VCCS Litonline Introduction to Literature
English 112 (English Composition II)

The Hamlet Site

Act-by-Act Notes, Questions, and Hints on the Play

As the tragedy opens, Hamlet's father has died while he was away at college in Wittenberg, Germany.  In addition, Claudius has already assumed the throne and married the queen, the widowed Gertrude, before Hamlet could get back to Denmark, to Elsinore castle where the story takes place.  (Elsinore looks something like the castle pictured at the right--with high turrets on high walls; although the Zeffirelli film used Elsinore for some of its scenes, the scene with Hamlet and the ghost of his father was done on a sound stage.)

Act I        Act II        Act III        Act IV        Act V