The plot with Laertes; Ophelia drowned
Claudius and Laertes, alone, plan how to kill Hamlet. Then Gertrude enters with the worst news yet.
Summary
Claudius has been telling Laertes the truth about Polonius. Hamlet killed him. Hamlet, however, is currently the king's nephew and the queen's son and a popular figure with the people of Denmark; an open execution is impossible. As they speak, the messenger arrives with Hamlet's letter announcing his return. Claudius, after a moment's recovery, proposes a plan.
He has heard the French speak of Laertes's skill as a fencer. He suggests a friendly match. Laertes will challenge Hamlet to a bout; Hamlet, characteristically careless, will agree. The blades will be checked and presented as blunted (rebated). One of them — Laertes's — will not be. And it will be tipped with a poison so potent that the smallest scratch will kill. As a backup, Claudius will have a goblet of poisoned wine ready; if the blade fails, he will offer Hamlet the cup as a refresher between bouts. Two ways to kill him in one evening, both untraceable. Laertes, in his grief and fury, agrees.
Gertrude enters with news. She speaks one of the most beautiful and famous descriptions in Shakespeare. There is a willow growing over a brook, with leaves white-side-down in the running water. Ophelia, with garlands of crowflowers, nettles, daisies and "long purples" she had picked, climbed onto a sloping branch to hang them on the willow. The branch broke. She fell into the stream. Her clothes spread around her on the water and held her up — for a while she sang fragments of old hymns "as one incapable of her own distress" — and then they grew heavy with water and "pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death." Laertes, having just consented to murder, weeps for his sister.
- Scene 1Midnight at Elsinore. Two soldiers and a scholar wait on the platform; the dead king's ghost appears in armor, refuses to speak...
- Scene 2The court convenes. Claudius runs through state business with brisk competence and tries to coax Hamlet out of mourning. Hamlet...
- Scene 3Polonius's household. Laertes warns Ophelia not to take Hamlet's affections seriously. Polonius gives Laertes the most-quoted body...
- Scene 4Hamlet on the wall with Horatio and Marcellus. The new king's drinking can be heard from the castle; Hamlet calls it a shameful...
- Scene 5The ghost names Claudius as his murderer, describes the poisoning in the orchard, and demands revenge. Hamlet swears it; Horatio...
- Scene 6Polonius sends his servant Reynaldo to Paris with detailed instructions on how to spy on Laertes. Then Ophelia bursts in: Hamlet...
- Scene 7A long scene. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are recruited to spy on Hamlet; he sees through them at once. The players arrive. One...
- Scene 8The most famous soliloquy in literature ("To be, or not to be") followed by the cruelest scene in the play. Hamlet denies he ever...
- Scene 9The play within the play. Hamlet briefs the actors, stations Horatio to watch Claudius, and stages a re-enactment of the murder....
- Scene 10Hamlet finds Claudius alone, on his knees, trying to pray. He draws his sword and stops — claiming he will not kill the king at...
- Scene 11Hamlet confronts Gertrude in her chamber. Polonius, hidden behind the arras, cries out; Hamlet runs his sword through the curtain...
- Scene 12Gertrude tells Claudius about the killing. Claudius recovers fast — Hamlet must be sent away tonight, ostensibly for everyone's...
- Scene 13A short scene of antic disposition. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern try to extract the body's location; Hamlet treats them to riddles...
- Scene 14Claudius extracts the body's location from Hamlet — by way of a famous monologue on worms, kings, and beggars. Then Hamlet is...
- Scene 15On a plain in Denmark. Hamlet sees Fortinbras's army marching past on its way to fight Poland over a worthless plot of land. The...
- Scene 16Ophelia, mad after her father's death, drifts through the court singing fragments of bawdy songs and giving symbolic flowers. Then...
- Scene 17A short transitional scene. Horatio reads a letter from Hamlet — pirates attacked the ship, he is back in Denmark, Rosencrantz and...
- Scene 18Claudius and Laertes plot. They will stage a fencing match; Laertes will use a poisoned blade; Claudius will have a poisoned cup...
- Scene 19The graveyard scene. Gravediggers joke about decay. Yorick's skull is unearthed; Hamlet delivers the most famous speech of...
- Scene 20The end. Hamlet tells Horatio about the sea voyage. The duel begins. Both Hamlet and Laertes are wounded with the poisoned blade....