Summarized by soodeh sepehri

William Shakespeare is famous around the world for both his poems and his plays but very few facts are known about his life.

He was born in 1564 in England. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children, Susanna, Hamnet and Judith. In 1592 Shakespeare was known to be in London, acting and writing plays. Shakespeare became an important member of a theatre company which performed at two London theatres, the Globe and the Blackfriars. His plays were given special performances at the courts of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I and his success made him a wealthy man.

Shakespeare died in 1616 and was buried in the church in Stratford.

This collection includes stories based on some of Shakespeare's greatest plays. The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy of character, and one of the first plays that Shakespeare wrote. The Winter's Tale was almost his last play. It is called a comedy because the ending is happy, but the characters go through much pain and sorrow before that ending is reached. Romeo and Juliet is an early play showing how the joys of young love are destroyed by the hatred of others. Hamlet a terrible tale of revenge is probably Shakespeare's most famous play. It leads to tragedy in Othello, while King Lear shows the shocking effects of an old man's bad judgment.

This book introduces the reader to some of the most famous characters from Shakespeare's most powerful plays.

 

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

 

CHARACTERS

Claudius, King of Denmark, Hamlet's uncle

Hamlet, son of the last king, and nephew of the present one

Horatio, friend of Hamlet

Polonius, Minister of State

Laertes, Son of Polonius

Gertrude, Queen of Denmark and mother of Hamlet

Ophelia, daughter of Polonius

 

Less than two months after the sudden death of King Hamlet, Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, married his brother Claudius. This unwise action of the queen had a very great effect on the young prince, who loved the memory of his dead father. Claudius had made it known that a snake had bitten King Hamlet but young Hamlet had strong suspicions that Claudius had did that until ghost of Hamlet's father had appeared and Hamlet had met him. He said that he had been killed by Claudius as Hamlet had already suspected, in the hope of winning his wife an his crown. He begged Hamlet if he had ever loved his dear father, to take revenge for this evil murder.

When Hamlet was sure that the words of the ghost were true asked his mother to attend a private meeting in her room. While hamlet spoke with her mother heard a voice from behind the curtains, he thought it was Claudius that was hidden there. He pulled out his sword and struck at the place where the voice came from. When he pulled out the body though he found tat it was Polonius, the old minister -and father of Ophelia whom Hamlet so dearly loved- who had hidden there as a secret listener.

The death of Polonius gave the king an excuse to send Hamlet out of the kingdom. Ophelia from the time of her father's death had begun to lose her mind and she was thrown into the water and died. Laertes thought of Hamlet as the cause of his father's and his sister's death, and seized him as an enemy.

Claudius planned to use Laertes to destroy Hamlet. He persuaded Laertes to invite Hamlet to a friendly sword fight and hamlet accepted. Laertes by order of Claudius prepared a poisoned weapon. While that fight Laertes cut Hamlet. Hamlet still didn't know the truth and in the struggle he exchanged his own sword with Laertes's one and repaid Laertes for the stroke he had given him. Laertes told Hamlet about the poisoned sword and said that Hamlet had less than an hour to live, then Hamlet suddenly turned on his uncle and pushed the point of the poisoned sword into his heart.

At the end Hamlet begged his dear friend Horatio to live so that he could tell his story to the world.

Hamlet is a fascinating story because of the character of Hamlet which is both brave and lover at the same time.