Hamlet
Written by William Shakespeare Retold by Jon Mayhew Illustrated by Fabrizio Di Baldo
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CAST OF CHARACTERS Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, Queen Gertrude’s son, King Claudius’s stepson and nephew
Horatio: Hamlet’s best friend
Queen Gertrude: Queen of Denmark, married to King Claudius. Hamlet’s mother
King Claudius: King of Denmark, married to Queen Gertrude. Hamlet’s father’s brother
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Polonius: King Claudius’s adviser
Laertes: Polonius’s son
Ophelia: Polonius’s daughter
Osric: a courtier
Francisco: a captain of the guard
Marcellus: a captain of the Royal Guard
Bernardo: a captain of the guard 3
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My name’s King Fortinbras and I’m the new King of Denmark. My rule started in a most unusual way. When I arrived at the castle of King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, I found that four people had died in one night in very suspicious circumstances. Three more had died in the months and days leading up to these events. I’ve decided to investigate these seven deaths, read the witness statements, examine the evidence and then decide if a crime or crimes have been committed, and by whom.
THE CRIME SCENE The courtyard of the Great Hall, Elsinore Castle, Denmark. The castle’s a huge fortified building, heavily guarded and home to the king of the country. The king rules from here and all important decisions are made from this spot. It’s full of soldiers. It’s hardly an obvious place to commit murder. 4
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THE VICTIMS CLAUDIUS, KING OF DENMARK Claudius was only king for a short while. His brother was the king before him but died after being bitten by a snake. Claudius married the dead king’s wife, Queen Gertrude, and became king himself. Claudius was stabbed to death.
GERTRUDE, QUEEN OF DENMARK Gertrude was the wife of the old king and then wife of the new king, Claudius. The cause of her death is uncertain until lab reports come in, but poisoning’s suspected.
HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK Hamlet was Queen Gertrude’s son. He would’ve been the next king when Claudius died. Hamlet’s body had some wounds made by a sword but not enough to kill him. The cause of his death is uncertain.
LAERTES Laertes was Polonius’s son, and a nobleman of the court. Laertes was stabbed with a sword. 5
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Witness statement 1:
Marcellus, a captain of the Royal Guard My name’s Marcellus and I’m a captain of the Royal Guard. I have to make sure that the castle and everyone in it is safe. If you’re trying to work out who the real killer is in this story, you have to start with a ghost. That’s right, you heard me, a real ghost. I didn’t believe it either, until I saw it with my own eyes.
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A few weeks ago, I was on guard duty on the castle walls. It’s an important job and you have to stay alert. It was a freezing cold night, misty and still. Anyway, I saw a figure walking along the battlements towards me and challenged him. “Halt, who goes there?” I shouted, raising my sword. The figure said nothing but kept on striding towards me. I saw it more clearly and the blood froze in my veins. It was a man in a suit of armour. Nothing unusual in that; we all wear armour on guard duty. But this man glowed a ghostly white and he had the visor on his helmet lifted up. I nearly fainted. It was the king! No, not the new king, Claudius, but the old king. The one who’d died just two months ago. I’d served and fought alongside him for a long time. I’d recognise him anywhere and here he was deathly pale, walking towards me. I turned and ran, calling for my friend, Bernardo. He turned out to be no comfort to me because he’d seen the ghost too!
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The next night, the same thing happened. I didn’t know what to do. Bernardo thought we should tell Prince Hamlet. After all, it was the ghost of his father, but Hamlet was a prince and we were only soldiers. You can’t just walk up to a prince and say, “By the way, we’ve just seen the ghost of your dead father wandering around the castle!” – can you? So I decided to tell Horatio, Prince Hamlet’s best friend. He’d be able to break the news better than us. I knew Horatio wouldn’t believe me, though, so I brought him up to the castle walls the very next night.
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As I expected, Horatio wasn’t convinced. “What do you mean you’ve seen a ghost?” he snorted. He was a tall, dark-haired man, a student who went to university with Prince Hamlet. He studied philosophy and didn’t believe in things like ghosts. “I wouldn’t have believed it either,” I replied, “if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.” Before Horatio could reply, the ghost appeared in front of us, cold and pale, marching along the ramparts of the castle. “Who are you?” Horatio shouted. “Speak to me, I command it!” The ghost ignored him and vanished into the dark and mist. Horatio looked shaken. “We must tell Hamlet,” he said. “Maybe he’ll be able to get the ghost to talk.”
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The next morning, Horatio took us to see Prince Hamlet. He was standing at the side of the Great Hall where a big meeting had just finished. I could see the new king, Claudius, and his wife Queen Gertrude walking off, followed by lords and ladies. Claudius had been king for only a little while since the old king had died but he insisted everyone be cheerful. Prince Hamlet, looked sad. I didn’t blame him. His father only died a couple of months ago. He was hardly going to start smiling and laughing just because Claudius told everyone to cheer up. When Horatio explained what we’d seen, Hamlet looked shocked but he seemed to believe us. We agreed to meet that night and confront the ghost.
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