Hamlet Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare

Hamlet Hamlet was the only son of the

King of Denmark he loved his father and

mother dearly and was happy in the love

of a sweet lady named Ophelia her father

Polonius was the Kings Chamberlain while

Hamlet was away studying at Wittenberg

his father died young Hamlet hastened

home in great grief to hear that a

serpent had stunned the King and that he

was dead the young prince had loved his

father so tenderly that you may judge

what he felt when he found that the

Queen before yet the King had been laid

in the ground a month had determined to

marry again and to marry the dead King’s

brother Hamlet

refused to put off mourning for the

wedding it is not only the black I wear

on my body

he said that proves my loss I wear

mourning in my heart for my dead father

his son at least remembers him and

grieves still then said Claudius the

King’s brother this grief is

unreasonable of course you must sorrow

at the loss of your father but said

Hamlet bitterly I cannot in one little

month

forget those I love with that the Queen

and Claudius left him to make merry over

their wedding forgetting the poor good

King who had been so kind to them both

and Hamlet left alone began to wonder

and to question as to what he ought to

do for he could not believe the story

about the snake bite it seemed to him

all too plain that the wicked Claudius

had killed the King so as to get the

crown and marry the Queen yet he had no

proof and could not accuse Claudius and

while he was thus thinking came Horatio

a

fellow student of his from Wittenberg

what brought you here asked Hamlet when

he had greeted his friend kindly I came

my lord to see your father’s funeral I

think it was to see my mother’s wedding

said Hamlet bitterly my father

we shall not look upon his like again

my lord answered Horatio I think I saw

him yesternight then while Hamlet

listened in surprise

Horatio told how he with two gentlemen

of the guard had seen the Kings ghost on

the battlements Hamlet went that night

and true enough at midnight the ghost of

the king in the armor he had been want

to wear appeared on the battlements in

the chill moonlight Hamlet was a brave

youth instead of running away from the

ghost he spoke to it and when it

beckoned him he followed it to a quiet

place and there the ghosts told him that

what he had suspected was true the

wicked Claudius had indeed killed his

good brother

the King by dropping poison into his ear

as he slept in his orchard in the

afternoon and you said the ghost must

avenge this cruel murder on my wicked

brother but do nothing against the Queen

for I have loved her

and she is your mother remember me then

seen the morning approached the ghost

vanished now said Hamlet there is

nothing left but revenge remember thee I

will remember nothing else books

pleasure youth let all go and your

commands alone live on my brain so when

his friends came back he made them swear

to keep the secret of the ghost and then

went in from the battle

now gray with mingled dawn and moonlight

to think how he might best avenge his

murdered father the shock of seeing and

hearing his father’s ghost made him feel

almost mad and for fear that his uncle

might notice that he was not himself he

determined to hide his mad longing for

revenge under a pretended madness in

other matters and when he met Ophelia

who loved him and to whom he had given

gifts and letters and many loving words

he behaved so wildly to her that she

could not but think him mad for she

loved him so that she could not believe

he would be as cruel as this unless he

were quite mad so she told her father

and showed him a pretty letter from

Hamlet and in the letter was much folly

and this pretty verse doubt that the

stars are fire doubt that the Sun doth

move doubt truth to be a liar but never

doubt I love and from that time everyone

believed that the cause of Hamlet’s

supposed madness was love poor Hamlet

was very unhappy he longed to obey his

father’s ghost and yet he was too gentle

and kindly to wish to kill another man

even his father’s murderer and sometimes

he wondered whether after all the ghost

spoke truly just at this time some

actors came to the court and Hamlet

ordered them to perform a certain play

before the king and queen now this play

was the story of a man who had been

murdered in his garden by a near

relation who afterwards married the dead

man’s wife you may imagine the feelings

of the wicked King as he sat on his

throne

with the Queen beside him and all his

court around and saw acted on the stage

the very wickedness that he had himself

done and when in the play the wicked

relation poured poison into the ear of

the sleeping man the wicked Claudius

suddenly rose and staggered from the

room the Queen and others following then

said Hamlet to his friends now I am sure

the ghost spoke true for if Claudius had

not done this murder he could not have

been so distressed to see it in a play

now the Queen sent for Hamlet by the

Kings desire to scold him for his

conduct during the play and for other

matters and Claudius wishing to know

exactly what happened told old Polonius

to hide himself behind the hangings in

the Queen’s room and as they talked the

Queen got frightened at Hamlet’s rough

strange words and cried for help and

Polonius behind the curtain cried out to

Hamlet thinking it was the king who was

hidden there thrust with his sword at

the hangings and killed not the king but

poor old Polonius

so now Hamlet had offended his uncle and

his mother and by bad HAP killed his

true love’s father

oh what a rash and bloody deed is this

cried the Queen and Hamlet answered

bitterly almost as bad as to kill a king

and marry his brother then Hamlet told

the Queen plainly all his thoughts and

how he knew of the murder and begged her

at least to have no more friendship or

kindness of the base Claudius who had

killed the good king

and as they spoke the Kings ghost again

appeared before Hamlet but the Queen

could not see it so when the ghost had

gone they parted when the Queen told

Claudius what had passed and how

Polonius was dead he said this shows

plainly that Hamlet is mad and since he

has killed the Chancellor it is for his

own safety that we must carry out our

plan and sent him away to England so

Hamlet was sent under charge of two

courtiers who served the King and these

bore letters to the English Court

requiring that Hamlet should be put to

death but Hamlet had the good sense to

get at these letters and put in others

instead with the names of the two

quarters who were so ready to betray him

then as the vessel went to England

Hamlet escaped on board a pirate ship

and the two wicked courtiers left him to

his fate and went on to meet theirs

Hamlet hurried home but in the meantime

a dreadful thing had happened poor

pretty affiliate

having lost her lover and her father

lost her wits too and went in sad

madness about the court with straws and

weeds and flowers in her hair

singing strange scraps of songs and

talking poor foolish pretty talk with no

heart of meaning to it and one day

coming to a stream where willows grew

she tried to hang a flowery garland on a

willow and fell into the water with all

her flowers and so died and Hamlet had

loved her though his plan of seeming

madness had made him hide it and when he

came back he found the king and queen

and the court

weeping at the funeral of his dear love

and lady o philias brother Laertes had

also just come to court to ask justice

for the death of his father old Polonius

and now wild with grief he leaped into

his sister’s grave to clasp her in his

arms once more I loved her more than

forty thousand brothers cried Hamlet and

lept into the grave after him and they

fought till they were parted afterwards

Hamlet begged Laertes to forgive him I

could not bear he said that any even a

brother should seem to love her more

than I but the wicked Claudius would not

let them be friends he told Laertes how

Hamlet had killed old Polonius and

between them they made a plot to slay

Hamlet by treachery

Laertes challenged him to a fencing

match and all the court were present

Hamlet had the blunt foil always used in

fencing but Laertes had prepared for

himself a sword sharp and tipped with

poison and the wicked King had made

ready a bowl of poisoned wine which he

meant to give poor Hamlet when he should

grow warm with the swordplay and should

call for a drink

so Laertes and Hamlet fought and Laertes

after some fencing gave Hamlet a sharp

sword thrust Hamlet angry at this

treachery for they had been fencing not

as men fight but as they play closed

with Laertes in a struggle both dropped

their swords and when they picked them

up again

Hamlet without noticing it had exchanged

his own blunt sword

for Laertes sharp and poisoned one and

with one thrust of it he pierced Laertes

who fell dead by his own treachery at

this moment the Queen cried out the

drink the drink my dear Hamlet I am

poisoned she had drunk of the poisoned

bull the King had prepared for Hamlet

and the King saw the Queen whom wicked

as he was he really loved fall dead by

his means then o philia being dead and

Polonius and the Queen and Laertes and

the two courtiers who had been sent to

England Hamlet at last found courage to

do the ghosts bidding and avenge his

father’s murder which if he had braced

up his heart to do long before all these

lives had been spared and none had

suffered but the wicked King who well

deserved to die

Hamlet he’s hard at last being great

enough to do the deed he ought turned

the poisoned sword on the false King

then venom do thy work he cried and the

King died so Hamlet in the end kept the

promise he had made his father and all

being now accomplished he himself died

and those who stood by saw him die with

prayers and tears for his friends and

his people loved him with their whole

hearts thus ends the tragic tale of

Hamlet Prince of Denmark

[Music]