Hamlet commissions them to perform a play in which a king is murdered in the same way Claudius murdered Hamlet's father. While the duo fails to do this, some players (actors) come into town. The King and Queen have called them to Elsinore to spy on Hamlet and find out why he's gone mad. Polonius brings the news to the King, and they decide to spy on the youngsters to figure out if Ophelia is the source of Hamlet's "madness." Meanwhile, some Danish ambassadors return from Norway with the good news that there isn't going to be a war, after all.Įnter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two childhood pals of Hamlet and Horatio. Sure enough, the next time we hear about Hamlet, his girlfriend Ophelia declares that Hamlet is crazy. Hamlet's master plan involves him putting on an "antic disposition" (acting like a madman, or a clown). The ghost claims to be his father's spirit, proving it by telling Hamlet that Claudius is the man who murdered his father by pouring poison in his ear while he (Old Hamlet) was snoozing in his garden-and then ordering his son to take revenge. Hamlet's bud Horatio tells Hamlet about the ghost and arranges a meeting. (Must make family holidays complicated.) Claudius has problems, too: Norway's Prince Fortinbras has war on the brain, and his new stepson, Hamlet, is being a bit of a PITA about things, mostly because his mother (Gertrude) waited about two seconds to get married after his father died. He has reason to be upset, though, since the new King Claudius, husband of Queen Gertrude, happens to be his own brother. Welcome to Elsinore, Denmark, land of a recently deceased King who likes to chill out in ghost form at night on the castle battlements.