Hamlet is the prince of Denmark, son of the dead king and of Queen Gertrude, and nephew and stepson of the new king, Claudius. He studied at Wittenberg, but Claudius and the queen ask him to stay at Elsinore, and he answers only his mother: "I shall obey you, madam, as best I can." Claudius also announces that he is "the nearest to our throne."
In Act I, scene 2, he answers his mother that his grief is not mere appearance: "I have within me what goes beyond appearance; these are only the ornaments and garments of grief." After hearing his father's ghost, he swears that his commandment will live alone in the book and volume of his brain, warns his friends that he may take up an eccentric conduct, and tests the king with The Mousetrap.
He spares Claudius at prayer, kills Polonius by mistake behind a curtain, sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths with a switched letter, and, on seeing Fortinbras's army, censures himself for not yet having avenged himself. He returns from the voyage without having reached England and, before the duel, says that being ready is all.
At Ophelia's burial, he says: "I loved Ophelia." He dies in the duel, after killing Claudius, and, dying, leaves to Horatio the task of telling his story and gives his support to Fortinbras for the throne.