By Shakespeare

Hamlet

Hamlet Plot Summary

Prince Hamlet's student friend, Horatio, goes to the battlements of Denmark's Elsinore castle late at night to meet the guards. They tell him about a ghost they have seen that resembles the late king, Hamlet. It reappears and they decide to tell the prince. Hamlet's uncle, Claudius, having become king, has now married Hamlet's widowed mother, Gertrude.

Hamlet Plot Summary

In the court, after envoys are sent to Norway, the prince is dissuaded from returning to university. Hamlet still mourns his father's death and hearing of the ghost from Horatio he determines to see it for himself. Laertes, son of the courtier, Polonius, departs for France, warning his sister, Ophelia, against thinking too much of Hamlet's attentions.

The ghost appears to Hamlet and tells him that he was murdered by Claudius. The prince swears vengeance and his friends are sworn to secrecy as Hamlet decides to feign madness while he tests the truth of the ghost's allegations. He rejects Ophelia, as Claudius and Polonius spy on him seeking to find a reason for his sudden strange behaviour.

Hamlet Plot Summary

Hamlet Plot Summary

Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, former student friends of Hamlet, are summoned by Claudius and their arrival coincides with that of a group of travelling actors. The prince knows these players well and they rehearse together before arranging to present Hamlet's choice of play before the king and queen, which will include scenes close to the circumstances of the old king's death

Hamlet Plot Summary

At the performance Hamlet watches closely as Claudius is provoked into interrupting the play and storming out, resolving to send the prince away to England. Hamlet is summoned by his distressed mother and, on the way he spares Claudius whom he sees kneeling, attempting to pray. To kill him while he is praying would send his soul to heaven rather than to the hell he deserves.

Hamlet Plot Summary

Polonius hides in Gertrude's room to listen to the conversation, but Hamlet detects movement as he upbraids his mother. He stabs the concealing tapestry and so kills the old man. The ghost reappears, warning his son not to delay revenge, nor to upset his mother.

Hamlet Plot Summary

As the army of Norway's King Fortinbras crosses Denmark to attack Poland, Hamlet is sent to England, ostensibly as an ambassador, but he discovers Claudius's plan to have him killed. Outwitting this plot Hamlet returns alone, sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths in his stead. During Hamlet's absence Ophelia goes mad as a result of her father's death and she is drowned.

Hamlet Plot Summary Hamlet returns and meets Horatio in the

graveyard. With the arrival of Ophelia's funeral Hamlet confronts Laertes who, after attempting a revolt against Claudius, has taken his father's place at the court. A duel is arranged between Hamlet and Laertes at which Claudius has plotted for Hamlet to die either on a poisoned rapier, or from poisoned wine. The plans go wroing and both Laertes and Hamlet are wounded, while Gertrude unwittingly drinks from the poisoned cup. Hamlet, in his death throes, kills Claudius, and Horatio is left to explain the truth to the new king, Fortinbras, who returns, victorious, from the Polish wars.

Hamlet Plot Summary

The plans go wroing and both Laertes and Hamlet are wounded, while Gertrude unwittingly drinks from the poisoned cup. Hamlet, in his death throes, kills Claudius, and Horatio is left to explain the truth to the new king, Fortinbras, who returns, victorious, from the Polish wars.

Description on Hamlet

O, what a noble mind is here o’er thrown! The courtier’s, scholar’s , soldier’s, eye, tongue, sword,Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mould of form, Th’ observ’d of all observers-quite, quite down!

啊，一颗多么高贵的心这样陨落了！朝臣的眼睛，学者的辩舌，军人的利剑，国家所瞩望的一朵娇花；时流的明镜，人伦的雅范，举世瞩目的中心，这样无可挽回地陨落了！

Hamlet

Introduction to Act II Scene II

Hamlet’s melancholy has been studied for centuries by many scholars. Of course, the killing of his father by his uncle and the remarriage of his mother may be the cause of his melancholy, but this is not the only reason , as we can see in Hamlet’s talk with his two former friends below.

Translation of Act II, Scene II

我近来，不知道为什么缘故，失去了我一切的乐趣，放弃了一切平常做事的习惯，并且我的心境变得如此的孤寂，以至于在我看来这负载万物的大地，只不过是一个不毛的荒岬；这覆盖众生的苍穹，这顶壮丽的帐篷，这个金黄色的火球点缀着的庄严的屋宇，只是一大堆污浊的瘴气的集合。人类是一件多么了不得的杰作！多么高贵的理性！多么伟大的力量！多么优美的仪表！多么文雅的举动！在行动上多么像一个天使！在智慧上多么像一个天神！宇宙的精华！万物的灵长！可是在我看来，这个泥塑的生命算得了什么？人类不能使我产生兴趣。

Introduction to Act III Scene I

Hamlet’s melancholy has been studied for centuries by many scholars. Of course , the killing of his father by his uncle and the remarriage of his mother may be the cause of his melancholy , but this is not the only reason , as we can see in Hamlet’s talk with his two former friends in this excerpt.

Interpretation & Appreciation

Hamlet is Shakespeare’s masterpiece, probably the greatest tragedy in the English language, which leaves unsolved many riddles about the human psyche. This excerpt is counted perhaps as the most soliloquy in the English language and literature, in which Hamlet is contemplating over the issue of existence.

Interpretation & Appreciation

Now Hamlet finds himself in an awkward and dire predicament, for he is faced with such an extremely difficult choice: to live on or to depart from this world. What choice could be “ nobler in mind”: Whether to endure Fortune’s buffets with patience or to take up arms to fight against troubles like sea waves that sweep upon him? Here Fortune’s buffets or sea-wave –like troubles

Interpretation & Appreciation

may refer to a succession of his misfortunes, that is , his father being killed, hasty marriage of his mother with his uncle , the very man who has killed his mother, and his hope of succeeding to the crown being dampened. What is death? Death could mean eternal sleep. Hamlet considers it the acme of perfection that he could end all the agonies and pains in life if he should put an end to his life.

Interpretation & Appreciation

But the problem is that nobody could foretell into that eternal sleep of death what dream might come. That consideration makes people hesitate before death and endure their greatest sufferings to the bitterest end, rather than choose final settlement of life’s account with a mere dagger. In addition, death is the “undiscovered country” from where no traveler has ever returned . Doubts and uncertainties people have towards that

Interpretation & Appreciation

Undiscovered country constitute an obstacle when they are wondering whether or not they should go there. So the pale cast of much contemplation makes people cowards who have no sufficient courage to take actions.

This selection allows for several possible interpretations. In the selection, Hamlet exposes and condemn social wrongs and evils, such as all the sufferings of the epoch,

Interpretation & Appreciation

the oppressor’s injustices, proud rudeness held by people of high rank and the

humiliation people of merits endure at the hands of the unworthy people. In this excerpt, Hamlet might be justifying his hesitation to take actions. The reader may also learn that too much consciousness might prove to be a hindrance to one’s determination to take immediate actions.

Translation of Act III Scene I

生存还是毁灭，这是一个值得考虑的问题；漠然忍受命运的暴虐的毒箭，或是挺身反抗世人的无涯的苦难，在奋斗中结束了这一切，这两种行为，哪一种更勇敢？死了，睡着了；什么都完了；要是在这一种睡眠之中，我们心头的创痛，以及其他无数血肉之躯所不能避免的打击，都可以从此消失，那是我们求之不得的结局。死了；睡着了；睡着了也许还会做梦；嗯，阻碍就在这儿：因为当我们摆脱了这一具腐朽的皮囊以后，在那死的睡眠里究竟将要做些什么梦，那不能不使我们踌躇顾虑。

Translation of Act III Scene I

人们甘心久困于患难之中，也就是为了这个缘故；谁愿意忍受人世的鞭挞和讥嘲、压迫者的冷眼、被轻蔑的爱情的惨痛、法律的迁延、官吏的横暴，和微贱者费劲辛勤所换来的鄙视，要是他只要用一柄小小的刀子，就可以清算他自己的一生？

Translation of Act III Scene I

谁愿意负着这样的重担，在烦劳的生命的压迫下呻吟流汗，倘不是因为惧怕不可知的死后，那从来不曾有一个旅人回来过的神秘之国，是它迷惑了我们的意志，使我们宁愿忍受目前的折磨，不敢向我们所不知道的痛苦飞去？这样理智使我们全变成了懦夫，决心的赤热的光彩，被审慎的思维盖上了一层灰色，伟大的事业在这一种考虑之下，也会逆流而退，失去了行动的意义。

Questions

1. What humanistic view can we see of Hamlet in Act II Scene II?

2. What is Hamlet’s attitude toward death?

3. What does Hamlet actually considering in Act II Scene I?