First performed around 1600, Hamlet tells the story of a prince whose duty to revenge his father’s death entangles him in philosophical problems he can’t solve. Fill in the blanks on your google sheet Hamlet The prince of Denmark Claudius The new king of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle Gertrude The queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother Horatio Hamlet’s friend Polonius The Lord Chamberlain Ophelia Polonius’s daughter Characters (continued) Laertes Polonius’s son Fortinbras The prince of Norway, son of King Fortinbras The Ghost A vision of Hamlet’s dead father, the former king of Denmark Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Hamlet’s former schoolmates Osric, Voltimand, and Cornelius Courtiers Francisco, Marcellus, and Barnardo Watch guards Act 1: Scene 1 • I-1. • BARNARDO: Who’s there? • FRANCISCO: No. Answer me. Stop there and reveal yourself. • BARNARDO: Long live the king! • FRANCISCO: Barnardo? BARNARDO: Yes, it’s me. FRANCISCO: You come right on time. BARNARDO: It’s just striking twelve. Go to bed, Francisco. FRANCISCO: Thanks for relieving me. It’s bitterly cold out, and I’m sick at heart. BARNARDO: Has it been . . . a quiet night? FRANCISCO: Not a mouse stirring. BARNARDO: Well, good night. If you see my watch partners, Horatio and Marcellus, tell them to hurry. FRANCISCO: I think I hear them. Stop! Who’s there? HORATIO: Friends of this land. MARCELLUS: And servants of the Danish king. FRANCISCO: God give you good night. MARCELLUS: Farewell, honest soldier. Hello, Barnardo. BARNARDO: Say what, is Horatio here? HORATIO: I am, more or less. BARNARDO: Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, good Marcellus. MARCELLUS: So, has that thing appeared again tonight? BARNARDO: I have seen nothing. MARCELLUS: Horatio says that this dreaded thing we’ve already seen twice is only our fantasy, so he won’t let himself believe in it. That’s why I’ve begged him to come along with us on our shift, so that if this apparition comes, he’ll agree that it’s real and speak to it. HORATIO: Tush, tush– —it won’t appear. BARNARDO: Sit down then, so I can batter your ears again with the story. Last night, when the bell tolled one o’clock and that star to the west of the Northern Star had wound its way to where it is now, Marcellus and I— MARCELLUS: Peace! Stop! Look! BARNARDO: Again! In the same form as the king that’s dead! BARNARDO: It wants us to speak to it! MARCELLUS: You are a scholar—speak to it, Horatio! HORATIO: What are you that seizes the night, looking like the dead king of Denmark in his battle glory? By God, I order you to speak! MARCELLUS: It is offended. BARNARDO: Look, it stalks away. HORATIO: Stay! Speak! I order you! Speak! Speak! MARCELLUS: It’s gone, and will not answer. BARNARDO: What do you think now, Horatio? You tremble and look pale. Isn’t this more than a fantasy? HORATIO: Before my God, if I hadn’t seen that with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it. MARCELLUS: Doesn’t it look like the king? HORATIO: Yes, as much as you look like yourself. He was wearing exactly that armor when he fought the king of Norway, and he frowned just like that when he attacked the Poles. MARCELLUS: Twice before, at this dead hour, he’s stalked our watch like a soldier. HORATIO: I don’t know why, but I have a feeling this means bad news for our country. MARCELLUS: Sit and tell me more of that. Can anyone tell me why Denmark has imposed this strict schedule of guards? And why we manufacture cannons daily and refuse to give the shipbuilders a holiday, even on Sunday? HORATIO: I can tell you…Or at least I can describe the rumors. As you know, our late king was the rival of Fortinbras, the king of Norway. Fortinbras dared him to battle . . . HORATIO: In that fight, our courageous Hamlet killed old King Fortinbras, who—by law—surrendered his territories with his life. If our king had lost, he would have had to do the same. But now old Fortinbras’s bold but unproven young son—also called Fortinbras—has gathered a bunch of hungry thugs to secure the lands his father lost. As far as I understand, that’s why we’re posted here tonight and there’s such a commotion in Denmark lately. BARNARDO: This must be why the king haunts us now, since he began these wars. HORATIO: In the high Roman Empire, just before the mighty Julius Caesar fell, corpses rose out of their graves and ran through the streets speaking gibberish. There were shooting stars, and blood mixed with the morning dew, and threatening signs on the face of the sun. And now we’ve had similar omens of terrible things to come, as if heaven and earth have joined together to warn us of our fate. BARNARDO: It was about to say something when the rooster crowed. HORATIO: And then it startled, like a guilty thing caught by the law. I’ve heard that the god of the day makes wandering ghosts return to hiding. MARCELLUS: Yes, and some people say that just before Christmas, the rooster crows all night long, so that no ghost dares to wander, and the night is safe. HORATIO: Hmph. But look—morning breaks over the eastern hills, turning the sky red. Let’s go tell young Hamlet what we’ve seen; this mute ghost will surely speak to him. MARCELLUS: Let’s do it. I know where we’ll find him this morning.
