Hamlet | Summary, Plot, & Characters - Encyclopedia Britannica

Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos Hamlet

• Introduction & Top Questions
• Sources
• Plot
  • “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”
  • Laying a trap
  • A series of deaths

References & Edit History Related Topics Images & Videos Quizzes Animals in Shakespeare Quiz Contents Literature Plays

Hamlet work by Shakespeare Ask the Chatbot a Question More Actions Print print Print Please select which sections you would like to print:

• Table Of Contents

Cite verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style MLA APA Chicago Manual of Style Copy Citation Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hamlet-by-Shakespeare Feedback External Websites Feedback Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Feedback Type Select a type (Required) Factual Correction Spelling/Grammar Correction Link Correction Additional Information Other Your Feedback Submit Feedback Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites

• Folger Shakespeare Library - "Hamlet"
• PlayShakespeare.com - Hamlet Overview: Sources and Statistics
• Lit2Go - "Hamlet"
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology - The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
• Internet Archive - Shakespeare's Hamlet
• Shakespeare Online - "Hamlet"
• Literary Devices - Hamlet
• Washington State University - Hamlet
• Hartford Stage - A Synopsis of Hamlet

Britannica Websites Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

• Hamlet - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Ask the Chatbot a Question Also known as: “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” Written by David Bevington Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and Chair of Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Chicago. World authority on Shakespeare. Editor of The Complete... David Bevington Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Dec. 20, 2025 •History Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask the Chatbot Top Questions

What is the main plot of Hamlet?

The play follows Prince Hamlet as he seeks to avenge his father’s murder by his uncle Claudius, who has taken the throne and married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Hamlet feigns madness to uncover the truth, leading to a series of tragic events and deaths, including his own.

What sources influenced Shakespeare’s Hamlet?

Shakespeare’s Hamlet was influenced by Saxo Grammaticus’s 12th-century Gesta Danorum and François de Belleforest’s Histoires tragiques. It was also preceded by a now-lost play, the Ur-Hamlet, possibly written by Thomas Kyd.

How does Hamlet confirm Claudius’s guilt?

Hamlet stages a play that mirrors the circumstances of his father’s murder as described by the ghost. Claudius’s reaction to the performance confirms his guilt to Hamlet.

How does Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia contribute to the plot?

Hamlet feigns madness with Ophelia and treats her cruelly, which contributes to her mental decompensation and eventual death. Her brother Laertes seeks revenge for her death and their father Polonius’s murder, leading to the final tragic duel.

What is the significance of Yorick’s skull in Hamlet?

Yorick’s skull symbolizes the inevitability of death and the futility of life. It is famously used in the graveyard scene in which Hamlet reflects on mortality.

News •

Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman to Star in ‘Elsinore,’ About ‘Chariots of Fire’ Star Ian Charleson, for StudioCanal (Exclusive) • Dec. 16, 2025, 11:14 PM ET (The Hollywood Reporter) ...(Show more) Join the witches in Macbeth or look for ghosts in Hamlet as part of new Guelph-made VR experience • Dec. 16, 2025, 3:28 AM ET (CBC) Video Jessie Buckley stars as Shakespeare’s wife in new film, ‘Hamnet’ • Dec. 3, 2025, 2:41 PM ET (ABC News (U.S.)) Show less

Hamlet, tragedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, written about 1599–1601 and published in a quarto edition in 1603 from an unauthorized text, with reference to an earlier play. The First Folio version was taken from a second quarto of 1604 that was based on Shakespeare’s own papers with some annotations by the bookkeeper. Often considered the greatest drama of all time, the play tells the story of the troubled titular prince of Denmark.

Sources

Shakespeare’s telling of the story of Prince Hamlet was derived from several sources, notably from Books III and IV of Saxo Grammaticus’s 12th-century Gesta Danorum (“The Deeds of the Danes”; Eng. trans. The History of the Danes or The Danish History) and from volume 5 (1570) of Histoires tragiques, a free translation of Saxo by François de Belleforest. The play was evidently preceded by another play of Hamlet (now lost), usually referred to as the Ur-Hamlet, of which Thomas Kyd is a conjectured author.

Plot

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”

1 of 3

2 of 3

3 of 3

As Shakespeare’s play opens, Hamlet is mourning his father, who has been killed, and lamenting the behavior of his mother, Gertrude, who married his uncle Claudius within a month of his father’s death. Claudius has ascended the throne of Denmark after his brother’s death. The ghost of his father appears to Hamlet and informs him that he was poisoned by Claudius. The ghost reveals:

Britannica Quiz Animals in Shakespeare Quiz

but know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown.

Hamlet is Shakespeare’s longest play, with more than 4,000 lines and about 30,000 words.

The ghost commands Hamlet to avenge his death: “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” Though instantly galvanized by the ghost’s command, Hamlet decides on further reflection to seek evidence in corroboration of the ghostly visitation, since, he knows, the Devil can assume a pleasing shape and can easily mislead a person whose mind is perturbed by intense grief. Hamlet adopts a guise of melancholic and mad behavior as a way of deceiving Claudius and others at court—a guise made all the easier by the fact that Hamlet is genuinely melancholic.

Hamlet’s dearest friend, Horatio, agrees that Claudius has unambiguously confirmed his guilt. Driven by a guilty conscience, Claudius attempts to ascertain the cause of Hamlet’s odd behavior by hiring Hamlet’s onetime friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on him. Hamlet quickly sees through the scheme and begins to act the part of a madman in front of them. To the pompous old courtier Polonius, it appears that Hamlet is lovesick over Polonius’s daughter Ophelia. Despite Ophelia’s loyalty to him, Hamlet thinks that she, like everyone else, is turning against him; he also feigns madness with her and treats her cruelly as if she were representative, like his own mother, of her “treacherous” sex. He rants at Ophelia:

If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go: farewell. Or if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go; and quickly too. Farewell.

Laying a trap

Skull Stars in Hamlet

Polish composer and pianist André Tchaikowsky donated his skull, upon his death, to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical productions. It first appeared on stage in 2008 as Yorick’s skull, held by actor David Tennant.

Hamlet contrives a plan to test the ghost’s accusation. With a group of visiting actors, Hamlet arranges the performance of a story representing circumstances similar to those described by the ghost, under which Claudius poisoned Hamlet’s father. When the play is presented as planned, the performance clearly unnerves Claudius.

Access for the whole family! Bundle Britannica Premium and Kids for the ultimate resource destination. Subscribe

Moving swiftly in the wake of the actors’ performance, Hamlet confronts his mother in her chambers with her culpable loyalty to Claudius. When he hears a man’s voice behind the curtains, Hamlet stabs the person he understandably assumes to be Claudius. The victim, however, is Polonius, who has been eavesdropping in an attempt to find out more about Hamlet’s erratic behavior. This act of violence persuades Claudius that his own life is in danger. He sends Hamlet to England escorted by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with secret orders that Hamlet be executed by the king of England. When Hamlet discovers the orders, he alters them to make his two friends the victims instead.

A series of deaths

1 of 2

2 of 2

Upon his return to Denmark, Hamlet hears that Ophelia is dead of a suspected suicide (though more probably as a consequence of her having gone mad over her father’s sudden death) and that her brother Laertes seeks to avenge Polonius’s murder. Claudius eagerly arranges the duel. Carnage ensues. Hamlet dies of a wound inflicted by a sword that Claudius and Laertes have conspired to tip with poison; in the scuffle, Hamlet realizes what has happened and forces Laertes to exchange swords with him, so that Laertes too dies—as he admits, justly killed by his own treachery. Gertrude, also present at the duel, unknowingly drinks from the cup of poisoned wine that Claudius has had placed near Hamlet to ensure his death. Before Hamlet himself dies, he manages to stab Claudius and entrusts the clearing of his honor to his friend Horatio.

For a discussion of this play within the context of Shakespeare’s entire corpus, see William Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s plays and poems.

In full: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Show more) See all related content

Also read: The meaning and interpretation of Hamlet’s monologue “To be, or not to be” in Act III, scene 1.

David Bevington