Hamlet: Act 1 Scene 2 - Summary

Hamlet: Act 1 Scene 2 - Notes

Contextual info:

• Hamlet Act 1 Scene 2 involves Claudius, Gertrude, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Ophelia, Voltemand, Cornelius, Barnardo, Marcellus, and Horatio
• Claudius is the late King Hamlet’s brother, and has married his ex-sister-in-law, Gertrude
• Voltemand and Cornelius are messengers for the King
• Polonius is a politician who the King more or less listens to, and he has two children: His son Laertes, who is studying in France but has come back to Denmark to see through Claudius’ inauguration, and a daughter, Ophelia
• Hamlet is the late King Hamlet’s son, the main protagonist of the play

Plot Summary:

• The scene opens with Claudius giving his first speech as King of Denmark
• Since King Hamlet’s passed away, Claudius is now King of Denmark, and he’s even married his ex-sister-in-law, Gertrude (King Hamlet’s wife)
• Claudius’s first order as King is to get two messengers, Voltemand and Cornelius, to send a letter to “Norway,” the current King of Norway
• In the letter, he asks the current King of Norway to command his nephew, Fortinbras to stop sending Claudius letters demanding his late father’s lands back
• Remember, the now-dead King of Denmark, King Hamlet, rightfully defeated the now-dead King of Norway, King Fortinbras, and took Norway’s lands as they had agreed. However, there are rumors - which are apparently true according to the information in this scene, that Fortinbras (King Fortinbras’ son) is indeed sending letters to Claudius demanding his father’s lands back
• Laertes, Polonius’ son, asks Claudius for permission to return to France where he’s been studying
• Hamlet is introduced into the play wearing black and acting moody due to his father’s recent death
• Gertrude and Claudius basically tell him to get over the death of his father
• Gertrude asks Hamlet to stay in Denmark (as opposed to going back to Wittenberg to return to his studies), and Hamlet agrees to his mother’s wishes
• Everybody leaves the scene to go party and drink except for Hamlet
• Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo enter to update Hamlet about the ghost that looks like his father
• After asking many questions about the ghost, Hamlet says that he’ll go see this ghost and try to talk to it