Hamlet Outline

ACT 1
Scene 1
Bernardo, a watchman, comes to relieve Francisco, another watchman.
Marcellus, another watchman, together with Horatio, Hamlet’s friend, join Bernardo. They discuss about the ghost.
The ghost suddenly appears, resembling the dead King of Denmark. Horatio believes that it must be a warning for Denmark, and suggests they tell Hamlet.

Scene 2
Claudius explains his recent marriage to Gertrude, Hamlet’s brother, also the wife of the previous dead King of Denmark.
Laertes asks to return to France, and Polonius, Laertes’ father admits his son to do so.
Hamlet still wears mourning clothes which Claudius thinks inappropriate. Claudius wants Hamlet to think of himself as a father.
Claudius decides to hold festivities, whereas Hamlet remains anguished about his father’s death and that his mother and Claudius’ inferior marriage.
Horatio tells Hamlet about the ghost. Hamlet agrees to follow him to see the apparition.

Scene 3
As Laertes is leaving for France, he warns his sister Ophelia not to fall in love with Hamlet. Polonius comes to bid farewell to Laertes and tells him to behave decently and appropriately.
Polonius forbids Ophelia to associate with Hamlet any more.

Scene 4
While waiting for the ghost to appear, Hamlet hears trumpets from the castle, and feels disgusted by such custom of carousing.
The ghost appears, and asks Hamlet to follow. Though thwarted by his friends, Hamlet follows the ghost and disappears into the darkness. After a while, Horatio and Marcellus follow Hamlet to protect him.

Scene 5
The ghost claims to be the spirit of Hamlet’s dead father, and tries to arouse Hamlet to revenge his father’s death. The ghost tells Hamlet that somebody poisons his father during his father’s sleep, and indicates that the villain is Claudius. Hamlet swears to take revenge.
When Hamlet comes back, he claims to pretend to be a madman, and insists Horatio and Marcellus keep the secret.

ACT 2
Scene 1
Ophelia enters to inform Polonius of Hamlet’s weird and crazy behavior. Polonius thinks that Hamlet’s moodiness and craziness must derive from his lovesickness, and then hurries to tell Claudius.

Scene 2
Claudius invites Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to investigate Hamlet’s melancholy and weird behavior.
The ambassadors returning from Norway tell Claudius that The Norwegian plans to attack the Poles rather than the Danes.
Polonius presents Claudius Hamlet’s love letters and poems to Ophelia, and proposes to eavesdrop on Hamlet and Ophelia’s meeting. Claudius gives permission to the plan.

ACT 3
Scene 1
Hamlet confronts Ophelia who, ordered by Polonius, returns love tokens given by Hamlet. Hamlet claims to never love Ophelia any more, and then castigates mankind out of rage. Claudius recognizes something more dangerous than crazy love in Hamlet’s insanity, and plots with Polonius a second eavesdrop.

Scene 2
Hamlet is preparing the play, and tells Horatio to watch Claudius and detects his guilt.
The play begins and when the scene that a mam pours poison into the sleeping king’s ear is displayed, Claudius flees out of the theatre.
Polonius escorts Hamlet to Gertrude.

Scene 3
When alone, Claudius explicitly expresses his guilt and sin, and begins to pray. Hamlet sneaks near Claudius and intends to kill him, but he doesn’t, and decides to kill him when he is sinning.

Scene 4
Polonius eavesdrops on Hamlet’s confrontation with her mother. Hamlet convinces Gertrude her sin of marrying Claudius. Suddenly Hamlet notices somebody hiding behind the arras, he stabs into the arras with his sword, and ends up killing Polonius.
The ghost appears in front of Hamlet, but cannot be seen by Gertrude. The ghost warns Hamlet that he must take the revenge. Hamlet urges Gertrude to leave Claudius, and Gertrude promises to keep the secret about Hamlet’s plotted madness.

ACT 4
Scene 1
Gertrude describes to Claudius her confrontation with Hamlet. Claudius plans to ship Hamlet to England and denounce Hamlet as a murder of