The Story of Hamlet

Part 1: The Cold Night at Elsinore

Our story begins on a very cold, dark night at a huge castle called Elsinore in the country of Denmark. The guards outside are shaking from the cold, but they are also shaking from fear. For the past two nights, they have seen something terrifying: a ghost. This ghost looks exactly like their recently dead king, King Hamlet. He wears full metal armor and looks very sad and angry. The guards bring a smart friend named Horatio to see it. When Horatio sees the ghost, he is shocked. He decides they must tell the dead King's son, young Prince Hamlet, about this strange and scary sight.

Part 2: A Very Sad Prince

Inside the warm, bright castle, things are very different. The new king is having a big party. The new king is named Claudius, and he is the dead King's brother. So, Claudius is Prince Hamlet's uncle. But something very shocking has happened: Claudius has married Gertrude, who is the dead King's wife and Prince Hamlet's mother! They got married less than two months after the old king died.

While everyone else is wearing bright colors and drinking wine, Prince Hamlet is wearing dark black clothes. He is filled with deep sorrow. He cannot understand how his mother could forget his wonderful father so quickly and marry his uncle. Claudius tells Hamlet to stop being sad and to act like a man. Hamlet stays quiet, but inside his heart, he wishes he could just disappear from this ugly world.

Part 3: The Terrible Secret

Horatio finds Hamlet and tells him about the ghost. Hamlet goes out into the freezing night to see for himself. Suddenly, the ghost appears! It calls Hamlet to follow it into the darkness. His friends try to stop him, but Hamlet is brave and follows the spirit.

When they are alone, the ghost speaks. It tells Hamlet a terrible, shocking secret. The old King did not die from a snake bite in the garden, as everyone was told. Instead, while the King was sleeping, his brother Claudius poured deadly poison into his ear! Claudius murdered him to steal his crown and his wife. The ghost begs Hamlet to get revenge for this horrible murder. Hamlet is horrified. He promises to remember the ghost and to punish King Claudius.

Part 4: The Pretend Madman

Hamlet knows he is in terrible danger. If Claudius killed the King, he would easily kill the Prince, too. Hamlet needs time to think and to make sure the ghost was telling the truth. So, Hamlet comes up with a plan. He decides to act like he has lost his mind. He pretends to suffer from madness. He walks around with his clothes messy, talking in strange riddles, and acting very weirdly.

This confuses everyone in the castle. The King's main helper is an old, talkative man named Polonius. Polonius has a beautiful daughter named Ophelia. Hamlet and Ophelia used to be in love. But now, Hamlet acts very mean and crazy toward her. Polonius thinks Hamlet is acting crazy because he is so deeply in love with Ophelia. But King Claudius is not so sure. Claudius is suspicious and feels guilty. He invites two of Hamlet's old school friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to the castle to spy on Hamlet and find out what is really going on in his head.

Part 5: The Play to Catch a King

One day, a group of traveling actors comes to the castle. This gives Hamlet a brilliant idea. He asks the actors to put on a special play for the King and Queen. Hamlet changes the story of the play to show exactly what the ghost said happened: a man pouring poison into a sleeping king's ear. Hamlet tells Horatio, "We will watch my uncle's face very closely. If he looks scared or guilty, we will know he is the murderer."

That night, everyone gathers to watch the show. When the actor on stage pours the fake poison into the sleeping king's ear, King Claudius suddenly stands up. He looks pale and terrified. He shouts for the lights to be turned on and runs out of the room. Hamlet is now 100 percent sure. The ghost told the truth. Claudius is a murderer.

Part 6: A Terrible Mistake

After the play, Hamlet goes to his mother's bedroom to speak with her. He is very angry. But before Hamlet arrives, the old man Polonius decides to hide behind a heavy curtain in the room so he can listen to their conversation.

Hamlet yells at his mother for marrying a bad man like Claudius. He is so angry that his mother gets scared and cries for help. Behind the curtain, Polonius also shouts for help. Hamlet hears a voice behind the curtain. He thinks it is King Claudius hiding there! Without thinking, Hamlet pulls out his sword and stabs through the curtain. But when he pulls the curtain back, he sees he has made a terrible mistake. He has killed Polonius.

Part 7: Pirates and Broken Hearts

Now Claudius has a real reason to send Hamlet away. He tells everyone Hamlet is too dangerous. Claudius sends Hamlet on a ship to England, accompanied by the two spies, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Claudius also secretly sends a letter to the King of England, telling him to chop off Hamlet's head as soon as he arrives!

But Hamlet is smart. While on the ship, he finds the letter and changes it so that the two spies will be killed instead. Then, suddenly, their ship is attacked by a pirate ship! During the fight, Hamlet jumps onto the pirate ship. The pirates turn out to be friendly enough, and they agree to bring Hamlet back to Denmark.

While Hamlet is away, terrible things happen at the castle. Ophelia, heartbroken because Hamlet left and because Hamlet killed her father, actually loses her mind. Her madness is real, unlike Hamlet's fake madness. She wanders around singing sad songs and handing out imaginary flowers. One day, she climbs a willow tree over a stream, the branch breaks, and she tragically drowns in the water.

Part 8: The Graveyard

Hamlet returns to Denmark just as they are digging a grave. He walks into the graveyard with Horatio. A man digging the grave finds an old skull and tosses it up. Hamlet picks it up and asks whose it was. The gravedigger says it belonged to Yorick, the King's funny clown who used to carry Hamlet on his back when Hamlet was a little boy.

Looking at the skull, Hamlet feels very sad about life and death. He realizes that everyone, no matter how great or rich, eventually turns into dust. Just then, a funeral procession arrives. It is Ophelia's funeral. Ophelia's brother, Laertes, has returned from France. Laertes is furious. He wants revenge on Hamlet for killing his father and causing his sister's death. When Hamlet realizes it is Ophelia's grave, he jumps into the grave, crying that he loved her more than anyone else. Hamlet and Laertes get into a fierce fight right there in the dirt before they are pulled apart.

Part 9: The Deadly Trap

King Claudius sees how angry Laertes is, and he uses this to make a final, evil plan to kill Hamlet once and for all. He sets up a friendly sword-fighting match between Hamlet and Laertes to entertain the court. But it is a trick.

Laertes's sword will be sharp, not dull like a practice sword. Even worse, Laertes puts deadly poison on the tip of his sword. Just to be extra safe, King Claudius also poisons a cup of delicious wine. He plans to offer the poisoned wine to Hamlet when Hamlet gets thirsty during the match.

Part 10: The Tragic End

The match begins. Hamlet is fighting very well. He scores the first hit. Claudius offers him the poisoned cup of wine to celebrate, but Hamlet says he will drink it later. Then, something unexpected happens. Queen Gertrude gets thirsty. To celebrate her son winning the point, she picks up the poisoned cup. Claudius tries to stop her, but it is too late. She drinks the poison.

The fight continues, and Laertes suddenly steps forward and cuts Hamlet with the poisoned sword. Now, Hamlet has the poison in his blood. In the angry confusion, they drop their swords and accidentally pick up each other's weapons. Hamlet then cuts Laertes with the poisoned sword!

Suddenly, the Queen falls to the floor, crying out that the drink was poisoned, and she dies. Laertes, knowing he is about to die too, confesses the whole evil plan. He tells Hamlet that the sword and the drink were poisoned, and that King Claudius is to blame for everything.

Finally, filled with rage, Hamlet takes the poisoned sword and stabs King Claudius. He then forces the evil King to drink the rest of the poisoned wine. Claudius dies. Laertes asks Hamlet for forgiveness, and then he dies too.

Hamlet is weak and dying from the poison. His best friend Horatio wants to drink the poison too, so he can die with his prince. But Hamlet takes the cup away from him. He tells Horatio, "You must stay alive. You must tell my story to the world, so people know the truth about what happened here." Horatio promises.

Hamlet takes his last breath and says, "The rest is silence." The prince of Denmark is gone. Shortly after, a prince from another country arrives to take over the empty throne, ending the great tragedy of the royal house of Denmark.