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A Narrative
of the story in Hamlet

King Hamlet was the King of Denmark for more than 30 years. He was a great warrior king. In war, he defeated Norway, Poland, and England. He married Gertrude, and they had a son, also named Hamlet. King Hamlet had a brother, named Claudius.

King Hamlet was challenged to single combat by Fortinbrasse Sr, a duke of Norway who wanted to become a king. Fortinbrasse Sr was the brother of the King of Norway. King Hamlet killed Fortinbrasse Sr, and by doing so he won Fortinbrasse Sr's land, which included Elsinore Castle. King Hamlet moved his capital to Elsinore Castle, from Copenhagen, to secure his victory, and to insure the land was properly incorporated into Denmark.

Claudius was envious of his brother, and covetous of Gertrude. His brother's success and fame ate at Claudius, who became a drunkard, and never married to have a family of his own. Claudius thought, for years, about killing his brother, and taking the crown and Gertrude for himself.

Claudius finally found a way to kill his brother, and get away with it. One afternoon when King Hamlet was napping, and unguarded, Claudius snuck up and poured virulent poison into his brother's ear. King Hamlet died, and his death was attributed to snakebite.

Hamlet, the son of King Hamlet, was attending the university at Wittenberg, Germany. He was informed of his father's death, left school, and returned to Denmark.

Upon his return, Hamlet noticed Ophelia, the daughter of the top aide to the Danish government. Hamlet began courting Ophelia, who returned his affection, and they became secretly engaged.

Claudius courted Gertrude, and she accepted him, and soon married him, within a month of King Hamlet's funeral. With Gertrude's political backing, Claudius was elected King, instead of Hamlet.

On the night after Claudius was officially crowned King, a sentinel on watch duty saw a Ghost that looked exactly like King Hamlet. The Ghost was wearing armor, the same as King Hamlet had worn when he went to war. The sentinel told his watch supervisor. The watch supervisor went along the next night, on watch duty, and he also saw the Ghost.

Queen Gertrude observed that her son was depressed, and asked Claudius to summon two old friends of Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to provide Hamlet with friendly company. Claudius did summon Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but for his own reasons.

Because of the disorganizations and distractions of the state funeral for King Hamlet, followed so soon by the royal marriage of Claudius and Gertrude, and the coronation of Claudius, pirate activity increased in the seas around Denmark.

A company of Players who had had royal sponsorship lost their sponsorship when King Hamlet died. They were also losing business due to competition from a company of boy actors. The Players left the city, Copenhagen, and set out for Elsinore Castle, to try to get the sponsorship of Hamlet, the Prince. Hamlet had enjoyed the Players' performances, and was friends with some of them.

Fortinbrasse Sr had a son, named Fortinbrasse. When young Fortinbrasse learned that King Hamlet was dead, he challenged the next King of Denmark to single combat, the same as his father had done, to try to get back the land his father had lost. At the time Fortinbrasse issued the challenge, he expected Hamlet to be the next King of Denmark, as everyone did, at first. Fortinbrasse intended to exact revenge against the son of the man who killed his father.

Fortinbrasse also began raising an army against Denmark, in case the challenge were turned down, while pretending the army was for an attack on Poland. Queen Gertrude, who was the interim head of government until the election of a new king, was suspicious of what Fortinbrasse was doing, and ordered a military buildup in Denmark, in response.

Claudius, upon assuming the throne, turned down Fortinbrasse's challenge to single combat. Claudius began looking for a way to avoid war. He accepted the suggestion of his top aide, Polonius, to try negotiation with old King Norway, the same man King Hamlet had once defeated in war.

Hamlet had a best friend at the university in Wittenberg, a young man named Horatio. Horatio left the university when he heard of King Hamlet's death, and came to Elsinore Castle to attend King Hamlet's funeral. Horatio made the acquaintance of the watch duty supervisor, Marcellus, who had seen the Ghost. When Marcellus learned Horatio was an educated man, and a friend of Hamlet, he asked Horatio's help in dealing with the Ghost, if it appeared again, and Horatio agreed, although he was sceptical.

The play begins with Francisco, a soldier, on sentinel duty. The time is midnight. A distant church bell is ringing 12:00. It's a cold, very dark, moonless night. The location is a platform, which is an earthen mound, just outside the walls of Elsinore Castle.

Hamlet will be buried the next day, two months to the day after his father's funeral. His grave will be beside Ophelia's. There he'll rest, in peace.

(Regained)

This page is still "Under Construction."

Here is a narrative, in prose, of the story in Hamlet. It encompasses the events of the entire play, in much detail, including significant offstage events. It should be of assistance to readers who want to know the play action in particular, which can be hard to discern behind the complexities of the dialogue. This narrative is not intended to be a substitute for the play, but only a supplement to it.

A detailed prose account of the play is perhaps the single most-needed supplement to the Hamlet playtext. The need is partly because the play is complex, but also because the play is, generally, so misunderstood that reliance on the playtext itself, even supplemented with glossary and text notes, will often not be enough to attain comprehension. Misreadings of Hamlet are so pervasive that persons who approach the playtext for the first time have probably already been misled about the play, before they even read it for themselves.

Scene divisions are marked in the narrative, in coordination with the Hamlet (Regained) presentation of the playtext on this website. The Scenes are numbered consecutively. Division by Scenes is the only proper way of presenting the play, since Shakespeare did not write Hamlet with Act divisions. However, the traditional, editorial Act and scene divisions are also given, in parentheses, for convenient reference.

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