Original: Two nights together had these gentlemen
Modern: For two nights in a row, these men

Original: (Marcellus and Bernardo) on their watch
Modern: (Marcellus and Bernardo) while on guard duty

Original: In the dead vast and middle of the night
Modern: In the deep, empty middle of the night

Original: Been thus encount’red. A figure like your father,
Modern: Had this encounter. A figure that looked like your father,

Original: Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe,
Modern: Dressed in full armor from head to toe,

Original: Appears before them and with solemn march
Modern: Appeared before them and with a serious, steady walk

Original: Goes slow and stately by them. Thrice he walk’d
Modern: Moved slowly and majestically past them. Three times he walked

Original: By their oppress’d and fear-surprised eyes,
Modern: Past their shocked and terrified eyes,

Original: Within his truncheon’s length; whilst they distill’d
Modern: Close enough to touch with a baton; while they melted

Original: Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
Modern: Almost into jelly from pure fear,

Original: Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me
Modern: Standing silent and unable to speak to him. This story to me

Original: In dreadful secrecy impart they did,
Modern: In frightening secrecy they told,

Original: And I with them the third night kept the watch;
Modern: And I joined them on the third night to stand guard;

Original: Where, as they had deliver’d, both in time,
Modern: Where, just as they had reported, both at the right time,

Original: Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
Modern: And in appearance, every word they said proved true and accurate,

Original: The apparition comes. I knew your father.
Modern: The ghost appeared. I knew your father well.

Original: These hands are not more like.
Modern: My two hands are not more alike than this ghost was to him.

Scene Overview

In Act I, Scene ii of Hamlet, the Danish court gathers for King Claudius’s first official appearance as the new monarch. Claudius addresses the court about his recent marriage to Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother and the widow of his deceased brother, the former king. The new king discusses state matters, including diplomatic correspondence with Norway regarding young Fortinbras’s military preparations, and grants Laertes permission to return to France. Claudius then turns his attention to the melancholy Prince Hamlet, encouraging him to cease his prolonged mourning for his father and to remain at court rather than returning to his studies at Wittenberg.

Hamlet’s Response and Soliloquy

When left alone after the court disperses, Hamlet delivers his first soliloquy, expressing his profound grief and disgust at his mother’s hasty remarriage to his uncle. He reveals his inner torment about the situation but acknowledges his inability to speak openly about his feelings. The scene concludes with the arrival of Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo, who inform Hamlet about their encounters with what appears to be the ghost of his father on the castle battlements. Hamlet expresses intense interest in this news and arranges to join them that night to witness the apparition himself, suspecting that the ghost’s appearance may indicate “foul play” in his father’s death.

Hamlet tells the story of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, who is visited by the ghost of his recently deceased father. The ghost reveals that he was murdered by Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, who has now married Hamlet’s mother Gertrude and assumed the throne. Commanded by his father’s spirit to seek revenge, Hamlet struggles with doubt, melancholy, and the moral complexity of his task. To investigate the ghost’s claims and plan his revenge, he feigns madness, which creates tension throughout the Danish court.

As Hamlet deliberates, his erratic behavior affects everyone around him, particularly his love interest Ophelia, daughter of the king’s advisor Polonius. To test Claudius’s guilt, Hamlet stages a play mirroring his father’s murder, which confirms the king’s culpability. However, Hamlet’s actions become increasingly destructive—he accidentally kills Polonius while the old man spies on him, and his rejection of Ophelia contributes to her descent into genuine madness and eventual drowning.

The play reaches its climax when Ophelia’s brother Laertes returns to avenge his father’s death. Claudius manipulates Laertes into challenging Hamlet to a duel, secretly poisoning Laertes’s sword and preparing poisoned wine as backup. The final scene erupts in tragedy: during the duel, both Hamlet and Laertes are wounded by the poisoned blade, Gertrude accidentally drinks the poisoned wine, and Hamlet finally kills Claudius. As Hamlet dies, he names Prince Fortinbras of Norway as Denmark’s next ruler, bringing the cycle of revenge and political instability to a close. The play ends with Fortinbras restoring order to the Danish court as bodies are carried off in a funeral march.