Hamlet

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tale of ghosts, of madness  and of revenge.

Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his father's brother and successor.  At the Danish royal castle, The sentry Bernardo, Marcellus and Horatio encounter a ghost that looks like the late King Hamlet.  They decide to tell Prince Hamlet that his father's ghost has been seen.

The King and Queen are perturbed by Hamlet's continuing deep mourning for his father and his increasingly erratic behaviour and so Claudius and Gertrude try to persuade him to be more cheerful but the prince Is not comforted by this.  Claudius and Gertrude send two student friends of his to discover the cause of Hamlet's mood and behavior.  Hamlet greets his friends warmly, but quickly discerns that they are spies. That night, the Ghost appears to Hamlet and tells him that Claudius murdered him by pouring "juice of cursed hebenon" in his ear, which caused his blood to "curd" and his skin to be covered with a "vile and loathsome crust." The Ghost demands that Hamlet avenge him.