wherefore art thou hamlet

author: Shakespeare. Wrote about a billion sonnets and several well-loved plays, including Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, and Taming of the Shrew.Writes often in iambic pentameter, as was the style back in Elizabethan England. He lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s, with Hamlet being estimated to have been written around the turn of the century.

setting: The castle of Elsinore in Denmark, in the beforetimes. It was written around 1600 but based on (ripped from) the existing oral tradition of Amleth, so it could have taken place anywhen.

plot: The play begins a few months after the death of the old king Hamlet. His wife Gertrude has married Hamlet's brother Claudius. Hamlet's son, henceforth Hamlet, is not happy with this incestuous relationship, especially considering his mother's lack of mourning for her husband's death. Some unimportant guards are chilling on the nightwatch when they see the ghost of the old king appear and walk around.

Analysts agree the opening scene of Hamlet inspired the "Graveyard Shift"

episode of popular children's show Spongebob Squarepants

They bring the learned Horatio to see if he can glean any more information from it, and he cannot, so they decide to fetch young Hamlet. He's bumming about, getting snippy at his mother and half-step-dad-uncle-in-law. They allow Laertes, son of the vizier Polonius, to return to school in France because it's up to them, and implore Hamlet to not go back to school. He agrees. It's at the start of this part that we learn of the tensioned situation between Denmark and Norway: Fortinbras, son of the old king of Norway, was levying troops to attack Denmark and regain the lands that were lost when Old Hamlet defeated his father. Fortinbras's uncle, reigning king, gave him a stern talking-to, and now he just wants to "attack Poland."

The next scene shows us the relationship between Laertes and his sister, Ophelia. He tells her not to take Hamlet's affections too seriously, because even if he does love her, he isn't allowed to choose that sort of thing for himself and Ophelia will wind up getting hurt. Polonius intrudes on their sibling talk to give Laertes all this going-away advice, a la Willy Loman, even though Laertes has left home before.

Horatio and company bring Hamlet to the nightwatch spot and he meets the ghost, which leads him off somewhere alone, much to the distress of Horatio who fears for his sanity and safety. The ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius is a usurper, that he killed Old Hamlet by poisoning him and then got with his lady. Hamlet shouts "O my prophetic soul!" and resolves to revenge his father. In a matter of seconds he comes up with the plan to pretend to be insane, for some reason, and then makes his best friend Horatio and that other guy Marcellus swear by his sword not to let on that they know.

Next we see Polonius instructing Reynaldo, another character that doesn't need a name, to spread rumors around France of Laertes and his sexcapades and copious drug use. He leaves, and Ophelia comes in, distraught. Hamlet came into her private chamber all in a tizzy, acting crazy. Polonius goes to Claudius and Gertrude with this information, proposing that Hamlet could be crazy for Ophelia.

Hamlet's apparent madness prompts Claudius to deploy Rosencrantzbot and Guildensternbot due to some weird political dynamic where he could be deposed if his next-in-line is unfit for the throne. He plans to use Hamlet's childhood friends to spy on him, hoping to learn what's happening in his noggin. They speak with Hamlet but are unable to glean much; Hamlet sees that Claudius sent them. A theatre troupe comes, much to Hamlet's excitement. He flaunts his theatre (I guess I'm using a British English locale on this machine?) knowledge by reciting an excerpt from a play, and then he decides to use the players to stage a story that parallels the murder of Old Hamlet for Claudius to confirm his guilt.

Right around this time, Hamlet is pondering suicide, when Ophelia enters. Polonius and Claudius are spying on Hamlet as he talks to Ophelia, hoping to affirm his maddening love for the girl. Hamlet suspects he is being watched, and doesn't offer any clues to the falseness of his madness, other than one overt death threat at the end of his "Get the to a nunnery!" tirade. Claudius is now understandably apprehensive and doesn't think Hamlet is mad for Ophelia.

Now Hamlet's play happens. He asks Horatio to watch Claudius as well, for certainty's sake, and then flirts a bit with an uncomfortable Ophelia. Sure enough, Claudius is clearly perturbed by the play. He goes to pray, and Hamlet decides not to kill him then as he would go to Heaven. He continues on to respond to his mother's beckoning, and goes on another tirade, this time berating her for her incestuous marriage. Polonius makes some noise because he was spying and Hamlet runs him through with a sword and he dies in a satisfyingly cheesy fashion. Old Hamlet's ghost appears here, but only to Hamlet, to whet his appetite for revenge. Hamlet then "lugs the guts" out of his mother's room. Claudius decides to ship Hamlet off to England and secretly sends an execution order with him. Hamlet passes Norway's army on the way out.

Gertrude is told that Ophelia has lost it too since her father died, and in her delirious songs she implies that Hamlet took her virginity. She also criticizes some of the other characters. Laertes returned from France furious, wanting revenge. Seeing his sister fueled his desire greatly. Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet, saying pirates, and then they meet in a graveyard for some reason and Hamlet tells Horatio about the execution orders and how he forged some for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in his stead. He then hops out and tells Laertes that he didn't really love his sister, and they fight in her grave. Claudius conspires with Laertes to kill Hamlet with a poison/duel combo.

Osric, yet another character who needs no name, comes to deliver the 'friendly' duel invitation to Hamlet. Hamlet screws with his head and then sends a yes, and then wonders to Horatio if he will survive the duel, put on by a man who sentenced him to death, with a man whose father Hamlet killed. He figures it doesn't matter, Jesus is in charge, and goes to the fight. Hamlet does pretty well, and Gertrude drinks from the poisoned wine to celebrate. Then Laertes hits Hamlet with the poisoned blade, they swap weapons, Laertes is wounded with the poisoned sword, and he confesses what happened, and then Hamlet kills the king, and everybody is dead. Hamlet's dying words are spent telling Horatio to not kill himself and to tell the story of what happened here. Fortinbras enters, comically nonchalant, and takes the throne.

characters:
Hamlet: the prince of Denmark, a Renaissance man admired by the people. Hamlet isn't exactly paranoid, because when he doubts other characters he is, without exception, correct. He is very cynical, and ponders some dark things. What happens after death? Should I kill myself? His thoughts on kings dying calls to mind the Tyler Durden quote from Fight Club: "You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else."

Claudius: the usurper king. He killed his brother for his throne and his wife. He is guilty but not regretful; he reveals as much while he prays.

Gertrude: Hamlet's mother, and sort of aunt. She married her husband's brother after he died. She loves Hamlet, and realizes her transgressions when Hamlet confronts her.

Polonius: A wise fool. Father of Laertes and Ophelia. He gets killed by Hamlet while spying. He works throughout the play to presumably heighten his standing in the court, but is shown to be foolish at times. He doesn't see through Hamlet's clear ruse, and he is very pretentious when speaking with royal figures, using excessive and pompous language.

Laertes: Polonius's son. Enraged by the death of his father, and by the insanity and suicide of his sister.

Ophelia: Hamlet's sort-of girlfriend. It is implied that she is pregnant and that Hamlet will not marry her. Hamlet's "Get thee to a nunnery" tirade could be a response to finding out she is pregnant. When her father dies, and when Hamlet won't marry her, she descends into insanity, realizing her life is effectively over.

Horatio: Hamlet's best pal. He is a learned man, and seems to have no real enemies. He seems to be calm and levelheaded at all times, except for when he considers drinking the poisoned wine while Hamlet is dying. Played by Big Hutch.

Fortinbras: Foil to Hamlet, in that their lives are pretty much identical.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Hamlet's childhood friends, brought to Elsinore by Claudius to spy on him.

style: Hamlet is full of double-meanings and subtle details. From specific words being ambiguous, such as 'nunnery' and 'rue,' to whole scenes like anything with Ophelia, the reader is just as uncertain about the meanings of characters' actions as the people of Elsinore.

tone: Hamlet has a foreboding tone through much of the piece. The ghost appears immediately in the play, and numerous times Hamlet is soliloquizing about death and suicide, and there is plenty of killings of family and friends, the people you're supposed to love most. The ambiguity of the characters' words and actions gives this dark tone a certain uncertainty, making it sort of foreboding.

Point of view: it's a play.

symbolism: Ophelia's flowers each symbolize something, and there are no stage directions given to indicate which character receives which flower, so directors have a very powerful tool at their disposal. For example, rue symbolizes regret and pity.

imagery: I don't have much to say here, other than allusions to Greek mythology occasionally, if that counts here.

Quotes (there are so many!):
"Lend every man thy ear but few thy voice" Polonius's instruction to Laertes may have saved his own life had he followed it. In Elsinore, one must be observant and secretive. Take in every hint but present none to anybody else. Don't involve yourself unless you must.

"There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow." Hamlet truly accepts that he will die, and that's okay. He accepts that it is in God's hands.

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go." Claudius shows his guilt in his prayer but acknowledges he doesn't truly regret killing his brother. His feelings are also summed up in the quote: "May one be pardon'd and retain th' offence?"