HAMLET & OPHELIA

Once upon a time, a King, Queen, and their son, Hamlet, were happy: Hamlet, happy with his friends Horatio and Yorick. Lord Polonius, happy with his kids, Ophelia and Laertes. Ophelia and Hamlet even fall in love. Only the King’s brother, Claudius, is not happy. He wants power, he wants the throne, so he poisons his napping brother-king, marries his wife, and says his brother died of snakebite.

Hamlet’s father is not happy about being murdered. His Spirit appears to Hamlet and demands vengeance. Hamlet wants to act, but grief and indecision stay his hand, as does fear: what if the Spirit is the devil, luring him into the sin of treason, to kill a king?

Hamlet’s disgust that his mother is sleeping with his murderous uncle curdles into hatred of women and poisons his love for Ophelia, whom he rejects cruelly and abusively. Ophelia accepts, forbears, and regrets Hamlet’s burgeoning obsession to avenge his father. Her home, the royal court, reeks of corruption and danger.

To escape the King’s suspicions, Hamlet feigns insanity. He also accidentally kills Ophelia’s father, Polonius, whom the King sent to spy on him. With no father, brother, or husband to protect her, Ophelia, too, pretends insanity.

To test the Spirit’s word, Hamlet asks a troupe of actors to perform a play mirroring the murder. The King’s guilty reaction to the play confirms his crime, but now the King knows that Hamlet knows. Determined to survive, Ophelia fakes her own death — a death by drowning.

The King exploits Laertes’s fierce desire to avenge his father’s death by inviting Hamlet to a “friendly” fencing match with Laertes, who poisons his blade. The King poisons a cup of wine as a backup. Unseen, Ophelia enters the room. Can she save her once-beloved Hamlet? Can she save her Queen? The Queen drinks the poisoned wine. Was it suicide or an attempt to save Hamlet? Laertes knicks Hamlet with the poisoned blade. In the next round, Hamlet forces an exchange of weapons and wounds Laertes with the poisoned blade. The Queen dies in Ophelia’s arms. Laertes reveals the King’s plot, begs Hamlet’s forgiveness, and dies. Hamlet kills the King and dies in Horatio’s arms. Horatio and Ophelia survive, but their family, friends, and world are dead.