Hamlet [the plot]

The play concerns the QUANDARY of prince Hamlet, whose father, King of Denmark, has recently died. While Hamlet was away at university, the King's brother Claudius had himself ANNOUNCED king, and to cement his claim to the throne, immediately married Hamlet's mother, the widowed Queen.
Hamlet expresses his anger at the accession of the AVERAGE Claudius and particularly with his mother's QUICK remarriage. Hamlet soon MEETS the ghost of his dead father, who informs him that he was murdered by Claudius, and urges Hamlet to PUNISH him. Hamlet is unsure whether the ghost he has seen is truly his father, and suspects that it might be an evil spirit IMITATING him. He therefore sets out to test the king's conscience through PRETENDING , and by staging a play re-enacting the circumstances of the murder.
The king's reaction to the performance ASSURES Hamlet of his guilt. Shortly afterwards, Claudius privately expresses his disgust at what he has done, and prays a prayer of REGRET. Hamlet discovers him at prayer, and gets ready to kill him, but then stops, reasoning that he does not want his revenge to have the result of sending the repentant Claudius to heaven. In a double irony, after Hamlet slips away, Claudius concludes that he is unable to repent in his PRESENT state of mind; thus, if Hamlet had not attempted to arrogate to himself the destiny of Claudius's soul, rather than just his life, he would have gotten the FINAL justice he sought.
Hamlet confronts his mother about the murder of his father, and during their conversation, he stabs [spears] Polonius, the king's councilor, who has been hiding behind a RUG. The king, who has realised that Hamlet knows about the murder he committed, sends Hamlet to England with a message to the English ordering his death. On the way to England, Hamlet's ship is overcome by pirates, and Hamlet manages to return to Denmark. In the mean time, Ophelia, who was in love with Hamlet, is driven mad by her father Polonius's death, and drowns herself.
Laertes, son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia, is DECIDED to kill Hamlet in revenge for the DAMAGE that has been wreaked on his family. He and Claudius engineer a PLOT to kill Hamlet while making the death look like an accident. To this end, Claudius instructs Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a fencing match. Unknown to Hamlet, Laertes will be fighting with a sharpened and poisoned foil, instead of the customary UNSHARPENED blade. In addition, Claudius prepares some poisoned wine for Hamlet to drink as a toast, in the event that Laertes is unable to hit him.
After winning the first two rounds of the match, Hamlet is pricked with the sword and fatally poisoned, but in the FOLLOWING brawl, he CHANGES blades with Laertes, and deals a deep wound to Laertes with the poisoned sword. Hamlet's mother drinks the poisoned wine, and dies. In his dying breaths, Laertes confesses the plot to Hamlet. FURIOUS, Hamlet kills Claudius with the poisoned weapon, finally avenging his father's death.

MAIN CHARACTERS
Hamlet is the son of the late King of Denmark. He is urged by the ghost of his father to avenge his murder, which he finally does, after he has been stabbed with a poisoned rapier by Laertes.
Claudius is the current King of Denmark and Hamlet's uncle. It is UNCOVERED that he murdered the old king by pouring hemlock in his ear while he was asleep. He is stabbed to death with a poisoned rapier by Hamlet who, for good measure, also forces him to drink the wine which he had MEANT to poison Hamlet.
Old Hamlet was Hamlet's father. At the start of the play, he is not long dead. He appears to Hamlet as a ghost and urges him to avenge his murder.
Gertrude is Hamlet's mother, the widow of Old Hamlet and the wife of Claudius. She dies by drinking poisoned wine intended for Hamlet.
Polonius is Claudius's chief councilor, who is SCEPTICAL of Hamlet's relationship with Ophelia. He is a fatuous bore, and Hamlet frequently teases him while pretending to be mentally unbalanced. He is stabbed by Hamlet while hidden behind an arras while trying to OVERHEAR a conversation between Hamlet and his mother.
Laertes is Polonius' son, who kills Hamlet with a poisoned rapier to avenge the deaths of Polonius and Ophelia. He is killed by Hamlet with the same rapier, although at the time Hamlet did not realise it was poisoned.
Ophelia is Polonius' daughter. She and Hamlet have had romantic feelings for each other, although she and Hamlet (at least implicitly) have been warned that it would be politically INAPPROPRIATE for them to marry. Jilted by Hamlet as part of his insanity MADNESS ruse, her father's death causes her to actually go insane, and she drowns herself, possibly accidentally.
Horatio is a friend of Hamlet's from university. He is not directly involved in the PLOT among the royals, which enables the author to use him as a foil or sounding board for Hamlet. He is the only main character who is alive at the end of the play.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are old school-fellows of Hamlet, who were CALLED FOR to the castle by Claudius to keep a watch on Hamlet. Hamlet soon suspects that they are spies. They die off-stage in England by a warrant signed by Hamlet (in the king's name). Though their roles in the play are relatively INSIGNIFICANT, Tom Stoppard created a popular play and movie Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead in which the two title characters contemplate their roles as minor players in a bigger drama.

Url źródłowy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet