Hamlet act 1 scene1 summary

On a cold winter’s night, the changing of the guard takes place in the Danish palace. Following the switch of Bernardo and Francisco, we are introduced to Marcellus who is accompanied by Horatio, a slept if scholar. Prior to this moment Bernardo and Marcellus gossiped over how they have both seen something strange, in a form of a ghost, the ghost of whom they believe is the late King of Denmark , old Hamlet. On the third night they called upon Horatio to look into these ghost sightings, however, he denied the existence of ghost, all of a sudden the ghost appeared and the two guards pushed the scholar to confront it but he refused. The ghost then disappeared.

After the event Marcellus expresses his concerns about Danish forces and their sudden mobilizations only to be answered with that they are preparing for a possible attack by the Prince of Norway. Horatio then went onto explaining the background of the possible threat; how Old Hamlet killed the King of Norway and after his son has learnt of his passing he believes that the Danish are weakened by forces and morale. The group have been interrupted again by the ghost of Old Hamlet only this time Horatio confronts it. The ghost either cannot or refuses to speak and when Bernardo and Marcellus attempt to detain it they might as well strike the thin air itself. The group remained silent as it appears the ghost was about to say something but it was startled and vanished after the sound of a rooster was heard. Concerned about recent events, Horatio wished to confront Prince Hamlet about the recent events and the others agree.