Hamlet Act 1 Notes

Act I

Scene I

·         Two guards hang out in the castle battlements

·         Horatio comes out and meets them

·         They talk about a ghostly figure that has come the last 2 days

·         Soon after, the ghost pops up again

·         The ghost does not communicate with them and walks off

·         Horatio suggests that they tell Hamlet about this occurrence

Scene II

·         Claudius had just taken the throne because the original king (Hamlet’s dad) had died

·         Gertrude was married to the old king and now had gotten with Claudius

·         Claudius gives permission to Laertes to go study in France

·         Claudius denies Hamlet’s request to study in London

·         Hamlet begins to think of suicide

·         Horatio tells Hamlet of the ghost (who was in the form of Hamlet’s dad)

·         Hamlet figures that something happened between Claudius and Old Hamlet that caused the death of Old Hamlet

Scene III

·         Laertes leaves for Paris, telling his sister to avoid Hamlet

·         Polonius, her father, also tells her to avoid Hamlet

·         Polonius tells Ophelia that Hamlet only wants to sleep with her

Scene IV

·         Hamlet sees the ghost and freaks out

·         The ghost beckons to him and he decides to follow it

·         Hamlet’s friends tell him not to go and that it will make him go insane

Scene V

·         The ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius had murdered him (Old Hamelet)

·         The murder was done by poison in the ear

·         Hamlet promises to avenge the death of his father

·         Hamlet and his friends agree to not tell anyone about the ghost