Shadowing Practice: Hamlet Act 1 Scenes 1-5 Summary and Analysis: Piper's Paraphrases - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Do you smell that?

I think something's rotten.

In the state of Denmark!

Welcome to Piper's Paraphrases.

I'm Professor Pipes, and in case you couldn't tell, I'm here to talk about Shakespeare's classic tragedy, Hamlet.

Specifically, Act 1.

So get ready for a ghost story.

Let's start by talking about the players.

First we have the titular

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

He's the son of King Hamlet, who is now dead and a ghost.

Hamlet is extremely thoughtful.

Not so much in the buys you flowers just because kind of way,

and more so in the should I avenge my father's death and should I even exist kind of way.

He took that think -before -you -act advice maybe a bit too seriously.

Hamlet's mom is Gertrude, Queen of Denmark.

Though she seems nice and protective, to be honest, she's mostly just a plot point, existing to provide motive.

Speaking of motive, Claudius is the Motivated.

He's Ghost Hamlet's brother and murderer, which makes him main character

Hamlet's uncle and stepdad.

That's right, Claudius moved in on Gertrude quickly after her husband's death, so he's now

King of Denmark.

Claudius' main advisor is Polonius.

He's basically one part pompous and one part conniving.

He's the kind of old man to say things like, back in my day, without a shred of irony,

and then give some unsolicited advice that he himself wouldn't follow.

Polonius' son is Laertes, who eventually serves as a bit of a foil to Hamlet, and his daughter is Ophelia,

who happens to be Hamlet's sweet and innocent love interest.

Horatio is Hamlet's wise, kind, and loyal friend.

Kinda boring, but a good guy!

Hamlet also has a couple of old school friends named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but we'll learn about them later.

Lastly, Fortinbras is the Prince of Norway, and like Hamlet, he also has a dead dad who shares his name.

So we've got two Hamlets and two Fortinbras.

What, did you run out of names, Shakespeare?

Scene 1 begins at midnight with a changing of the guard.

Horatio and some guards talk about a thing that has been seen twice already.

But Horatio is skeptical.

Just as one of the guards tries to convince him of what he saw, it arrives.

The ghost of King Hamlet, dressed in armor.

The other guards encourage Horatio to talk to the ghost, but as soon as he asks, What are you?

The ghost disappears.

Spooky.

The guards start wondering what the apparition could mean, and also why the castle seems to be preparing for war.

Luckily, Horatio has answers for both he states that

King Hamlet was wearing that armor when he killed

King Fortinbras, the King of Norway, thus obtaining his lands.

Unfortunately, Fortinbras's son, the new Fortinbras,

has gathered his own army and plans to attack Denmark in order to avenge his father's death and win back the land.

Horatio wonders if the ghost's appearance is a warning about upcoming war, much like all the omens before Julius Caesar's death.

Easter egg of another Shakespeare play.

Just then, the ghost reappears, and Horatio asks why it has come.

Before it can answer, a rooster crows, and the ghost disappears again.

Clearly not a fan of chickens.

The scene ends at dawn, as Horatio plans to tell the alive

Hamlet what they saw.

In scene two, we're introduced to most of the cast, as Claudius, Gertrude, Hamlet, Polonius, Ophelia, and Laertes enter.

Claudius is explaining why he and Gertrude got married so quickly after

King Hamlet's death.

The country needed to seem strong, not sad, since Fortinbras is planning to attack. So romantic.

He then sends a couple of ambassadors to Norway with a note to Fortinbras' uncle, encouraging him to stop his nephew.

Laertes asks Claudius for permission to return to France, and he consents.

Claudius then points out that

Hamlet's appearance seems sad and cloudy.

To which Hamlet replies that he's actually too much in the sun.

Get it?

Because he's now

Hamlet's and Claudius' son?

Anyway, Claudius and Gertrude tell

Hamlet that he should stop looking so sad.

After all, all that lives must die.

Claudius even tells

Hamlet that his grief makes him seem weak and stupid.

Hmm, that's a weird way to say I'm sorry for your loss.

Gertrude asks Hamlet not to return to school and he agrees, so everybody heads off except Hamlet.

And in case you were wondering just how sad

Hamlet is, he gives a speech saying that his father's death

and his mother's remarriage have made him wish he could kill himself.

But it goes against his religion.

Horatio and crew then arrive, and Hamlet mentions he'll never see a man as good as his father again.

Which is a perfect segue for Horatio to tell him that maybe he will, since Horatio saw his ghost last night.

Hamlet vows to meet Horatio tonight so he can speak with the ghost.

Scene 3 gives us some sibling time with Laertes and Ophelia, saying goodbye before Laertes heads back to Paris.

Laertes offers his sister some advice about Hamlet, saying that the prince is immature, and his affection for her won't last long.

Good advice, but still, rude.

Laertes reminds her that, as a prince, Hamlet will have to marry someone who will be good for the kingdom.

Therefore, she'd better be afraid, be very afraid, and reject his advances to protect her honor.

Polonius comes in and gives Laertes a bunch of advice about how precisely and carefully he should behave in every possible situation.

What to do, what not to do, how he should spend his time and money,

before concluding with a reminder to just be himself as long as himself is exactly who his father wants him to be.

When Laertes leaves, Polonius gives his daughter a long lecture about how stupid she is for believing

Hamlet's words of love.

Aw, father of the year.

Like lots of parents, Polonius warns Ophelia that

Hamlet only wants one thing, so she'd better stay away from him.

And like the good daughter that she is, Ophelia agrees, but likely doesn't want to.

For scene four, we fast forward to just after midnight, night, and Hamlet has joined Horatio and the guard Marcellus in hopes of seeing the ghost.

When some trumpets sound, Hamlet comments that

King Claudius must be drinking again and is clearly annoyed by such partying.

Whoops.

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Since it gives the country a bad reputation as a bunch of drunks.

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Just then, the ghost arrives.

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Hamlet immediately recognizes it as his father and asks why it has come.

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Instead of answering, the ghost beckons him to follow.

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And despite his friend's warnings and literal attempts to hold him back, Hamlet follows.

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Marcellus and Horatio decide to go after him.

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Yeah, let's all follow a ghost into the dark in the middle of the night.

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What could go wrong?

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In scene 5, once they're alone, the ghost tells

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Hamlet to AVENGE MEEEEEE!

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And Hamlet agrees before he even hears the story.

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Here it is anyways.

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The whole country has heard that a snake bit old

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King Hamlet, and that's what killed him.

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Revenge on a snake?

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Oh, actually the snake is Claudius.

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He seduced Gertrude, and when King Hamlet was sleeping in an orchard, as one does, Claudius poured poison in his ear,

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killing him and sending him to purgatory, where he now lives.

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Well, unlives?

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He again tells

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Hamlet to seek revenge, but also to leave his mom out of it.

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The ghost disappears, and Hamlet is big mad at both his mom and Claudius, and he vows to get revenge!

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Horatio and Marcellus catch up to Hamlet, who makes them swear a bunch of times that they won't say anything about what they saw tonight.

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And then he makes them swear some more, for good measure, because he keeps hearing the ghost of his father call out to swear.

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He eventually tells them that, no matter how strangely he acts in the future, since he might need to act a bit crazy,

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they must not give any sort of clue to anyone that they know what happened tonight.

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And let's be real here, they really don't.

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As Hamlet curses the fact that he now has to fix everything, Act 1 ends.

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Many of the themes and motifs revolve around the idea of appearance versus reality.

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In fact, the idea of questioning our own reality comes up in the very first scene, when Horatio says of the ghost,

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I might not this believe without the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes.

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This suggests that seeing is believing, but we all know that this isn't always the case.

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After all, both Laertes and Polonius warn Ophelia that she can't believe everything she sees and hears from Hamlet, since his affections are forward,

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not permanent, sweet, not lasting.

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And even though Ophelia says that

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Hamlet has always been honorable, Polonius says, do not believe his vows, since he might act all honorable and perfect,

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the better to beguile, and trick her into sleeping with him.

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Which is interesting, since Polonius' advice to Laertes is pretty much to do exactly what he faults

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Hamlet for doing.

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He tells Laertes to give every man thy ear, but few thy voice, meaning that he should listen to other people,

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but not reveal his own opinions, thus making his appearance untrustworthy.

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He even tells Laertes how to dress, since the apparel oft proclaims the man.

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Polonius knows that people tend to believe what they see, so he wants Laertes to use this to his advantage.

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Ironically, he finishes up this advice with the oft -quoted, to thine own self be true.

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Great advice, but from a rather untrue source.

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Along the lines of appearance versus reality, we've already started to see one of the main motifs of the play.

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Performance.

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Not like the performance of the play, but rather the ways in which people are performative, acting, in their normal lives.

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For instance, when talking about Hamlet's grief, Gertrude asks, why seems it so particular with thee?

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To which Hamlet replies, seems, madam, nay it is.

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He continues, saying that anyone can put on the appearance of grief, wear the clothing, act sad,

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since these indeed seem, for they are actions that a man might play.

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Hamlet, on the other hand, has that within which passeth show, these but the trappings and the suits of woe.

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Meaning that his outward appearance is a true reflection of his grief, not an act.

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Ironically, in scene 5, Hamlet talks about his own performance,

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saying that he might have to put an antic disposition on or act mad in order to avenge his father.

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And that in itself should make the audience question

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Hamlet in the future.

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If he won't reveal when he's acting mad, how are we to know whether it's appearance or reality?

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In fact, while some interpretations of the play suggest he is mentally sound and he wears madness like a costume,

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others suggest that his desire for revenge actually drives him to madness.

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In other words, we as the audience might not be able to trust his appearance.

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And to bring it full circle, how we view his mental state ultimately comes down to the actor's performance.

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Speaking of appearances, let's discuss the ghost.

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Obviously, we know that the Others can see it, so it is there.

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We also know that it looks like

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Old King Hamlet.

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But the characters question what exactly it is, even calling it a thing in Scene 1 rather than a ghost.

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They also question why it is there and where it comes from, with Hamlet wondering, Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned?

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Bring with the heirs from heaven or blasts from hell?

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Be thy intents wicked or charitable?

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However, Hamlet immediately decides to believe everything it says.

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Perhaps because it says exactly what he wants to hear, that Gertrude's relationship is incestuous and wrong, and that Claudius is evil.

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But we should keep in mind that

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Hamlet's the only one the ghost tells this to, since it disappears when Horatio and Marcellus arrive,

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and he's also the only one to see or interact with the ghost in all of scene 5.

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In fact, when the ghost keeps saying, swear.

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Hamlet is the only one to reference this, and when Hamlet continues to speak to the absent ghost, Horatio points out, oh, day and night,

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but this is wondrous strange.

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Is he talking about hearing the ghost or Hamlet's strange behavior?

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Ultimately, it's up to the performers.

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And while they could choose to physically react to the ominous swear, they could also choose to ignore it,

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making the audience further wonder what we should believe.

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Another important theme is the complexity of morality.

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Throughout the play, Hamlet often questions what is right, struggling against the morals he's been taught.

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In fact, in his first appearance,

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Hamlet is so overwhelmed by the death of his father and the incestuous behavior of his mother that he is contemplating suicide.

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He wishes that he could just disappear or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon against self -slaughter.

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In other words, Hamlet says that the only thing stopping him is his religious belief that suicide is a mortal sin.

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He continues to discuss religion when he talks to the ghost, and so does the ghost.

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He says that the most horrible part of his murder is

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that he was cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,

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no reckoning made, but sent to my account with all my imperfections on my head.

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In other words, he wasn't able to repent for his sins or receive last rites, which landed him in purgatory.

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Despite this, the ghost urges

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Hamlet to sin by killing Claudius.

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Do two wrongs make a right?

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Hamlet has to decide which is the lesser of two evils, murder or failing to honor his father and avenge his death.

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Clearly Fortinbras picked a side.

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He's basically in the same boat as Hamlet,

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and he immediately takes action to try to win back the lands his father lost when he was killed.

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And Claudius uses Fortinbras and morality to justify his behavior, saying that marrying Gertrude so quickly was the right thing to do,

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since Fortinpros is holding a weak supposal of our worth,

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or thinking by our late dear brother's death our state to be disjoint and out of frame.

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We can't have him thinking our country is weak, or missing a ruler, so he had to marry Gertrude.

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Sure.

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As Marcellus says, something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and apparently Hamlet was born to set it right.

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Good luck with that.

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Finally, I can't leave without pointing out the pretty messed up beliefs related to gender.

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Of course we have the classic line from Claudius that

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Hamlet's grief is unmanly.

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Apparently men shouldn't care that their dad died.

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Right.

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And then with women, their honor is clearly tied to, well, their sex lives.

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Hamlet and Ghost Hamlet both refer to Gertrude's relationship with Claudius as incestuous, and to be honest, Hamlet kinda seems more mad at his mom than,

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you know, the killer, saying, oh most pernicious woman, oh villain, villain, smiling, damned villain.

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Meanwhile, Polonius and Laertes keep awkwardly talking about Ophelia's virginity.

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Laertes warns her not to listen to Hamlet, or else lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open, to his unmastered importunity.

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Polonius takes it further, saying that her behavior with Hamlet will tender me a fool.

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In other words, Ophelia's behavior would dishonor not only herself, but also her family.

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Oh, how times have.

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Not really changed.

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Before we finish

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Act 1, it's time for me to leave you with some food for thought.

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First, what is the significance of the ghost appearing in the very first scene?

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How does its appearance set the tone for the rest of the play?

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Second, both Hamlet and Claudius talk a lot about how Denmark is perceived by other countries.

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In what ways does this add to the conflict in the play, and how does it relate to the idea of appearance versus reality?

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Third, look back at Polonius' advice to his kids.

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How does this advice reflect Polonius' character and his views on honor, duty, and family?

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Fourth, what do you think is the purpose of Fortinbras?

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Why might Shakespeare have established this political turmoil?

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And or why does he give Fortinbras such a similar backstory to Hamlet's?

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Finally, where do you currently stand in terms of Hamlet's mental state?

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So far, what evidence suggests a mental break and what evidence opposes it?

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Thanks for watching this episode of Piper's Paraphrases.

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Now go forth, read a bunch, and be good people who don't kill their brothers.

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If this video was helpful, don't forget to like and subscribe, and check out the other videos in this series.

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If there are any books that you might like covered in future episodes, leave a comment.

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To see all the books and stories I've covered so far, plus some useful literary knowledge and teacher tips,

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you can visit my website or find me on social media.

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Links are right down there.

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Thanks again from me and Cooper.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Hamlet Act 1 Scenes 1-5 Summary and Analysis: Piper's Paraphrases”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Hamlet, ghost, Claudius, Horatio, Laertes. This video has 242 sentences and 2883 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:13. The speaker talks at a natural 178 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
ghost noun	/ɡoʊst/	A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death.
disappear verb	/dɪsəˈpɪɹ/	To vanish.
grief noun	/ɡɹiːf/	Suffering, hardship.
arrive verb	/əˈɹaɪv/	To reach; to get to a certain place.
revenge noun	/ɹəˈvɛnd͡ʒ/	Any form of personal, retaliatory action against an individual, institution, or group for some alleged or perceived harm or injustice.
marry verb	/ˈmæɹi/	To enter into the conjugal or connubial state; to take a husband or a wife.
versus	/ˈvɝsəs/	Against; in opposition to.
snake noun	/sneɪk/	Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptiles with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.
warn verb	/woɹn/	To make (someone) aware of impending danger, evil, etc.
villain noun	/ˈvɪl.ən/	A vile, wicked person.
vow noun	/vaʊ/	A solemn promise to perform some act, or behave in a specified manner, especially a promise to live and act in accordance with the rules of a religious order.
belief noun	/bɪˈliːf/	Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
encourage verb	/ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/	To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
uncle noun	/ˈʌŋ.kl̩/	The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent.
reveal verb	/ɹɪˈviːl/	To uncover; to show and display that which was hidden.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
point out verb		To identify among a group of similar subjects, or in a scene where the subject might not be readily seen or noticed, with a gesture of the body.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come down to verb		To reach by moving down or reducing.
cut off verb	/ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf]	To remove by cutting.
finish up verb		To complete the last details of a task.
head off verb		To begin moving away.
mess up verb		To make a mess of; to untidy, disorder, soil, or muss.
move in on verb		To encroach or prepare to take over (a thing, relationship, task or place seen as somebody else's).

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Do you smell that?
Let's start by talking about the players.
Speaking of appearances, let's discuss the ghost.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has been seen · has gathered · has come
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	has been seen · been taught · was cut
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	murderer, which makes · someone who will · people who don

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 29 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, thoughtful /ˈθɔːtfəl/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: affection /əˈfɛk.ʃən/, reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, interpretation /ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/, reflection /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/, treasure /ˈtɹɛʒəɹ/
Long words — get the stress right: morality /məˈɹælɪti/, ironically /aɪˈɹɑnɪkli/, reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, ambassador /æmˈbæs.ə.dɚ/, literary /ˈlɪt.(ə.)ɹə.ɹi/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like ghost, disappear, grief.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Hamlet Act 1 Scenes 1-5 Summary and Analysis: Piper's Paraphrases - Learn English Speaking with Video

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