beyond all question, magnificent as is that monologue on suicide and doubt which has passed from a proverb into a byword, it is actually eclipsed and distanced at once on philosophic and on poetical grounds by the later soliloquy on reason and resolution.-SWINBURNE, A Study of Shakespeare. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ CLAUDIUS, king of Denmark HAMLET, son to the late, and nephew to the present king GERTRUDE, queen of Denmark, and mother to Hamlet Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants Ghost of Hamlet's Father SCENE: Denmark SYNOPSIS By J. ELLIS BURDICK ACT I The ghost of Hamlet, King of Denmark, walks on the battlements of the castle of Kronberg at Elsinore and is seen by the sentinels, who decide to tell young Hamlet about it, believing that the ghost, though dumb to them, will speak to him. Hamlet resolves to see it and to speak to it "though hell itself should gape and bid” him “hold his peace." The ghost tells how the king's brother Claudius had murdered him that he might obtain the throne and marry the king's wife. Hamlet promises to avenge his father and the ghost vanishes. The sentinels, who are good friends to the prince, are pledged to silence. ACT II From this time on, Hamlet feigns madness, that no one may suspect him of serious plans. The king and queen, not believing the death of his father sufficient cause for such madness, search for another reason for it. He writes an incoherent, passionate letter to Ophelia, daughter of a courtier named Polonius, and this letter they believe proves that the cause of his madness is love. A company of strolling players come to the court and Hamlet asks them to present "The Murder of Gonzago," a play similar in incidents to the murder of his father. ACT III During the play, the prince closely watches the king and queen. As Hamlet expected, his uncle is much moved |