This is the sad story of Hamlet, young Prince of Denmark, whose father died two months before the story begins. Hamlet' s father was King of Denmark and Hamlet was his only son. The king died a strange death while he was sleeping in the garden of his castle. It was believed that he had been bitten to death by a poisonous snake. He was such a wise and kind king that he was loved by all the people in the nation. His son, Hamlet, of course, loved him far more than anyone else in the world. Hamlet was so sad and sorrowful that he never stopped wearing black clothes. There was something else which made Hamlet even sadder. His mother, Gertrude, married Hamlet' s uncle, Claudius, who was a brother of the Late king. After Hamlet' s father died, Claudius became King of Denmark and married Gertrude. Young Hamlet did not like him because he was not as wise and kind as his father. He was a man of unkindly character. Hamlet did not in the least want his mother to marry such a man. He became angry with both of them and came to despise his mother as well as his uncle. 這是講述年輕丹麥王子哈姆雷特的悲傷故事，他的父親在故事開始前兩個月去世。哈姆雷特的父親是丹麥國王，而哈姆雷特則是他的獨生子。國王在城堡的花園中睡覺時突然離奇地死去，大家都認爲他是被一條毒蛇給咬死的。他是一位睿智仁慈的國王，因此全國人民都很愛戴他。當然，國王的兒子哈姆雷特要比世上的任何人更愛他。 哈姆雷特很傷心難過，因此他一直穿着黑色的喪服。另外還有一件令哈姆雷特更加傷心的事，那就是他的母親葛楚德嫁給哈姆雷特的叔叔克勞迪斯，也就是已故國王的弟弟。在哈姆雷特的父親去世之後，克勞迪斯成爲丹麥的國王並且娶了葛楚德。年輕的哈姆雷特並不喜歡他的叔叔，因爲他不像自己的父親那麼睿智仁慈，他是一個本性無情的人。哈姆雷特一點也不願意他的母親嫁給這種男人。他對他們倆感到非常氣憤，因而看不起他的母親和叔叔。 The bell of the castle was ringing. It was exactly midnight. Suddenly a ghost in the form of the late king appeared in the darkness. It looked pale and sad. Looking at the ghost, the two guards of the castle and Horatio, Hamlet' s best friend, were surprised and terrified. They wondered if something bad was going to happen in Denmark. They decided to tell their prince what they had seen . The next day they went to Hamlet and told him that they had seen the ghost of King Hamlet. Hamlet doubted it at first, but wanted to make sure himself. He asked them to take him to see the ghost that night. They agreed. Late at night Hamlet, Horatio and one of the guards went to the top of the walls. It was very cold and dark there. Some time after they got there, the ghost in armor suddenly appeared out of the darkness. As his friends had told him, Hamlet saw that the ghost was exactly like his dead father. He called out, "King, Father! Why did you come here out of the grave?" The ghost did not answer him, but looked at him sadly and made a sign for him to follow. His friends did not want to let Hamlet follow the ghost because they thought it might be an evil spirit and do something badto him. But he did follow the ghost. While Hamlet and the ghost walked away into the darkness, his friends had to wait anxiously there worrying about his safe return . At the end of the walls of the castle the ghost stopped and began to talk to Hamlet, "I am th e ghost of your father. I wanted to rule Denmark peacefully until you grew up and became king after me. But two months ago, while I was sleeping in the beautiful garden of the castle, my brother Claudius came and put poison into my ear. I was instantly killed. Hamlet! Be brave and kill him for me. But never kill or hurt my wife, for she is your mother. Let her repent for what she has done. That is enough for her. What I have told you is true. I tell you again. I was not killed by a poisonous snake, but by my brother Claudius. Never forget what I have told you, my dear son. Good-bye, Hamlet!" Then the ghost disappeared into the mist of the dark sky. Upon hearing this, Hamlet became excited and was even more furious with Claudius and his mother. He made up his mind to kill his uncle and let his mother repent for her sins. 城堡裏的鐘聲響起，此刻正是午夜。突然間一個外形很像已故國王的鬼魂在暗處出現。它的臉色看起來很蒼白、悲傷。城堡的兩個衛兵和哈姆雷特的摯友荷瑞修看到這鬼魂時，感到非常吃驚害怕。他們懷疑是否有不祥的事會在丹麥發生。他們決定把親眼看到的事告訴王子。 隔天，他們去見哈姆雷特並且告訴他，他們曾看見過哈姆雷特國王的鬼魂。哈姆雷特起先對這件事感到懷疑，但他想要親自去證實這件事。他要他們當晚帶他去看那個鬼魂，他們同意了。深夜，哈姆雷特，荷瑞修和一名守衛三人來到城牆頂，那裏非常寒冷、陰暗，就在他們到達後不久，這個身穿盔甲的鬼魂突然從黑暗之中出現。哈姆雷特看到這個鬼魂跟他死去的父親簡直一模一樣，就如他的朋友告訴他的。 他大聲地叫:“國王，我的父親！您爲什麼離開墳墓到這裏來？”鬼魂沒有回答他的話，但卻很悲傷地看着他，並對他做了個手勢，示意他跟着它去。哈姆雷特的朋友不想讓他跟着鬼魂走，因爲他們認爲它可能是邪惡的鬼魂，而且會對他不利。但是哈姆雷特仍然跟着鬼魂而去。當哈姆雷特和鬼魂離去走入黑暗之中時，他的朋友們只得在那兒焦慮地等待並擔憂他能否平安地回來。 在城牆的盡頭，鬼魂停下腳步，開始對哈姆雷特說：“我是你父親的鬼魂，我本想和平地統治丹麥直到你長大成人繼承我的王位。但是兩個月前，當我在城堡里美麗的花園中睡覺時，我的弟弟克勞迪斯走到我身邊把毒藥塞入我的一隻耳朵裏。我立即就被他毒死了。哈姆雷特！勇敢點替我殺了他，但是絕不要殺害或傷害我的妻子，因爲他是你的母親。讓她去爲她所做的事後悔，這對她來說已經夠了。我所告訴你的都是事實。我再告訴你一遍，我不是被毒蛇咬死的，而是被我的弟弟克勞迪斯害死的。一定要記住我告訴你的事，我親愛的兒子，再見了，哈姆雷特。” 然後鬼魂在滿布霧氣的夜空中消失不見。哈姆雷特一聽到這個祕密，顯得激動萬分並對克勞迪斯和他的母親更加憤恨不已。他決定要殺死他的叔叔並讓他的母親爲她的罪行懺悔。 Hamlet's friends were anxious about him and came to look for him. They found Hamlet kneeling down and looking up at the dark sky praying to God. Hamlet noticed them coming to him. He stood up and sincerely asked them not to tell anyone what had happened that night. They all agreed and made a firm promise not to tell anyone about it, swearing on Hamlet' s sword. That very night Hamlet decided to pretend that he had gone mad in order to have a better chance to kill Claudius. He decided not to tell his plan to any of his friends except Horatio . Since Hamlet saw the ghost, he had often thought of his dead father and of his promise to the ghost. He became sadder each day. He was not a young, merry prince as he used to be. Before his father' s death, he was interested in many things, such as books, art, music and plays. But now he gave them all up. To everyone, he seemed to act very strangely. He became rude to everyone in the castle and behaved like a mad man. He hardly ever spoke to Ophelia , a beautiful lady whom he had deeply loved. Before, they would talk happily and take walks in the woods near the castle. He would talk to her so sweetly and gently that Ophelia was deeply in love with him. But now he was quite different. Therefore, Polonius, Ophel ia' s father, did not want his daughter to love Hamlet anymore because of his strange behavior. 哈姆雷特的朋友們很擔心他的安危就來尋找他，他們發現哈姆雷特跪在地上，望着黑暗的天空向上帝祈禱。哈姆雷特注意到他們來了，便站了起來，很誠摯地要求他們不要把當晚發生的事告訴任何人。他們全都答應了，並且對着哈姆雷特的劍發誓，許下堅定的承諾絕不把這件事告訴任何人。 就在那天晚上，哈姆雷特決定裝瘋以便有更好的機會去殺克勞迪斯。除了荷瑞修之外，他決定不把他的計劃告訴他的任何朋友。 自從哈姆雷特見過父親的鬼魂後，他常常想到亡父以及他對鬼魂所做的承諾。他一天比一天更加悲傷，已經不再像是從前那位年輕、快樂的王子了。在他父親去世之前，他對很多事情都有興趣，例如讀書、藝術、音樂和戲劇。但是現在他把那些興趣都放棄了。對每個人來說，他的行爲舉止似乎非常怪異。他對城堡中的每個人都很粗暴，言行舉止像個瘋子一樣。 他幾乎不曾跟他深愛的美麗的歐菲莉亞說過話。以前，他們會在離城堡不遠的樹林裏散步，愉快地談心。他會很甜蜜很溫柔地跟她說話，因而歐菲莉亞深愛着他，但是如今他變了很多。因此，歐菲莉亞的父親普羅尼爾斯因爲哈姆雷特怪異的行爲舉止而不希望他的女兒再愛他。 One day Hamlet came to Ophelia, who was knitting in her room, and spoke wildly to her. He appeared half-naked, wearing a dirty shirt with no hat on his head. She gave back all the letters and valuable rings that she had received from Hamlet. "I will not meet you anymore," she said to him. Hamlet left her, feeling even more miserable. She told her father everything that had occurred in her room. When Polonius heard this from his daughter, he believed he knew what had made Hamlet go mad. He thought that Hamlet had gone mad because of his love for Ophelia . Polonius went to Claudius and Gertrude to let them know what caused Hamlet's madness. He told them that the love affair between Hamlet and Ophelia was the true cause of his madness. Claudius always doubted what he heard from his men. He commanded two men who used to be Hamlet' s friends when they were children to find out the true reason why he had been acting so strangely recently. He also asked Polonius to arrange an unexpected meeting of the two lovers so that they could carefully observe Hamlet' s behavior. 有一天，哈姆雷特來找正在房內編織的歐菲莉亞，並且粗魯蠻橫地跟她說話。他穿着一件髒襯衫，沒有戴帽子，半裸地出現在她面前。她還給他從他那兒收到的所有信件和珍貴的戒指。 “我不想再看到你，”她對他說。哈姆雷特離開了他，內心感到更加痛苦。 歐菲莉亞把在房內發生的一切事情告訴他的父親。當普羅尼爾斯從她女兒口中聽到這件事時，他相信他知道是什麼原因使得哈姆雷特發瘋。他認爲哈姆雷特是因爲愛歐菲莉亞才發瘋的。普羅尼爾斯去見克勞迪斯和葛楚德，讓他們知道造成哈姆雷特發瘋的原因。普羅尼爾斯稟告他們，哈姆雷特和歐菲莉亞之間的愛情纔是哈姆雷特發瘋的真正原因。 克勞迪斯總是懷疑從他的手下那邊聽來的消息。他命令小時候曾經是哈姆雷特的朋友的兩名手下去找出爲什麼哈姆雷特最近行爲這麼怪異的真正原因。他也要求普羅尼爾斯去爲這對情人安排一次意外的相會，以便他們能夠仔細觀察哈姆雷特的舉止表現。 Hamlet's two old friends met him when he was saying some strange things to himself alone in the hall of the castle. They begged him to tell them the true cause of his madness. But he would not tell them anything, and instead made fools of them. One day when Hamlet was unhappy and worried by the memory of the ghost and the promise he had made, a group of actors came to visit him. They were the same players that Hamlet used to enjoy seeing. He welcomed them. Then they acted a short play for him. It was a sad story about a good king who was poisoned to death by his brother. And this man became king and married the queen. They played it so well, with tears in their eyes, that the scene seemed real. While Hamlet was watching them, he felt very angry with himself. He said to himself, "Those players can cry for the sad king whom th ey have never met. But in my case I have done nothing at all for my poor father who was killed by my uncle Claudius. What a coward I am!" When the play was over, he thought of a good plan. He decided to have them play it once again in front of the king and queen the next day. He also asked them to add a few lines of his own to the play so that he could make the play more like what had happened to his father. Hamlet said to himself, "If Claudius is really guilty, his face will turn pale while he is watching the play. Then I will know that what the ghost told me is true. I will watch his face very carefully." 哈姆雷特的兩位老友見到他時，他正獨自一個人在城堡裏胡言亂語。他們請求他告訴他們他發瘋的真正原因，但是他非但沒有告訴他們，反而還捉弄他們。 有一天，當哈姆雷特想到父親的鬼魂和他對鬼魂所做的承諾而顯得鬱鬱寡歡和憂慮時，一羣演員來看他。他們是哈姆雷特以前喜愛觀賞的同一羣演員。哈姆雷特歡迎他們的到來，接着他們爲他表演一出短劇。 那是敘述一位好國王被他的弟弟毒死的悲傷故事。他的弟弟後來當了國王並且娶了皇后。他們含淚演出表演得真好，以致於這一幕戲好像是真的一樣。當哈姆雷特看着他們表演的時候，他對自己感到非常的生氣。他對自己說：“那些演員可以爲這個他們從
