The prince of Denmark in Shakespeare’s tragedy is Hamlet. Prince Hamlet is the son of the late King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude, and the nephew of Claudius, who takes the throne after murdering his brother and marrying Gertrude. The play begins with Hamlet grieving his father’s death and soon encountering the ghost of the former king.
The ghost claims that Claudius murdered him and urges Hamlet to avenge the crime. Hamlet responds by investigating, pretending to be mad, and arranging a play that reenacts the alleged murder to test Claudius’s reaction. His hesitation and uncertainty drive much of the tragedy, which explores revenge, conscience, appearance, and the difficulty of knowing the truth.
Hamlet is not the same character as Fortinbras, the prince of Norway, or Laertes, the son of the court adviser Polonius. Fortinbras becomes politically important near the end, while Laertes becomes Hamlet’s opponent in the final fencing match. The play is generally dated to 1599–1601 and survives in three early versions: the First Quarto, Second Quarto, and First Folio.