#_Shakespeare 📖 Hamlet – Explanation in Detail 1. Background Written by William Shakespeare around 1600–1601. It is one of his longest and most performed tragedies. The central theme is revenge, morality, madness, and the struggle between action and inaction. --- 2. Main Plot Summary Exposition (Act I): The play opens at Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Prince Hamlet learns from the ghost of his father, King Hamlet, that he was murdered by his own brother, Claudius, who has now married Queen Gertrud