days if you could swim you were considered a witch so how could she save herself
Who is with me here watching this video and writing the Hamlet essay tomorrow. 😂
Thnqq so much
Nice step
For those that don’t know this is what lion king is based off
My sibling called this play whack when she studied it in high school.
Thank you for this 🌟
Thanks fir the homework boi
here 2hours before my exam 😭
15 Jun 2023 first time to know the story of this play.
My English teacher told me half the story today
Real accurate to the name. This saved my grade
thats sick
Me watching this 1hr before eng paper 2 for the lc 💀 I'm cooked man
Hamlet is the hero
Claudis uncle (who killed hamlet father)
Queen Gertrude (marries the uncle)
Can you please activate the spanish subtitles?
We actually have the Spanish version here! th-cam.com/video/jZ255SMeu7Q/w-d-xo.htmlsi=SPNQ944MLtMVzemv
Im COOKED
I find this funny to find the video two days after I watched the 2009 film. David Tennant was a great Hamlet ❤
Yuck he's dreadful
Wow pls make a cartoon movie version😅 👍
so Gertrude wants to poison her son? Gertrude is bad? How did Gertrude died though?
Station 11 ....HBO Max
I wish I listened in class
Hamlet is so hot😍
😏
also hamlet does not stab Claudius he tells him to drink from same cup
Gertrude did
he actually does both
fala striček trebam za lektiru
Cover The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian! A Raisin in the Sun! Huckleberry Finn! Or Holes! WHEN?!
Also Hamlet found the document in cladius's chamber
Ya why does it show that he found it with Rozenchratz and Guildenstern so then when did they not notice it was gone if Hamlet had to change the script of the letter
Wasnt Claudius killed by drinking the poison because Hamlet told him to prove he was innocent?
Exam in 3hrs
Haider
i have an exam tmr....tho i have the book im just way 2 lazy
go study kid
Why do you use iconic isnt that a holy word
No? Iconic mean like well known
Tap in if your from thornridge and writing tomorrow,7 june 2023
❤❤
I was dissapointed by Hamlet because I was expecting more comedy.
Hello, just a cheeky one, kind of. I have just completed Act 1, Scene 1, of "Hamlet" involving cats on my channel, if anybody is interested to see. Please be gentle, it's ny first time (at trying to make a video!) 💕
Sons of anarchy inspired
Mel Gibson always was Hamlet
Writing in 2 hours😂
Wait how did Gertrude die
she drank the poisoned wine at the fencing match that was intended for hamlet
title vedio
I love u ❤
this is not deateled
i read the book before dont watch if u have exam
This video is 8 minutes long and the show is 2+ hours long of course it isn't gonna be detailed
👍🍐💎❤️👌😍
Matric 2023 tomorrow eng p2 be like...
Everyone else here too bc they have an exam or essay?