In an audience chamber in Elsinore, Claudius, the new king of Denmark, holds court. After thanking his courtiers for their recent support, he dispatches ambassadors to Norway to halt a threatened attack from Fortinbras. He gives Laertes permission to return to France but denies Hamlet's request to return to the university in Wittenberg. Hamlet, mourning for his father's death, is left alone to vent his despair at his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle Claudius. Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus arrive and tell Hamlet about the Ghost. Hamlet makes plans to join them that night.
In an audience chamber in Elsinore, Claudius, the new king of Denmark, holds court. After thanking his courtiers for their recent support, he dispatches ambassadors to Norway to halt a threatened attack from Fortinbras. He gives Laertes permission to return to France but denies Hamlet's request to return to the university in Wittenberg. Hamlet, mourning for his father's death, is left alone to vent his despair at his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle Claudius. Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus arrive and tell Hamlet about the Ghost. Hamlet makes plans to join them that night.