Hamlet Major Events

  • Laertes does not blame Hamlet for his fathers death. Hamlet appoint Fortinbras as the new king and Hamlet dies.
    24 BCE

    Laertes does not blame Hamlet for his fathers death. Hamlet appoint Fortinbras as the new king and Hamlet dies.

    "But I do prophesy the election lights
    On Fortinbras. He has my dying voice." (5.2.353-355)
  • Hamlet makes Claudius drink from the poisoned drink. Claudius dies.
    23 BCE

    Hamlet makes Claudius drink from the poisoned drink. Claudius dies.

    "Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damnèd Dane,
    Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?
    Follow my mother." (5.2.320-322)
  • Gertrude drinks from the poisoned cup and dies. Hamlet and Laertes are both struck by the poisoned blades
    22 BCE

    Gertrude drinks from the poisoned cup and dies. Hamlet and Laertes are both struck by the poisoned blades

    "Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric. I am justly killed with mine own treachery" (5.2.301-302).
  • Laertes challenges Hamlet to a fencing match and with help from the king, plan on killing Hamlet
    21 BCE

    Laertes challenges Hamlet to a fencing match and with help from the king, plan on killing Hamlet

    ". Since he went into France, I have been in continual practice. I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not think how ill all’s here about my heart. But it is no matter." (5.2.197-200)
  • Hamlet finds put about Ophelia's death and fights with Laertes
    20 BCE

    Hamlet finds put about Ophelia's death and fights with Laertes

    "Lay her i' th' earth,
    And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
    May violets spring! " (5.1.213-215)
  • Ophelia drowns after grieving for Polonius
    19 BCE

    Ophelia drowns after grieving for Polonius

    "One woe doth tread upon another’s heel,
    So fast they follow.—Your sister’s drowned, Laertes." (4.7.159-160)
  • Laertes and Claudius plot to kill Hamlet for revenge of Polonius's death.
    18 BCE

    Laertes and Claudius plot to kill Hamlet for revenge of Polonius's death.

    "My lord, I will be ruled
    The rather if you could devise it so
    That I might be the organ" (4.7.67-69)
  • King plans to send Hamlet to England, and wishes for the King of England to have Hamlet killed
    17 BCE

    King plans to send Hamlet to England, and wishes for the King of England to have Hamlet killed

    "The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England,
    For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
    And thou must cure me." (4.3.67-69)
  • Hamlet kills Polonius
    16 BCE

    Hamlet kills Polonius

    "How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!" (3.4.23)
  • King Claudius's soliloquy shows his guilt. Hamlet has the opportunity to kill him, but does not.
    15 BCE

    King Claudius's soliloquy shows his guilt. Hamlet has the opportunity to kill him, but does not.

    "Oh, my offence is rank. It smells to heaven.
    It hath the primal eldest curse upon ’t,
    A brother’s murder. Pray can I not." (3.3.36-38)
  • The play represents the murder of King Hamlet, and Claudius gets angry and leaves the play
    14 BCE

    The play represents the murder of King Hamlet, and Claudius gets angry and leaves the play

    "Give o'er the play." (3.2.257)
  • Hamlet rejects Ophelia
    13 BCE

    Hamlet rejects Ophelia

    "You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not." (3.1.117-119)
  • Hamlet's to be or not to be soliloquy
    12 BCE

    Hamlet's to be or not to be soliloquy

    "To be, or not to be? That is the question—
    Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
    The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
    Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
    And, by opposing, end them? " (3.1.57-61)
  • Hamlet asks the players if he can write something for the nights production in order to prove Claudius is guilty
    11 BCE

    Hamlet asks the players if he can write something for the nights production in order to prove Claudius is guilty

    "We’ll ha ’t tomorrow night. You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines which I would set down and insert in ’t, could you not?" (2.2.500-502)
  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent to spy on Hamlet.
    10 BCE

    Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent to spy on Hamlet.

    " Were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation? Come, come, deal justly with me. Come, come. Nay, speak." (2.2.258-260)
  • Polonius tells the king the reason for Hamlets behavior. He is in love with Ophelia
    9 BCE

    Polonius tells the king the reason for Hamlets behavior. He is in love with Ophelia

    "Which done, she took the fruits of my advice;
    And he, repelled—a short tale to make—
    Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
    Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,
    Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension,
    Into the madness wherein now he raves
    And all we mourn for." (2.2.136-142)
  • Ophelia tells Polonius about her strange interaction with Hamlet
    8 BCE

    Ophelia tells Polonius about her strange interaction with Hamlet

    "Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
    And with a look so piteous in purport
    As if he had been loosèd out of hell
    To speak of horrors—he comes before me." (2.1.81-84)
  • Hamlet hears about his fathers murder
    7 BCE

    Hamlet hears about his fathers murder

    "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder." (1.5.25)
  • Hamlet goes to talk to the Ghost of his father
    6 BCE

    Hamlet goes to talk to the Ghost of his father

    "It beckons you to go away with it,
    As if it some impartment did desire
    To you alone" (1.4.61-62)
  • Polonius tells Ophelia to avoid hamlet
    5 BCE

    Polonius tells Ophelia to avoid hamlet

    "I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
    Have you so slander any moment leisure,
    As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
    Look to ’t, I charge you. Come your ways." (1.3.132-135)
  • Horatio tells Hamlet about his fathers ghost
    4 BCE

    Horatio tells Hamlet about his fathers ghost

    "Two nights together had these gentlemen,
    Marcellus and Barnardo, on their watch,
    In the dead waste and middle of the night,
    Been thus encountered: a figure like your father,
    Armed at point exactly, cap-à-pie," (1.2.196-200)
  • Hamlets recites first soliloquy
    3 BCE

    Hamlets recites first soliloquy

    "Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,
    Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
    Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
    His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God!
    How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
    Seem to me all the uses of this world!" (1.2.129-134)
  • Claudius and Gertrued talk to Hamlet about his grief
    2 BCE

    Claudius and Gertrued talk to Hamlet about his grief

    "Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,
    And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
    Do not forever with thy vailèd lids
    Seek for thy noble father in the dust." (1.2.68-71)
  • The ghost first appears
    1 BCE

    The ghost first appears

    "Therefore I have entreated him along
    With us to watch the minutes of this night,
    That if again this apparition come
    He may approve our eyes and speak to it" (1.1.24)