Ihor Radchenko


Table of Contents
─────────────────




Prince Hamlet of Denmark is the son of the recently deceased King
Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his father’s brother and successor.
Claudius hastily married King Hamlet’s widow, Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother,
and took the throne for himself. Denmark has a long-standing feud with
neighbouring Norway, in which King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway
in a battle some years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway and the
Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbras’s infirm brother, Denmark fears
that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian king’s son, Prince
Fortinbras, is imminent.

        On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal
castle, the sentries Bernardo and Marcellus discuss a ghost resembling
the late King Hamlet which they have recently seen, and bring Prince
Hamlet’s friend Horatio as a witness.