Act 1:                                                                                                                        By Holly

In scene I, Guards, Bernardo and Francisco, meet in the night.  Francisco goes off to bed while Bernardo takes the next shift, where another guard Marcellus and scholar Horatio meet with him shortly after.  They all stay at watch because they remembered seeing a ghost the past two nights that they believed to be the dead King Hamlet and wanted Horatio to witness it and speak to it himself.  They assume it will speak to Horatio because he is a scholar.  Hamlet is skeptical, but to his disbelief, the figure appears right in front of him.  It vanishes quickly, but stays long enough for Horatio to realize the striking resemblance to the King.  The figure does not speak to any of the four men like they had hoped and the men think it is because The Ghost had taken offense.  Scene II, Claudius enters the King’s Court with Gertrude.  Hamlet follows after them dressed in all black, still mourning his father’s death.  Claudius declares his sorrow for his brother’s death, but not whole-heartedly, and mentions the equal amount of happiness he feels.  There is also mention of Fortinbras demands.  He demands the land King Hamlet won from his father to be given back, because of his father’s murder.  Laertes asks the King permission to leave for France, which is granted.  Prince Hamlet is then advised to stop his mourning by Gertrude and Claudius.  The King and Queen remind him that death is common and all fathers must die.  Hamlet is left in the court and n his soliloquy, he yearns for death and wishes suicide was not a sin.  Horatio, Bernardo and Marcellus enter.  They bring news of their encounter with The Ghost and Hamlet agrees to looking out for it that night.  In scene III, Laertes is readying himself for France.  He bids farewell to Ophelia and Polonius.  Laertes gives Ophelia his advice and warns her about falling in love with Hamlet.  Polonius gives Laertes his advice and begs him not to act irresponsibly.  Once he heads off, Ophelia is left with Polonius and he asks her about Laertes’s parting words.  She tells her father it involves Prince Hamlet, and he gives similar advice.  Ophelia agrees to end the relationship.  Hamlet start his watch in scene IV.  Horatio and Marcellus accompany him.  The ghost appears once again and Hamlet tries communicating with it.  The ghost beckons Hamlet and goes against his friends pleas to ignore it.  Marcellus and Horatio decide to go with him moments later.  In scene V the ghost finally speaks.  He tells Prince Hamlet he was murdered by Claudius by poisoning him through the ear.  The ghost invokes Hamlet’s need for revenge, but Hamlet is told not to blame Gertrude because she was corrupted by Claudius, the seducer.  Once morning comes Hamlet is found by Marcellus and Horatio who are very curious about Hamlet’s experience, but he does not give it, but Hamlet does confide in them enough to tell them he plans on acting like a madman, and they swear to keep this information to themselves.

Summary of Act 2: by Claudia

Scene 1:
Polonius sends Reynaldo to spy on Laertes, since Polonius believes that Laertes is bringing disgrace to the family name.  Meanwhile, Ophelia tells Polonius about her strange talk with Hamlet in the last act.  Polonius declares that Hamlet has gone completely insane and decides to tell the King.

Scene 2:
This is perhaps the longest scene in the play because there are 5 big movements in the scene.  The King asked Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find out why Hamlet has been acting so weird.  Then, Claudius is informed that Norway will not invade Denmark.  Polonius tells the king and queen that Ophelia’s rejection towards Hamlet has caused Hamlet’s madness. So, Claudius and Polonius go and spy on Hamlet and Ophelia.  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have started their efforts to discover why Hamlet has been acting the way he has been. Finally, we really see Hamlet’s revenge start to take hold when, at the end of the scene, he hires a group of actors to put on a play that will reveal that Hamlet knows what Claudius did and hopefully drive Claudius to admitting his crime.  

                                                Summary of Act Three: by Nicholas

            In this section, Hamlet delivers his most famous soliloquy, “To be or not to be.”   In this soliloquy, he contemplates suicide to end all of the suffering he has in his life.  Later, Hamlet meets with Ophelia. There seems to be a lot of tension between them and Hamlet denied ever loving her.  Polonius and Claudius listen in to determine if Hamlet is truly crazy.  After hearing Ophelia and Hamlet’s conversation, Polonius is suspicious of Hamlet’s madness.  Next, Hamlet puts on his play, “The Mouse-trap” After seeing the play and realizing how closely it mirrored his true actions, Claudius left the play.  For Hamlet and Horatio, this confirmed Claudius’ guilt.  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Hamlet his mother has called for him.  Hamlet decides he will confront his mother about his father’s death and says, “I will speak daggers to her, but use none.”   In the next scene, the king commands Rosencrantz and Guildenstern take Hamlet to England.  When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave, the king breaks down emotionally from all the stress Hamlet has put him under.  Claudius wants to repent for his sins, but is too selfish to give up his throne and Gertrude.  As Claudius is on his knees, Hamlet walks in but gives up the chance to exact his revenge, because he believes the king is praying, in which case the king would go straight to Heaven.  Hamlet makes his way to Gertrude’s room.  Upon confronting Gertrude about his father’s death, Gertrude pleads innocent.  While Hamlet is talking to Gertrude, the ghost reappears and Hamlet starts speaking with it.  This confirms to Gertrude that Hamlet is crazy.  Also, while talking with Gertrude, Hamlet hears a voice behind the curtains and, believing it is Claudius, stabs and kills him.  The man behind the curtain was actually Polonius and after this Hamlet leaves, dragging the body of Polonius. 

Summary of Act Four By Nicholas

            The queen tells Claudius of Hamlet killing Polonius.  The king uses this as an excuse to capture Hamlet and send him to England.  The king sends out Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find Hamlet.  Upon Hamlet’s capture, the king gives Rosencrantz and Guildenstern a letter for the king of England and sends them on their way.  In this section, Hamlet is very witty and this provides a slight relief from the otherwise depressing play.  Before Hamlet’s departure, he meets Fortinbras’s army and speaks with the captain.  He discovers that the army is capturing an unimportant and small piece of land in Poland due to a matter of honor.  This inspires Hamlet.  He thinks if Fortinbras can put so many lives at stake for an issue of honor, then Hamlet should have no problem in exacting his revenge upon Claudius.  In this act, we also discover Ophelia has gone crazy because of her father’s death and Hamlet’s bizarre behavior.  The king and queen seem to truly care about Ophelia’s state.  Laertes appears in this act and the king explains to him how Hamlet has ruined his life, killing his father and causing his sister to go crazy.  Laertes swears revenge upon Hamlet.  In the next scene, the king receives word that Hamlet has returned.  Upon hearing this, the king suggests that Laertes duel Hamlet.  Laertes decides to not only do this, but to use a sword that has been dipped in poison.  This act ends with the news that Ophelia has drowned.

Act Five, by David
Act Five is the final act of the play. The first scene starts out with two gravediggers preparing Ophelia’s burial. They are talking amongst themselves about how if Ophelia had been a commoner, her death would have been ruled suicide and she would not be buried in consecrated ground. Hamlet and Horatio watch them from a distance as the gravediggers dislodge various skulls. He finds it disturbing how the gravediggers handle the only earthly remains of what could be lawyers or noblemen. Hamlet asks about a skull, and the first gravedigger tells him that it is Yorick’s, Hamlet’s childhood jester. Hamlet muses on this ruminant from his long-lost childhood. Perhaps the most well known line from Shakespeare is Hamlet’s line, “Alas poor Yorick,” while he holds aloft his skull.
Hamlet’s musings are interrupted as the royal possession barring Ophelia’s body comes in. Hamlet hides, and is shocked to hear Ophelia is dead. Laertes cannot contain his grief and dives into her grave. Hamlet, not to be outdone, dives in after him. The two get into s scuffle, where Hamlet proclaims he loves Ophelia forty thousand times more than Laertes.
Scene two takes place back in the castle. Hamlet is told by a messenger that Laertes has challenged to a duel. Confident in his swordsmanship, Hamlet accepts. Unbeknownst to Hamlet, the king and Laertes have conspired to kill him. Laertes’s blade has been coated in a deadly poison. If that fails, the king has poisoned Hamlets cup of victory wine. The duel starts, and hamlet is winning in the start. They take a break Gertrude goes to congratulate hamlet, and takes a sip from his poisoned cup. The duel starts up again. Laertes manages to score his fatal point. There is a scuffle, and in it the blades are switched. Hamlet wounds Laertes with his own treachery. Gertrude then dies from the poison. Seeing this, Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned blade and then forces him to drink the rest of the poisoned wine. Before Laertes dies, he apologizes for his rudeness and treachery. Horatio asks Hamlet if he should follow him into the afterlife. In his dying breath, Hamlet tells Horatio to live on and tell his story.