Synopsis of Hamlet
The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark tells the story of the young heir to the Danish throne, whose dead father appears to him as a ghost on the castle walls, to invoke his revenge, since his death was not natural but was poisoned by his own wife Gertrude, mother of Hamlet, and his brother and current king, Claudius.
Young Hamlet, fearing that he has gone mad, decides to see if what the ghost says is true. He then organizes a theatrical performance with a company of actors, in which they stage the death of his father as it happened. Hamlet watches the reaction of the kings and finds in the indignation of his uncle Claudius the evidence of his guilt.
But even though he is now determined to exact revenge, Hamlet hesitates when presented with the opportunity to murder his uncle and ends up behaving like a madman, with no one knowing if he has really lost his mind or if it is a ploy to hide himself.
Thus, he sneaks into his mother’s room one night, ready to confront her and make her confess, and believing that King Claudius is spying on them behind a curtain, he draws his sword and murders Polonius, the chamberlain of the kingdom and Ophelia’s father. his fiancee. The latter, desperate with grief, believing that she had lost not only her father but also the love of her delirious prince, commits suicide.
King Claudius then devises a plan to get rid of Hamlet and sends him to England in the company of two of his most faithful men: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to be assassinated. But the pirates storm the ship they are sailing on and free the prince, who returns to the kingdom in time to be challenged to a duel by Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, who has recently arrived from abroad.
To ensure Hamlet’s death, King Claudius poisons the tip of Laertes’s sword, and that’s when everything goes wrong: Laertes and Hamlet mortally wound each other, and in the despair of combat, Queen Gertrude also takes of a poisoned cup. King Claudius’ plan is exposed in this way and Hamlet finally dares to kill him, avenging his father in the last moments of his life. The story culminates with the arrival of Fortinbrás, prince of Norway, who seizes the now vacant throne.
What you should know about Hamlet
- The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (in English The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark), known simply as Hamlet, It is one of the most famous of the many plays written by the great English poet and playwright, William Shakespeare (1564-1616), and is perhaps one of the most famous stories in Western literature.
- It was written between 1599 and 1601, judging by the various surviving versions of it (at least three different and fragmentary ones).
- It was surely inspired by the Scandinavian medieval legend of Amleth, as well as by an Elizabethan work that is now lost, but referred to in other texts of the time, which has been called ur hamlet (sort of like “original Hamlet”), possibly written by Thomas Kyd or even by Shakespeare himself.
- From the beginning, Hamlet was a very popular and later significant piece for literary scholars, but its cultural importance is such that it has been used by thinkers and writers from other disciplines (psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, politics, etc.) to exemplify or explain their own concepts.
- Young Hamlet is considered one of the most significant characters in Western literature and mentality, and his story has been performed billions of times, it has been versioned, updated and also taken to the movies and other formats.
What is a synopsis?
A synopsis is a summary or general summary of an artistic work or narrative, usually from books, films or plays. It offers the reader a panoramic vision of what he will find if he decides to read, see or witness the work; in fact, the word synopsis comes from the Greek words syn (“together”) and opsis (“vision”), so that it can be understood as an “overview” or “general vision”.
A synopsis commonly addresses the overall theme of the story, mentions its main characters and what motivates them, and outlines the plot. The experience of reading a synopsis is like swallowing an information pill, a condensed fragment, so that it can never really replace the direct experience of the work, but it can serve as an appetizer for the work.
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