Hamlet quick notes
The trick is that Hamlet will bear a letter to the King of England in which Claudius asks England to sentence Hamlet to death. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two childhood friends of Hamlet's who are now little more than spies for Claudius, are to accompany him. Of course, when this news is given to Claudius, the King sends Hamlet to England with the ostensible purpose of securing Hamlet's safety and the recovery of his senses. Unfortunately, Poloniuswho is hidden behind a tapestry in the Queen's chamber, eavesdroppingpanics and cries for help Hamlet stabs him, thinking it is Claudius.
Instead, Hamlet rebukes Gertrude with the news that she is sleeping with the killer of her husband. While Hamlet, judging the reaction of Claudius, is convinced of the new king's guilt, he can't bring himself to slay him outright. Meanwhile, Hamlet struggles to convince himself that Claudius is the murderer of his father, and in an attempt to "catch the king's conscience," Hamlet convinces a traveling troupe of actors to perform a play in which the action closely resembles the events related to him by the ghost. Polonius grows concerned over the apparent insanity that has beset Hamlet and reveals it to the King and Queen. In order to carry this out, Hamlet feigns madness as part of his insanity, he scorns the affections of Ophelia, daughter of Polonius, to whom he had made romantic overtures. When Hamlet meets the ghost, his dead father reveals that Claudius poisoned himand the ghost demands that Hamlet exact revenge. The ghost of his father haunts Elsinore his uncle, Claudius, has married Queen Gertrude, his mother, and assumed the throne and Fortinbras of Norway threatens Denmark with an invading army. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, has multiple woes.