William Shakespeare
A basic introduction to
Shakespeare's play:
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
His House
The most famous play writer in the
West. He also wrote love poems,
histories, comedies and tragedies.
Hamlet and the grave digger
Hamlet is here talking
to the grave digger.
The meaning of the
conversation is that
death comes suddenly
and quickly to all and
once we are dead we
are quickly forgotten
The basic story of Hamlet
• The story about the Danish Prince
"Hamlet", who plans revenge on his uncle,
the current king, for killing his father, the
former king. Hamlet pretends madness
because his mother marriage to his evil
uncle. The uncle tries to kill Hamlet
several times, once in England and once
in Denmark with poison. In the end all dis
by poison and sword.
This is a picture if a famous
scene from Hamlet. Hamlet
pays some actors to play a
story where the King’s
brother kills the King and
marries his wife. Hamlet does
this to see if the King’s
brother did actually kill his
brother the king.
This is
Hamlet. He
is looking at
the new king
to see if he
is guilty of
killing his
father, the
former king
This is the
queen
who the
These king’s
are the murderer
actors married
of the
play
Here is the
man who
really killed
his brother
the king. His
expression
here is of
guilt
Ophelia
This is the women who
Hamlet loves. Her name
is Ophelia. Due to
Hamlet accidentally
killing her father, she
goes mad and commits
suicide. Later Hamlet
will also tragically lose
his life due to her death.
Ophelia
A picture
of Ophelia
What is
she doing?
King Claudius
Ghost
appearing to be
Hamlet's father,
the former king
Young Hamlet is not
sure if the ghost he
sees is real or his
imagination. Even
by the end of the
play it is unclear if
he really does
believe the ghost is
real or not
Gertrude
This is Hamlet’s mother,
Gertrude. Hamlet loves
his mother very much;
although he finds it terrible
that his mother married
his father’s bother so
quickly after her
husband’s death
“To be or not to be, that is the
question.”
Hamlet asks the a question to
his mother as to “what is the
meaning of life” and “is death
better to life.” Upon asking
these questions he thinks he
found a spy and kills the spy.
Unfortunately, the man he kills
is not a spy but
Ophelia’s father,
Polonius
Polonius
This is the man Hamlet
accidentally kills. He is
Ophelia's father
He says many things in
this story which are
famous for their meaning.
For example :“To thine
(your) ownself be
true”
What do you think this
might mean ?
Hamlet
• The story Hamlet is full of philosophy
and Tagedy. It is a very good tragedy as
everybody ends up being poisoned,
murdered or commiting suicide.