Hamlet was the Prince of Denmark. His father, the king died suddenly. Soon after the king’s death, his brother Claudius married the queen, Gertrude, and started to rule. Hamlet was very sad about these events.

     Then a strange thing happened. The castle guards and Hamlet’s friend Horatio saw the ghost of the murdered king. Hamlet sought the ghost out. The ghost said, “The one that took my life now wears the crown. Avenge this murder! Spare your mother, and let her suffer the punishment of sorrow.”

     Hamlet was shocked to hear this, and he did not want anybody to know about it. So he started to act like a mad man so as to hide his feelings. Hamlet was in love with a girl, Ophelia, the daughter of a wise courtier named Polonius. Polonius and Claudius thought Hamlet’s love for Ophelia had caused his madness. At the same time Hamlet’s mind was full of confusion: can evil undo evil? Was the ghost actually telling the truth? Too many thoughts clouded Hamlet’s mind, and he was unable to do anything.

    To make sure of the truth, Hamlet arranged to stage a play before the court, including in it some scenes that looked like the murder of his father. During the scene of the poisoning, Claudius suddenly stood up and left. Now, Hamlet was sure about what had happened.

     Hamlet and his mother had a bitter argument. Polonius, hiding behind the curtains was shocked to hear Hamlet’s accusations. He made a noise. Hamlet thought it was Claudius and he killed him. Soon after, Hamlet was sent away to England with two courtiers who carried a sealed letter asking the king of England to put Hamlet to death. On the way, Hamlet secretly read the letter and wrote in it the names of the two courtiers, rubbing out his own. Later, some pirates helped Hamlet to return to Denmark. On his return Hamlet was of full grief to learn that Ophelia had taken her own life. Ophelia’s brother Laertes was very angry with Hamlet.

     Claudius made an evil plan to use Laertes to kill Hamlet and arranged a duel between the two. The plan was to give Laertes a poison tipped sword.  If at all Hamlet won, Claudius would be ready with poisoned wine to celebrate the match. In the fight, both Hamlet and Laertes got wounded by the poisoned sword. In the meantime the queen accidentally drank from the poisoned wine and fell dead. Before his own death, Hamlet rushed at the king and stabbed him with the poisoned sword.

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