-
Hamlet: Plot Summary (Acts 1 and 2)
Act 1, Scene 1
Hamlet opens with the sentry,
Francisco, keeping watch over the castle at
Elsinore.
He is relieved by Barnardo,
who is joined shortly by Horatio and Marcellus.
Barnardo
and Marcellus reveal that they
have witnessed an apparition:
Marcellus. Horatio says 'tis but our
fantasy,
and will not let belief take
hold of him,
Touching this dreaded
sight twice seen of us (1.1.23-25).
The
Ghost
of
the
late
king
of
Denmark
appears
and
promptly
withdraws
into
the
night. Horatio
recognizes the armour covering the Ghost and
remarks that it is the
very armour that
the King wore
Barnardo, Marcellus, and
Horatio suspect that the appearance of the ghostly
King is
an ominous message to all of
Denmark, as they prepare for war with Norway.
Horatio
pleads with the apparition to
reveal its intentions:
...stay,
illusion;
If thou hast any sound or use
of voice,
Speak to me,
If
there be any good thing to be done
That
may to thee do ease, and grace to me,
Speak to me,
If thou art
privy to thy country's fate,
(Which
happily forknowing may avoid)
O, speak!
(1.1.127-35).
The
Ghost,
however,
refuses
to
speak,
and
disappears
as
the
cock
crows.
Horatio
decides to tell
Prince Hamlet all that has transpired, for he
knows that the Ghost will
only reveal
his purpose to his son.
Act 1, Scene 2
The scene opens with King Claudius of
Denmark giving a magnificently ostentatious
speech
on
the
death
of
his
brother
and
his
marriage
to
Queen
Gertrude,
his
sister-in-law and Hamlet's mother.
Claudius dispatches two of his courtiers,
Cornelius
and Voltimand, to Norway as
peacekeepers, and he grants Laertes, who has come
to
Denmark
specifically
for
the
coronation
of
Claudius,
permission
to
return
to
his
studies
in
France.
With
such
matters
attended
to,
Claudius
focuses
on
his
troublesome
nephew.
He
commends
Hamlet
on
the
length
and
severity
of
his
mourning,
but
insists
that
his
grief
must
come
to
an
end.
He
reassures
Hamlet that his father lost a father,
and his father before him, and so on. He implores
Hamlet not to return to his studies in
Wittenberg, but to remain in Denmark to fulfill
his role of courtier, cousin, and son.
Gertrude also pleads with Hamlet to stay, and
calmly, he agrees:
Hamlet's
answer, the royal couple leave the room. Hamlet is
left alone to expound his
consuming
rage and disgust at his mother for her incestuous
marriage to Claudius,
within a month of
his father's death:
O God, a beast that
wants discourse of reason
Would have
mourn'd longer, --married with my uncle,
My father's brother, but no more like
my father
Than I to Hercules: within a
month,
Ere yet the salt of most
unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing
in her galled eyes,
She married; O most
wicked speed, to post
With such
dexterity to incestuous sheets! (1.2.150-57)
Hamlet is interrupted gratefully by
Horatio, along with Barnardo and Marcellus. They
tell him that the Ghost of his father
has appeared on the castle wall, and Hamlet is at
first
shocked
and
disturbed:
indeed,
sirs,
but
this
troubles
me
(1.2.223).
The
three
further
describe
the
Ghost
to
Hamlet
--
his
silvered
beard,
his
pale
and
sorrowful countenance,
his full body armour -- and, with excitement
Hamlet agrees
to meet them on the
platform,
Act 1, Scene 3
Laertes, who is about to leave for
France, warns his sister, Ophelia, that Hamlet's
love
for her will undoubtedly not last.
He will be the next king, and as such his wants
must
yield to the demands and interests
of the citizens of Denmark. When it is no longer
convenient or appropriate for Hamlet to
love her, Laertes cautions, he
will
cast her
aside.
Ophelia
defends
Hamlet
and
Laertes
lovingly
responds
fear
me
not
(1.2.57).
Their
father,
Polonius,
enters
the
room
and
agrees
that
Ophelia
has
been
seeing far too much of Hamlet. He
begins a rant on the state of young men's
morality,
insisting
that
passion
causes
them
to
make
false
vows.
He
forbids
Ophelia
from
seeing Hamlet again,
and she respectfully obeys.
Act 1, Scene 4
Shortly
before
midnight,
Hamlet
meets
Horatio
on
the
battlements
of
the
castle.
They wait together in the darkness.
From below they hear the sound of the men in
the castle laughing and dancing
riotously; the King draining his
down.
drinking
to
excess
has
ruined
the
whole
nation,
which
is
known
as
a
land
full
of
drunken
swines
abroad.
It
takes
away
the
country's
accomplishments
and
renders
men
weak and corrupt. Then Horatio spots the Ghost
approaching. Hamlet calls out
to the
Ghost
and
it
beckons
Hamlet to
leave
with
it
if
it
some
impartment did
desire
are
afraid
that
the
apparition
might be an evil
entity
in
disguise,
Hamlet
agrees
to
follow
the Ghost and the two figures disappear into the
dark.
Act 1,
Scene 5
Hamlet will go no
further with the Ghost and demands it speak at
once. The Ghost
tells
Hamlet
that
the
hour
is
approaching
when
it
must
return
to
the
tormenting