Here is a short list of things to think
about:
1. The well-loved King Hamlet has died and his
brother, Claudius, has taken the throne.
2. Claudius has
also married his widowed sister-in-law, Gertrude, which many consider an incestuous
relationship.
3. Young Fortinbras of Norway is planning an
attack on Denmark to regain lands his father lost to Denmark many years ago. He is
doing this with mercenaries and without his King's
knowledge.
4. There is a ghost visiting the
castle.
5. The ghost is that of King Hamlet, and he is
coming to reveal that he was in fact murdered by
Claudius.
6. Polonius has ordered Ophelia to stop seeing
Hamlet. He is also using her to set-up Hamlet to discover what is wrong with
him.
7. Polonius and Claudius are spying on
Hamlet.
8. Hamlet's friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
have been summoned by the king and queen in order to spy on
Hamlet.
9. Hamlet knows he should take revenge on Claudius
but seems thwarted at every turn.
10. Hamlet accidently
murderes Polonius -- causing true madness in Ophelia and a blood-thirsty need for
vengence in Laertes.
11. Hamlet is sent to England to be
put to death there under order by King Claudius.
12.
Ophelia commits suicide.
13. Leartes and Claudius plot
Hamlet's murder.
14. Their murder plot goes slightly awry
when Gertrude accidently drinks the poisoned cup meant for
Hamlet.
15. Laertes does land a poisoned strike on Hamlet,
but Hamlet returns the favor and kills Laertes and Claudius with the same poisoned
sword.
16. Fortinbras arrives in the final scene to take
the crown of Denmark -- thus leaving Denmark in the hands of a foreign
leader.
As you can see every single plot event of the play
is a sign of the things that are not well in the state of Denmark. As Hamlet says in
Act 1, it is "an unweeded garden" and there seems to be no chance in restoring the
kingdom to its former glory. All of the principle characters are dead by the end of the
play.
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