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Hamlet Act 1 Summary
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0:00
RALPH: The Tragedy of Hamlet opens on the battlements at Elsinore castle in Denmark. SARAH: Two guards meet up with Horatio, a friend of Prince Hamlet, and another soldier, Marcellus. RALPH: The guards tell Horatio that they’ve been seeing a ghost on the battlements, and that it looks like the dead King Hamlet. SARAH: King Hamlet was Prince Hamlet’s father, right? RALPH: That’s right. SARAH: Both named Hamlet? That’s confusing. RALPH: Suddenly the ghost appears,
0:23
but it won’t talk to them and then leaves with the coming of dawn. Horatio decides to tell Prince Hamlet about the ghost. SARAH: Later, at the council chambers, the new King of Denmark, Claudius, addresses his court. RALPH: Claudius is the brother of the dead King Hamlet. SARAH: King Hamlet’s brother? RALPH: That’s right. SARAH: But if King Hamlet had a son, Prince Hamlet, why didn’t Prince Hamlet become King? RALPH: In Denmark, a council selects the next king, but it’s still a good question.
0:51
We also learn in this scene that Claudius has married King Hamlet’s wife, Gertrude. SARAH: His dead brother’s wife? Prince Hamlet’s mother? RALPH: That’s right. SARAH: Oh dear. That sounds awkward. RALPH: As Hamlet puts it: “A little more than kin, and less than kind.” SARAH: King Claudius explains to the court what he’s doing to keep Norway from invading Denmark. RALPH: It’s here that we also meet Polonius, advisor to King Claudius. His son, Laertes, asks the King for permission
1:20
to return to France. SARAH: Soon, Prince Hamlet is left alone on stage, where he delivers the first of his famous soliloquies. RALPH: “O! that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew” SARAH: He seems upset. RALPH: Well, his father has died, and his mother has married his uncle. It’s a lot to take! SARAH: Then Horatio and the guards arrive to tell Hamlet about the ghost that looks like Hamlet’s father, and Hamlet resolves to speak to the ghost that night.
1:49
RALPH: Meanwhile, Laertes says goodbye to his sister, Ophelia. He knows there’s been some kind of relationship between Ophelia and Hamlet, so Laertes warns her to stay away from Hamlet – SARAH: …princes can’t marry whomever they please, so she’s likely to get her heart broken. RALPH: Their father, Polonius, shows up to make sure Laertes doesn’t miss his boat, but not before giving Laertes his now famous list of fatherly advice SARAH: “To thine own self be true!”
2:16
RALPH: Laertes leaves and Polonius orders Ophelia to refuse to see Hamlet anymore. RALPH: “Do not believe his vows” SARAH: “I shall obey, my lord” RALPH: That night, Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus are back on the castle walls hoping for a glimpse of the ghost. SARAH: It soon shows up and beckons Hamlet to follow it, against the advice of Hamlet’s friends, who think it might be the devil. RALPH: “Do not, my lord.” SARAH: “Go on, I’ll follow thee!”
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RALPH: The ghost leads Hamlet away from his friends. SARAH: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. RALPH: Now alone together, the ghost tells Hamlet that he is his dead father, King Hamlet. SARAH: “I am thy father’s spirit” RALPH: He then tells Hamlet that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius, so that he could become king. SARAH: “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown.” RALPH: He then asks Hamlet to avenge his death.
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SARAH: “If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not” RALPH: The rising sun forces the ghost to return to the purging fires of the afterlife, leaving Hamlet alone, who swears that he’ll remember his father’s commandment to get revenge. SARAH: “I have sworn’t!” RALPH: Horatio and Marcellus catch up with Hamlet, and he makes them swear not to tell anybody what has happened. He also warns them that he might start acting a little crazy. SARAH: At the start of Act II, Polonius
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sends a servant to spy on his son, Laertes, in Paris. RALPH: As the servant leaves, Ophelia enters to tell her father about a frightening encounter she just had with Hamlet. SARAH: “I am so affrighted!” RALPH: She says that Hamlet appeared to be completely crazy. SARAH: “As if he had been loosed out of hell” RALPH: Polonius decides that Hamlet must be lovesick for Ophelia because she’s been refusing to see him, and the two of them leave to tell the King. SARAH: “Come, go we to the king”
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RALPH: Meanwhile, Claudius and Gertrude meet with two of Hamlet’s childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern SARAH: The king and queen ask them to spend some time with Hamlet to see what they can find out about how he’s doing, since he’s been acting so strangely. RALPH: You mean spy on Hamlet? SARAH: I guess you could call it that. RALPH: As the friends leave to find Hamlet, Polonius arrives and announces that the king’s ambassadors have returned from Norway.
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SARAH: The ambassadors report that Fortinbras will give up his planned attack on Denmark but is now asking for permission to travel through Denmark in order to attack Poland. RALPH: That’s very good news for Claudius and Denmark -- his diplomatic mission has succeeded. SARAH: Polonius then tells the king and queen that Hamlet has gone mad for love of his daughter, Ophelia. RALPH: He shows them some of the love letters Hamlet has sent her. SARAH: “To the most beautified Ophelia…”
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RALPH: The king wonders how they could test the lovesickness theory SARAH: “How may we try it further?”, he asks. RALPH: Polonius suggests they spy on an encounter between Ophelia and Hamlet. SARAH: Just then, Hamlet approaches, reading a book. Polonius asks the king and queen to leave so that he can test Hamlet himself. RALPH: In this famous scene, the audience gets to see for themselves just how crazy Hamlet is acting, and he says some pretty crazy stuff. SARAH: “You are a fishmonger!”
5:28
RALPH: Hamlet spends the whole time speaking in riddles, but Polonius senses that Hamlet isn’t completely crazy. SARAH: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.” RALPH: Polonius leaves and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter. SARAH: Hamlet toys with them a bit before revealing that he knows the King and Queen sent for them. RALPH: They confess to that fact that this is true, and then Hamlet tells them that he’s been a little depressed lately.
5:53
SARAH: “I have of late -- but wherefore know not -- lost all my mirth” RALPH: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern give Hamlet the good news that some actors are coming to the castle. SARAH: “The players are coming, to offer you service.” RALPH: Hamlet loves a good play. SARAH: Then Polonius enters with the very same news... RALPH: “The actors are come hither, my lord.” SARAH: And soon the players themselves arrive RALPH: Hamlet asks one of them to play one of his favorite scenes, of Aeneas describing
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the slaughter of King Priam. SARAH: “Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune!” RALPH: Polonius takes the players to get settled in… and, in private, Hamlet asks the lead actor if he could give him a speech to put in the play that they perform. SARAH: “You could study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines?” RALPH: “Ay, my lord” SARAH: Finally left alone, Hamlet begins another of his famous soliloquies RALPH: “O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!”
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SARAH: He wonders how that actor could feel such strong emotion about something imaginary, while Hamlet himself has so much trouble taking action in a real situation, the murder of his father. RALPH: “Am I a coward?” SARAH: But then the audience learns about his plan to have the players perform a play in which there is a murder similar to the murder of his father. RALPH: “I’ll have these players play something like the murder of my father” SARAH: If Claudius gets upset by it,
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then Hamlet will know for sure that Claudius is guilty of murder, and Hamlet can get his revenge. RALPH: “The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” SARAH: At the start of Act 3, Claudius and Gertrude get reports on Hamlet. RALPH: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern share the news that the arrival of the players seems to have cheered Hamlet up a bit. SARAH: “There did seem in him a kind of joy.” RALPH: Claudius asks Gertrude to leave, because Hamlet should be passing by soon
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and he and Polonius plan to spy on his encounter with Ophelia SARAH: “Sweet Gertrude, leave us too” RALPH: P: “Read on this book.” SARAH: Hamlet approaches, and Claudius and Polonius hide to spy on them RALPH: But before Hamlet talks to Ophelia, he delivers yet another of his famous soliloquies SARAH: “To be, or not to be: that is the question” RALPH: He wonders if death is a way out of his troubles, but then he remembers that we don’t know what happens after we die...
8:08
SARAH: “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come…” RALPH: In other words, death could just as easily lead to more troubles. SARAH: “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all” RALPH: Then Hamlet notices Ophelia SARAH: She tries to return the letters he sent her, but he denies that he ever wrote them. RALPH: “No, not I. I never gave you aught.” SARAH: He’s pretty mean to her, actually, and goes out of his way to put down all women. RALPH: “Get thee to a nunnery!”
8:36
SARAH: But Ophelia only feels sorry for him RALPH: “O! What a noble mind is here o’erthrown!” SARAH: Then Claudius and Polonius emerge from their hiding place. RALPH: “Doesn’t seem like love or madness, but something is bothering him!” SARAH: Whatever is going on with Hamlet, Claudius thinks he’s dangerous and decides to send Hamlet on a trip to England. RALPH: “He shall with speed to England” SARAH: Polonius suggests they wait and see what Hamlet is like after the play is performed
9:04
and his mom has talked to him. RALPH: “Let his queen mother all alone entreat him” SARAH: Claudius agrees, but he’s worried… RALPH: “Madness in great ones must not unwatch’d go” SARAH: It’s time for the play, and Hamlet gives the actors some last-minute coaching. RALPH: It almost sounds like he’s giving himself advice. SARAH: “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.” RALPH: Other members of the court start to arrive, and Hamlet tells Horatio about his plan
9:30
SARAH: “Observe mine uncle…” RALPH: Soon, everybody is there and the play begins SARAH: When it gets to the part where one character pours poison in another person’s ear, the murder scene, Claudius storms out RALPH: “Give me some light, away! SARAH: Left together, Horatio confirms for Hamlet that Claudius looked guilty RALPH: “I did very well note him!” SARAH: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern return to tell Hamlet that his mother wants to see him RALPH: “She desires to speak with you…”
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SARAH: And soon Polonius returns to say the same thing RALPH: “The queen would speak with you, and presently” SARAH: Hamlet assures them all that he will go see his mother… and everybody leaves. RALPH: “I will come by and by” SARAH: Left alone, Hamlet tell us that now he’s ready to act against Claudius RALPH: “Now could I drink hot blood, and do such bitter business as the day would quake to look on.” SARAH: But he remembers that he needs to his mother first.
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He tries to calm himself down so that he doesn’t get violent with her. RALPH: “I will speak daggers to her, but use none” SARAH: Meanwhile, Claudius tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that he’s sending Hamlet to England and he wants them to go with him RALPH: “And he to England shall along with you” SARAH: Polonius arrives to tell Claudius that Hamlet is on his way to see his mother and that he will spy on their meeting RALPH: “Behind the arras I’ll convey myself…”
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SARAH: Now left alone, Claudius is overcome with the guilt of killing his brother RALPH: “O! my offence is rank, it smells to heaven!” SARAH: He wants to ask God’s forgiveness -- but how can he be forgiven if he still enjoys the benefits of his crime? RALPH: “May one be pardon’d and retain the offence?” SARAH: He decides to pray anyway and drops to his knees RALPH: Just then, Hamlet enters, on his way to see his mother. SARAH: Seeing Claudius, he decides
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to kill him on the spot, but then stops himself. RALPH: If he kills Claudius while he’s praying, won’t he be sending him to heaven? SARAH: “A villain kills my father, and I send him to heaven?” RALPH: Hamlet decides to wait for a time when Claudius is acting wicked SARAH: “When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage…” RALPH: ...and he heads off to see his mother. SARAH: Ironically, Claudius stops praying just then and confesses that he couldn’t ask for forgiveness after all
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RALPH: “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: words without thoughts never to heaven go.” SARAH: “Pray you, be round with him!” RALPH: In Gertrude’s private chambers, Polonius hides behind a curtain just before Hamlet enters. SARAH: Hamlet is quick to attack his mother RALPH: “Mother, you have my father much offended!” SARAH: So Gertrude threatens to get someone else to talk to him RALPH: “I’ll set those to you that can speak!” SARAH: But Hamlet won’t let her go.
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RALPH: “You go not, till I set up a glass where you may see the inmost part of you.” SARAH: Suddenly afraid of her son, Gertrude calls for help RALPH: “Thou wilt not murder me? Help help ho!” SARAH: In a panic, Polonius shouts for help, too RALPH: “What, ho! help! help! help!” SARAH: Thinking it’s Claudius, Hamlet stabs through the curtain RALPH: “How now? a rat?” SARAH: ...and kills Polonius. RALPH: “O! I am slain.” SARAH: He then tells his mother how badly she’s been behaving… RALPH: “O shame!
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where is thy blush?” SARAH: … and she agrees RALPH: “These words like daggers enter in mine ears… No more, sweet Hamlet!” SARAH: Suddenly, the ghost appears to tell Hamlet to take it easy on his mother and to remind him of his true purpose, to kill the king. RALPH: “This visitation is but to whet thy most blunted purpose... Speak to her, Hamlet.” SARAH: Since only Hamlet can see the ghost, Gertrude worries that her son is going crazy RALPH: “Alas! he’s mad!”
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SARAH: Suddenly softening his approach, Hamlet makes his mom promise to keep her distance from Claudius RALPH: “Do not spread the compost on the weeds to make them ranker!” SARAH: ...and he reminds her that he’s being sent to England. RALPH: “I must to England…” SARAH: As he leaves, he takes Polonius’s body with him… RALPH: “I’ll lug the guts into the neighbor room... Good-night mother.” SARAH: In Act IV, things start to move quickly. RALPH: Gertrude: “Bestow this place on us a little while”
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SARAH: Gertrude tells Claudius that Hamlet killed Polonius ...and Claudius resolves to send Hamlet away RALPH: ”The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch but we will ship him hence… Guildenstern!” SARAH: He then sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find Hamlet and to retrieve the body of Polonius RALPH: “Bring the body into the chapel” SARAH: Hamlet has just disposed of the body of Polonius when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find him RALPH: “What have you done, my lord, with the body?”
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SARAH: But Hamlet will only speak to them in riddles RALPH: “Compounded it with dust, whereto ‘tis kin…” SARAH: Hamlet is brought to Claudius… RALPH: “Now, Hamlet, where’s Polonius?” SARAH: But he speaks to Claudius in riddles, too... RALPH: “At supper.” SARAH: “At supper! Where?” RALPH: “Not where he eats, but where he is eaten.” SARAH: Hamlet finally tells Claudius what he wants to know RALPH: “ ...you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.”
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SARAH: “Go seek him there” [the attendants exit] RALPH: Claudius tells Hamlet it’s time for him to leave for England... SARAH: “Prepare thyself… Everything is bent for England.” RALPH: ...and Hamlet agrees SARAH: “For England!” RALPH: Left alone on stage, we learn from Claudius that he’s also sending a letter to England demanding that they kill Hamlet as soon as he arrives SARAH: “Do it, England!” RALPH: Meanwhile, Fortinbras passes through Denmark on his way to battle with Poland
15:04
SARAH: “Go, Captain… greet the Danish king” RALPH: Hamlet learns from the Captain that the battle will be over a small, worthless piece of land SARAH: “We go to gain a little patch of ground” RALPH: Left alone, Hamlet marvels at these men who are willing to fight to the death for nothing SARAH: “Witness this army of such mass and charge… even for an egg-shell” RALPH: How can they do that when he can’t act even when he has much better reasons to
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SARAH: “How stand I then, that have a father killed, a mother stained?” RALPH: So Hamlet resolves to become a man of action from this moment forward… SARAH: “O! from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!” RALPH: Back at the castle, Gertrude and Claudius see for themselves that Ophelia is going crazy. SARAH: “How do you, pretty lady?” RALPH: She keeps breaking into song, and she says stuff that’s hard to make sense of…. SARAH: “They say the owl was a baker’s daughter.
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Lord!” RALPH: But soon she’s on her way again… SARAH: “Come, my coach! Goodnight, ladies; goodnight, sweet ladies; goodnight, goodnight.” RALPH: ...leaving Claudius and Gertrude worried and confused. SARAH: “Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.” RALPH: Claudius thinks the madness has been caused by the death of her father, Polonius SARAH: “O! this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father’s death” RALPH: Then suddenly, Laertes barges in.
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SARAH: He’s returned from France to avenge his father’s death, even if it means killing Claudius RALPH: “Let come what comes! I’ll be reveng’d most thoroughly for my father.” SARAH: Before Claudius can calm him down, Ophelia returns with flowers to give to everybody, and Laertes can’t believe what he sees... RALPH: “O heavens! is ‘t possible a young maid’s wits should be as mortal as an old man’s life? SARAH: “I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died”
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RALPH: Then off she goes, leaving a heartbroken Laertes SARAH: “Do you see this, O God?” RALPH: Claudius says he’ll help Laertes get revenge for his father’s death and his sister’s madness, but Laertes needs to know who is responsible for it all, first SARAH: “Where the offence is, let the great axe fall!” RALPH: Meanwhile, two sailors deliver a letter to Horatio that turns out to be from Hamlet. SARAH: The letter tells Horatio that Hamlet’s ship was boarded
17:31
by pirates, but that the pirates have let him go in exchange for a promised ransom. RALPH: Then the sailors take Horatio to meet Hamlet. SARAH: Act IV ends with a meeting between Claudius and Laertes. RALPH: A messenger delivers a letter from Hamlet, telling Claudius that he’s back in Denmark SARAH: “High and mighty, you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom” RALPH: Knowing Hamlet is back, Claudius sees an opportunity to get rid of Hamlet using Laertes’ desire for vengeance
18:01
SARAH: “What would you undertake to show yourself your father’s son in deed more than in words?” RALPH: “To cut his throat in the church.” SARAH: Claudius proposes the following plan: He’ll invite Hamlet to a friendly fencing competition with Laertes… RALPH: “Claudius bets you can beat Laertes in fencing” SARAH: ...but one of the foils won’t be blunted, so Laertes can use that one to kill Hamlet. RALPH: Just to be sure, Laertes suggests dipping the tip in a deadly poison that he has.
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SARAH: And then Claudius, just to leave no doubt, says he’ll also have a poison drink for Hamlet when he gets thirsty RALPH: Suddenly, Gertrude enters… SARAH: “One woe doth tread upon another’s heel, so fast they follow…” RALPH: ...and she has terrible news SARAH: “your sister’s drown’d, Laertes” RALPH: Gertrude tells the story of Ophelia drowning in a stream while collecting flowers SARAH: Laertes tries not to cry RALPH: “Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
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and therefore I forbid my tears… SARAH: ... but the tears won’t stop, so he leaves RALPH: “Adieu, my lord!” SARAH: “Let’s follow, Gertrude” RALPH: Act 5 opens in the church graveyard. SARAH: Two gravediggers argue about whether someone who commits suicide can be buried by the church, since suicide is a mortal sin. RALPH: Is she to be buried in Christian burial that wilfully seeks her own salvation? SARAH: Hamlet and Horatio show up, on their way back to the castle
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RALPH: [gravedigger singing]: In youth, when I did love, methought it was very sweet… SARAH: ...but the gravedigger’s work sends Hamlet into a meditation on death, and he decides to talk to the gravedigger. RALPH: “ Whose grave’s this, sir?” SARAH: “Mine, sir.” RALPH: Hamlet soon learns that one of the skulls belonged to the court jester, Yorick, who used to entertain Hamlet when he was a kid. SARAH: This same skull, sir, was, sir, Yorick’s skull, the king’s jester.
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RALPH: Hamlet: Alas! poor Yorick. I knew him… ...a fellow of infinite jest] SARAH: A procession approaches, so Hamlet and Horatio hide nearby RALPH: As they lower the coffin into the ground, Hamlet learns that it’s Ophelia who has died SARAH: A ministering angel shall my sister be… RALPH: Hamlet: What! the fair Ophelia? SARAH: Distraught, Laertes leaps into her grave and asks to be buried with her RALPH: Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead
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SARAH: Not to be outdone, Hamlet jumps into the grave, too, and they start to fight RALPH: The others pull them apart ...and Hamlet claims to have loved Ophelia more than Laertes ever could SARAH: “I lov’d Ophelia; forty thousand brothers could not make up my sum.” RALPH: He then storms away, Horatio following. SARAH: The King assures Laertes that the timing is right for their plan… RALPH: “Strengthen your patience in our last night’s speech…” SARAH: The final scene of the Tragedy of Hamlet
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opens with Hamlet and Horatio back in the castle RALPH: Hamlet tells Horatio about the letter he found on the ship instructing the English to cut off Hamlet’s head just as soon as arrived in England. SARAH: He also tells him how he changed the note so that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern would be killed upon arrival RALPH: The two are then interrupted by Osric, one of Claudius’s stuffy courtiers. SARAH: Osric tells them that Claudius has bet that Hamlet can beat Laertes in a fencing match
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RALPH: “His majesty has laid a great wager on your head” SARAH: Hamlet agrees… RALPH: “If it please his majesty… let the foils be brought. SARAH: Soon, the royal court gathers for the competition RALPH: Claudius tries to get Laertes and Hamlet to be on friendly terms again, and Hamlet tries to apologize by blaming his behavior on his madness SARAH: “What I have done… I here proclaim was madness” RALPH: They then choose their foils -- with Laertes secretly picking the one with the sharp point…
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SARAH: They make their first pass, and Hamlet gets a hit RALPH: “ A hit, a very palpable hit.” SARAH: Claudius adds the poison pearl to the goblet, pretending that it’s a prize, and offers Hamlet a drink RALPH: “Hamlet, this pearl is thine.” SARAH: But Hamlet’s not ready for a drink, and they make another pass ...with Hamlet getting another hit RALPH: “A touch, a touch, I do confess.” SARAH: The queen grabs the poisoned cup to toast Hamlet’s success…
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RALPH: “The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet” SARAH: Claudius tries to stop her RALPH: “Gertrude, do not drink” SARAH: ...but Gertrude drinks anyway RALPH: Hamlet is ready for another pass, but neither of them scores a point SARAH: “Nothing, neither way.” RALPH: Frustrated, Laertes rushes Hamlet and stabs him with the poisoned tip… SARAH: “Have at you now” RALPH: They start fighting for real. SARAH: In the struggle, they change rapiers,
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and Hamlet stabs Laertes with the poisoned tip as well. RALPH: The queen collapses from the poisoned drink... SARAH: “O my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink; I am poison’d.” RALPH: ...and she dies SARAH: Laertes feels the poison, too, and tells Hamlet about the poisoned tip RALPH: “The king, the king’s to blame” SARAH: At last, Hamlet gets his revenge RALPH: “Then, venom, to they work” SARAH: “Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane… Follow my mother!” RALPH: Laertes says he’s sorry…
23:20
SARAH: “Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet” RALPH: ...and then Laertes dies SARAH: Knowing death is coming, Hamlet welcomes it, and drinks some poison, too RALPH: Fortinbras and his army can be heard approaching, and Hamlet declares that Fortinbras should be the new king… SARAH: “Fortinbras has my dying voice…” RALPH: Then Hamlet utters his final words: SARAH: “The rest is silence.” RALPH: And he dies. SARAH: “Goodnight, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”
23:53
RALPH: Fortinbras, and a couple of ambassadors from England arrive in the hall SARAH: The ambassadors share their news... RALPH: “...Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” SARAH: Horatio promises to tell Fortinbras how all these deaths, came about… RALPH: “So shall you hear of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts... ...of accidental judgments, casual slaughters…. : ...of deaths put on by cunning and forc’d cause… all this can I truly deliver.” SARAH: Fortinbras tells his men to carry Hamlet off
24:23
with the honors of a fallen soldier RALPH: So ends the tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare.
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