Hear a short summary of Shakespeare's “Hamlet”
The story of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, as told by the cast and crew of a Folger Shakespeare Library production.
Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
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Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Correspondence from 1904 between Henry Clay Folger and actress Julia Marlowe regarding Shakespearean acting. At the time that they exchanged letters, Marlowe had just completed a run as Juliet in a New York production of Romeo and Juliet, and the Folger Shakespeare Library had not yet been established.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Maria Callas is regarded as the world's greatest coloratura soprano—if not the greatest opera singer of all time.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Priscilla Ann Beaulieu became famous when she married “the King of Rock 'n' Roll,” Elvis Presley, in 1967.
Transcript
SPEAKER 1: This story of Hamlet-- the story of Hamlet--
SPEAKER 2: I just don't know where to start.
SPEAKER 3: So a king is murdered.
SPEAKER 1: Hamlet's father dies.
SPEAKER 2: His mother marries his father's brother--
SPEAKER 1: --which completely freaks Hamlet out.
SPEAKER 4: His dead father comes back as a ghost--
SPEAKER 1: --who tells him that, in fact, his uncle, who his mother is now married to, killed him--
SPEAKER 2: --and I want you to revenge my death.
SPEAKER 3: So Hamlet says, OK. I need to find out the truth. Hey, players, can you help me out? The players go on stage and say, yeah, we can help you out. Ah hah! I know the truth. The ghost was right. I'm coming for my vengeance.
SPEAKER 1: And along the way, he breaks up with his girlfriend, and that goes badly, and she has to end up dying. And his two school friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, betray him and end up being [INAUDIBLE]. They have to die, too.
SPEAKER 3: The king says, I can't trust this guy. Gotta get him out of here.
SPEAKER 2: He ends up killing his girlfriend's father.
SPEAKER 4: Then they send Hamlet.
SPEAKER 2: Then he comes back from England, and--
SPEAKER 3: --girlfriend is dead.
SPEAKER 1: Laertes, who is his girlfriend's brother--
SPEAKER 3: All right, we've got to fight.
SPEAKER 1: They have a duel.
SPEAKER 3: Claudius says, I've got a plot here.
SPEAKER 4: And then--
SPEAKER 3: We're going to stab him. And then we're going to poison him.
SPEAKER 1: Laertes poisons the tip. They both get cut by it.
SPEAKER 3: And then we're going to stab him again and poison him a little bit more.
SPEAKER 1: They both die, but not before Gertrude dies from having taken poison, and then Claudius also get stabbed.
SPEAKER 3: Dead, dead, dead, dead. Fortinbras comes in. There's a pile of bodies. And he says, I get to be king.
SPEAKER 1: The end.
SPEAKER 2: OK. Where to start. There's this country. It's called Denmark. No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER 2: I just don't know where to start.
SPEAKER 3: So a king is murdered.
SPEAKER 1: Hamlet's father dies.
SPEAKER 2: His mother marries his father's brother--
SPEAKER 1: --which completely freaks Hamlet out.
SPEAKER 4: His dead father comes back as a ghost--
SPEAKER 1: --who tells him that, in fact, his uncle, who his mother is now married to, killed him--
SPEAKER 2: --and I want you to revenge my death.
SPEAKER 3: So Hamlet says, OK. I need to find out the truth. Hey, players, can you help me out? The players go on stage and say, yeah, we can help you out. Ah hah! I know the truth. The ghost was right. I'm coming for my vengeance.
SPEAKER 1: And along the way, he breaks up with his girlfriend, and that goes badly, and she has to end up dying. And his two school friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, betray him and end up being [INAUDIBLE]. They have to die, too.
SPEAKER 3: The king says, I can't trust this guy. Gotta get him out of here.
SPEAKER 2: He ends up killing his girlfriend's father.
SPEAKER 4: Then they send Hamlet.
SPEAKER 2: Then he comes back from England, and--
SPEAKER 3: --girlfriend is dead.
SPEAKER 1: Laertes, who is his girlfriend's brother--
SPEAKER 3: All right, we've got to fight.
SPEAKER 1: They have a duel.
SPEAKER 3: Claudius says, I've got a plot here.
SPEAKER 4: And then--
SPEAKER 3: We're going to stab him. And then we're going to poison him.
SPEAKER 1: Laertes poisons the tip. They both get cut by it.
SPEAKER 3: And then we're going to stab him again and poison him a little bit more.
SPEAKER 1: They both die, but not before Gertrude dies from having taken poison, and then Claudius also get stabbed.
SPEAKER 3: Dead, dead, dead, dead. Fortinbras comes in. There's a pile of bodies. And he says, I get to be king.
SPEAKER 1: The end.
SPEAKER 2: OK. Where to start. There's this country. It's called Denmark. No, I'm just kidding.