Hamlet by William Shakespeare
            
            
             The Author
             William Shakespeare was born in Stratford on Avon in England on April 26 sometime in early 1564. He was the third of seven siblings; his father was a glove maker and soon became the mayor. Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway and they had three children. Shakespeare had begun to write plays when the plague was spread; his poems were published unlike his plays. Shakespeare belonged to a theatrical company, Lord Chamberlain's Men and then the King's Company. Throughout his life, Shakespeare purchased houses, businesses, and land. He wrote great plays such as Othello, King Lear, and Romeo and Juliet. He gave two plays annually to the company for fourteen years. When he went into what seemed like retirement, he created only five plays. William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616 and is buried in front of the alter in the Stratford Church.
            
             Form, Structure, Plot
             This play is organized with five acts. This play starts off that the King of Denmark is killed by snakebite. His brother Claudius married the widowed Queen and he assumes the throne within a few weeks of the King's death. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark and the dead King's son, is disgusted by his mother's remarriage, considering it is basically her brother she is marrying. The ghost of the dead king comes to Hamlet and tells him that Claudius has murdered him and he wants Hamlet to seek revenge. When Hamlet attempts to kill Claudius he accidentally kills Polonius, Ophelia's father. Once Claudius hears news of Polonius' death he begins to suspect that Hamlet knows what he has done. Claudius makes arrangements to kill Hamlet but Hamlet escapes and returns to Elsinore. Laertes wants revenge for the death of Polonius and Ophelia so he gets together with Claudius to plot the death of Hamlet. Laertes challenges Hamlet to a duel, which Laertes' blade has poison on it to kill Hamlet no matter what. During th...