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]