HAMLET,

PRNNCE OF
DENI[VIAIRK
BY WIlLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Read about William Shakespeare

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE(1564-1616)
Hamlet is a modern prose
on p. 72. The following extract from
adaptation of his play,

CAST LIST

King, nephew to Claudius

HAMLET son to the Eormer

HORATIO friend to Hamlet

GHOST OF HAMLET'S FATHER

THE

OPHELIA daughter to Polonius

OF TRAVELLING PLAYERS
A TROOP
CLAUDIUS King of Denmark
of Denmark and mother to Harnlet
(.ERTRUDE Queen

POLONIUS Lord Chamberlain

LAERTES son to Polonius

THE SCENE

Denmark in the thirteenth century

Murder mostfoul as in tbe bestit is.

But tbis mostfou4 strange,and unnaturaZ.

GHOST OF HAMLET'S FATHER: ACT ONE, SCENE FIVE

that moaned around the battlements.
Snowflakes twirled in the wind
the cold, and kept my eyes
up the collar of my cloak against
I turned
had told me they had seen my
fixed on the place where the guards

father's ghost.
me. It was Horatio who had
Horatio, my oldest friend, was with

my father, the king, was dead - bitten by

brought me the news that

he was sleeping in the orchard - and it was Horatio

a snake while
funeral. Something in me
who had stood by my side at my father's
Royal Tomb with my
died too that day, and was sealed up in the
the light and joy out of
father. My grief was so great that it sucked

everything.
 the sound of drunken laughter.
prom the courtyard below came

"Someone is still celebrating the marriage of your mother and your

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 could have more freedom than a mad prince? If I pretended
Who
say whatever I wished and search for the truth
to be mad, I could

without arousing Claudius's suspicion.

took shape. I wore nothing but black. I wandered

And so my plan
weeping and sighing, seeking out shadowy
through the castle,
spoke to me, I answered with the first
places to brood. If anyone

that came into my head, and all the time I watched

wild nonsense
sign of guilt. I cut myself off from
Claudius, looking for the slightest
I told him everything, for I knew he was
all friends - except Horatio;

the only one I could trust.

through the castle that grief had turned
A rumour began to spread
but it is one thing to invent a
my wits. So far, my plan was a success,

thing to carry it through. The strain of pretending,

plan, and another
lcindness and good company, was almost
of cutting myself off from
were times when I thought I truly had gone
too great to bear. There
no longer carry the burden of what the ghost
mad, when I felt I could
my father, my mother's new husband would
had told me. ff I avenged
and her happiness would be shattered; if I
be revealed as a murderer,
soul was doomed to eternal torment.
did not, my father's
by doubt. What if Claudius were
Worst of all, I was tortured
by an evil spirit? Questions
innocent? 'SX7hat if I had been deceived
like the stars spinning around the
went spinning through my mind,

Earth.
afternoon, alone in my room, I drew my
Then one day, on a bleak

dag(,,er and stared at it. The blade was sharp: if I used it on myself,
and all my doubts and worries would be
death would come quickly,
Would I be sending my soul into an even worse
over - but what then?
the dagger in my hand, balancing the fear of what
torture? I weighed
against the fear of what might follow
I must do to avenge my father
both the courage to go on with my life, and
death. It seemed I lacked

the courage to end it.

I sheathed the dagger and called out,
Hearing a knock at my door,

"Come in!" almost relieved at the interruption.

Ophelia, her fair hair shining like a
A woman entered. It was Lady

her eyes filled with love and concern.

candle-flame,
then sank. Ophelia and I had loved each other
My heart lifted,
Before my father's death, I had been certain
since we were children.
marry - but now everything had
that she was the one I would
There was no room in my heart for love.
changed.
Hamlet?" Ophelia said. "My father asks if you will attend
"Lord

the performance of the Royal Players tonight?"

her father, I la'iew what was happening.

As soon as she mentioned
 -Ier father was Polonius, the Royal Chamberlain, a meddling fool
vho loved gossip and secrets. He had sent Ophelia to try and discover
,+hy I was acting so str;u'igely. Ophelia would report everything I said
D Polonius, and he would report it to Claudius. I was sickened: the
astle of Elsinore was a place where brothers murdered brothers, wives
their husbands, and fathers used their daughters as spies.
I laughed carelessly, to hide the ache 1 felt when I looked at
Opheli:a's beautiful face. "Tell Lord Polonius that I shall be at the
play," I said.
Ophelia turned her head, and I saw a tear fall across her cheek.
"My lord," she murmured, "why do you never look at me the way you
 when I believed you loved me, and wished
used to? There was a time

but now you seem so cold..."

us to marry,
to tell
I loved her, and that my coldness
her how much
I longed
me?"
more than acting, but
I did not dare. "You, marry
was nothing
no one, Ophelia! Wives and husbands are
I said rougMy. "Marry
you to join a convent
and
It would be better for
all cheats and liars.

become a nun!"
her sobs echoing förough the
At this she ran from the room,

making my heart break.

corridor,
there was no end to my despair,
And then, just as I thought
then a gleam, then a burst of light
an idea came - first a glimmer,

brighter than the sun.

and went to the Great Hall, where the
I hurried from my room
stage. I found their leader, a tall man with
actors were setting up their
I
uncle about him. AFter chatting for a few moments,
a look of my
the play TheMurderof Gonzago?"
said casually, "Do you know
my lord!" carne the reply.
"Certainly,
gold. "Act it tonight," I said.
a purse filled with
I handed the man
to the story. Listen carefully..."
you to make some changes
"But I want
into a trap - a
the play from an entertainment
I meant to turn

trap to catch a King.

watched the stage, I watched

That evening, while the audience
preferring to
litde interest in the story,
Claudius. At first he showed
me with
and kiss her fingers in a way that filled
whisper to my mother
won his attention.
- but gradually the slcill of the players
loathing
exactly according to my instructions,
of the first scene,
At the end his
as though asleep and
Duke Gonzago lay down
the actor playing
Claudius -
by the actor who resembled
nephew Lucianus - played
poison into his ear.
crept up on him and poured
was dim, I could see the deathly
though the light in the hall
Even
this scene. His eyes grew
pallor of Claudius's face as he watched
hand towards the stage.
and he raised a trembling
troubled; that
and
that I was gazing at the face of a murderer,
I knew then
had told me was true.
everything the ghost
to his feet. "Lights! Bring
Claudius cried out, springing
"No!"

more lights!"
light the darlcness in his
would not
But all the torches in the world
from the hall.
His nerve failed and he hurried
mind.
her at the door. "Do
to follow him, but I stopped
Mother made
is wrong."
go to the King!" she said. "Something
not delay me. I must
to you. I will come to
I told her. "I must talk
"And I know what,"
 , --. ++*+a»y« iiiy ypa« iamcii l it4utcu.
Mother frowned at me, puzzled. "What do you mean?" she
demanded.

"You offended him the day you abandoned your mourning robes
in exchange for a wedding gown," I said. "The day you married a liar
and a murderer!"
"I won't listen!" Mother shouted. She began to cover her ears with
her hands and I caught hold of her wrists to prevent her - she had to
hear the truth. Mother screamed in alarm, and then I heard a voice
from behind the drawn curtains at her window, calling out, "Help!
Murder!"

I was certain it was Claudius - who else would skulk and spy in
my mother's bedroom? I drew my sword and plunged it into the
curtain, filled with fierce joy that my father was avenged at last...
But it was the body of Lord Polonius that tumbled into the room;
I had killed an innocent man.
"You meddling old fool!" I groaned. "What were you doing
there?"

"Following my orders," said a voice.

I turned and saw Claudius in the doorway, with two armed
guards. A triumphant light glinted in his eyes. "I was afraid you
might harm your mother if you were alone with her," Claudius went
on. "Your madness has made you violent, Hamlet. You must leave
Denmark tonight. I shall send you to friends in England, who will
care for you until you are back in your right mind. Guards, take the
Prince away!"
Neither my mother nor the guards saw the mocking smile that
flickered on his lips, but as soon as I saw it, I lanew that Claudius
intended me never to return from England. I would be imprisoned,
and then secretly murdered.
While I had been trying to trap my uncle, he had been setting a
trap for me, and now it had snapped shut.

Questionsandexercisesonthetextareonpage;iz6.
B

I
s
+N

J i ffi
HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK
(page 50 i!El)

087 Starter

What is the play Hamlet about? Who is Hamlet?

How would you sum up the plot in a few sentences?

088 Textwork

Read Hamjet, Prince of Denmark on page 50. Here is a

summary of the extract, but the sentences are in the

wrorig order. Sort them outl-lO. Number1 has been

done for you.

Hamlet decides to pretend to be mad.

At the meeting with his mother,

Claudius is hiding behind a curtain. He stabs the person,

Hamlet suspects that

only to find it is Polonius, Ophelia's father.

Gonzago.
Hamlet persuades the actors to put on the play The Murder of
He makes changes to it.

tells Hamlet that his father has died from a snake bite.
1 Horatio
her in her room and asks her to make sure
Hamlet tells his mother he'll meet

she's alone and that no one knows about the meeting.

begs Hamlet to attend a performance of the Royal Players.

Lady Ophelia
Hamlet agrees to attend.

Claudius forces Hamlet to leave Denmark for England.

A short while later, Hamlet's mother marries Claudius.

of the play the actor playing Duke Gonzago pours

At the end of the first scene

poison into his nephew's ear. Claudius reacts angrily.

appears as a ghost and says he was murdered by Claudius

Hamlet's father

and begs Hamlet to avenge his death.

B Practise the vocabulary in Wordmatch/Spelling

089 Vocabulary: Choose the word E'

090 Vocabulary: Choose the meaning

in bold are all found in the text. Mark the altei

The following words and expressions
to the meaning of the words and expressions aS
(a, b, c or d) that best corresponds

used in the text.

226 I 4 CLASSICS
;(l(iwflakes twirled in the wind
that moanedaroundthe battlements.
around
d) weretossed
1) fell lightJyb)spunö fellheavily orchard.
was sleeping in the
, 5itten by a snake while he
a castle c) a private bedroom
i) (;i place where fruit trees
grow b) a small open spacein

r)(i field full of crops down my backbone.

ts voice was a groan of despair that sent shudders
d) a feeling of hoving
desperate c) a (eeling of disappointment
) great physical pain b) feeHng
>st all hope
provided me with an answer.
, because Horatio had unwittingly
c) unknowingly d) deliberately
) unfortunately b) understandably
almost too great to bear.
'5e strain of pretending,... was
d) situotjon
) effort b) problem c) tension
soul was doomed to eternal torment.
, %fI did not, my father's
everlasting d) violent
) tempomry b) very painful c)
afternoon,...l my dagger and stared at it.
drew
'hen one day, on a bleak
ö frost-covered d) early winter's
) wet and windy b) cold and unpleasant concern.
her eyes filled with love and
was Lady Ophelia,...
D anxiety
) great fear b) alarm c) sympathy
in a way that filled me with loathing.
. and kiss her fingers
d) a feeling of envy
of hatred C) O feeling of hopelessness
) a feeling of disgust b) a feeling

rENING: HAMLET, PRINCE

DENMARK CONT.

Listen and recall B

of the play HamJet.
sten to the rest of the summary
information or
; you listen, fill in the missing
(a, b or c). Before you
ioose the correct answer
below.
art, read through the sentences

see anything because the carriage

1 He couldn't
have .
he was riding in didn't

2 He boarded his ship and it set sail

immediately
a) after seveml hours b) olmost
c) the following day.
captured the ship and
3 Danish
murdered most of the crew.
of killing Hamlet, they put him ashore
4 Instead
in Elsinore. a) True b) False

227 H 4 CLASSICS
a -':" " " a
-
a' "'-"' Ir
q

... - =- jffl ,l
.. .

5 He wrote to his mother telling her he would that had been done.

6 Hamlet heads out for the castle and is met by Horatio who tells him that a) Ophelia

b) Claudius c) his mother has died.

is Ophelia's a) uncJe b) brother c) lover and he has sworn to kill Hamlet, but
7 Laertes
Claudius persuaded him to have a in front of the whole court.

His mother and uncle are sitting on the royal thrones in the Great Hall. O) Claudius
8
b) Horatio c) His mother looks proud.
9 During the fight, a) Hamlet b) Laertes gets the first hit.

10 During the fight Hamlet and Laertes change sworr!ls. a) True b) False

1l We learn that Claudius spread on Laertes' sword blade and that Hamlet's

mother dies because she drank from the cup intended for .

12 Hamlet kills before dying himself. As he dies, he thinks he sees a) Ophelia's

b) Horatio's c) his father's face.

l!! Practise the vocabulary in Wordmatch/Spelling

092 Interact

When discussing literature make use of On Language in Resource Section page

1 Describe Hamlet. What sort of personality does he have?

the relationship between Hamlet and his mother. How do you think he feels
2 Describe
about her new marriage?
3 Why do you think he waits such a long time before taking revenge?

4 Why are Shakespeare's plays still so popular all over the world, do you think?

093 Speaking

Workin pairs. Imagine BBC News or Sky News or CNN had been around at the time of

news has just come into the studio about what has happened i
Hamlet. A piece of breaking
trying to give the main events of the story plus a
Denmark. Prepare a short news broadcast
background to it.

You can start:

Some breaking news is just coming in from Denmark...

Now let one of you make the broadcast while your partner films it.

When you've finished, compare your result with another pair.

094 Looking at words to do with books and literature l!!

in pairs. Below are 30 words in alphabetical order which have something to c

A Work
with books and literature. Put them under the correct heading (6 words under each).

dictionary, if necessary and make a special note of any new words you come across.

appendix critic index rhyming couplet

228 N 4 CLASSICS