An Analytical Essay of the Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William ShakespeareOriginally titled The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, this tragedy has been reproduced several times than any other work written by William Shakespeare (en.wikipedia.org 1 of 9). Prince Hamlet also has the longest appearance of any character in all of Shakespeare's plays (en.wikpedia.org 6 of 9). In the play, Prince Hamlet is caught between the need to avenge his father's death, the disgust he feels for Gertrude and Claudius' love affair, and maintaining the relationship he has with Ophelia without exposing her plans to kill his uncle Claudio. the murder of King Hamlet. During the first act, Prince Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father, King Hamlet. His father's ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius poured poison into his ear while he slept. The spirit also explains that he wishes Hamlet to avenge his death, but not punish Queen Gertrude for marrying Claudius. He tells Hamlet that he will have to answer to his conscience, and possibly God, for his incestuous actions (absoluteshakespeare.com 1 of 4). In these times it was believed that when a person died, especially in such a tragic manner, their spirit lingered while they suffered in Purgatory. This could cause the spirit of a normally virtuous person to fill with malevolence and begin to meddle in the affairs of living men (en.wikipedia.org 4 of 9). This belief caused Prince Hamlet to want to investigate the claims of his father's spirit to make sure they were actually true. To do this, Prince Hamlet pretends to be mad to hide the suspicions of the court members as he plots his revenge on King Claudius (www.sparknotes.com 1 of 3). He also takes advantage of a group of actors who come to Elsinore Castle to perform by rewriting a play to recreate the scene of his father's murder. He does so with the hope of ferreting out a confession from Claudio's guilty conscience. When Claudio sees the show, he gets up and leaves the room (en.wikipedia.org 5 of 9). After many other events, Claudio's guilt becomes more evident. Claudius then begins to shift his attention towards killing Hamlet, as he is starting to become aware of the prince's plans to kill him. Claudius then arranges a fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes, son of Polonius, and asks Laertes to poison the blade of one of his swords to use in the match (Hamlet).