 So now let's examine in a nutshell Act 1 and what happens in each scene within this act of Hamlet. Now in Act 1 in scene 1, essentially we learn that for two nights there's been a ghost in Elsen or Castle and of course do you remember that this play is set in Denmark. Now there's this ghost that's been basically roaming and haunting Elsen or Castle and the gods who are protecting the castle and Horatio more specifically who is Hamlet's best friend, Prince Hamlet's best friend, realise that this ghost has a very similar likeness to his dead father. Now they realise that this ghost keeps on haunting and they're not entirely sure what to do however Horatio decides that he's going to choose a good time to tell his friend Hamlet, Prince Hamlet about this ghost that looks really similar to his father. Now in Act 1, scene 2, we learn separately and so when the scene changes that Gertrude, his Prince Hamlet's mother and a widow because we learn that Prince Hamlet's dad has died King Hamlet, Gertrude and King Hamlet's brother Claudius marries and of course this leads to Claudius becoming the new king of Denmark and of course he's the leader of Elsen or Castle. So they marry and fairly quickly, fairly soon after the death of King Hamlet. Now Claudius as I've mentioned replaces the dead King Hamlet and they ask Prince Hamlet who we know goes to University of Wittgenstein University they ask him to stop being so melancholic so sad about his father's death but also they tell him that it's not really a good time for him to go back to University they ask him to stay at the castle and to not go back to University which he agrees. However we also learn of course as I've mentioned that Gertrude has remarried really quickly Hamlet is really disgusted with her behavior he's really outraged at his mother's decision to marry so of course this is interesting because he chooses not to be outraged at both of them to be married actually his outrage is more directed towards his mother he's disgusted that Queen Gertrude has married his father's brother Claudius rather than directing his anger also to his uncle Claudius for marrying his mother. Now in act one scene three essentially we learn that Hamlet as I mentioned decided to stay in Elsen or not go on to Wittgenstein University and not to go back however we're also introduced to Laertes and Polonius and of course we know that Polonius is a courtier he's one of the close advisors of King Claudius. Now Laertes and Polonius essentially advise Ophelia who's the daughter of Polonius not to have a really close relationship with Hamlet so we learn that Ophelia is kind of a love interest of Hamlet however she's not of the same class of course remember that Prince Hamlet he is royalty Ophelia, Polonius they are part of the courtiers they are definitely part of the noble aristocracy but they're not on the same level socially as Hamlet as Prince Hamlet who Laertes and Polonius believe is probably going to be married off to another princess and so they don't want Ophelia to remove her in a sense maybe even lose her virginity to Hamlet because they believe that Hamlet is just going to use her and then end up marrying a princess anyway so basically tell her you're not allowed to talk to Hamlet anymore you need to cut off links with him. Separately Laertes decides to leave for university in France whilst of course Hamlet stays in Elsinore and finally act one ends with scene four whereby Horatio does tell Hamlet that his ghost a ghost that looks really similar to his father is roaming around then Hamlet decides to meet with a ghost and of course he sees him he looks exactly like his dead father now the ghost makes a really powerful revelation to him the ghost tells him that he was killed by his own brother Claudius who of course was really quick to become king soon after and he specifically tells Hamlet you have got to avenge my death you have got to seek revenge and kill Claudius because he's killed me. Now Hamlet is of course really shocked by this realisation but also it starts making sense to him a little bit because how was Claudius so quick to marry his mother and so quick to try and ask him to forget about you know the past events his dad for passing on so on the one hand he kind of seems to trust and be swayed by what the ghost says but on the other hand he does have a bit of a mistrust of the ghost and therefore he decides to feign madness in other words to act mad as a way to entrap Claudius and to maybe misguide him in order to maybe trick him into revealing that definitely he killed King Hamlet or for him to know that he didn't kill King Hamlet do bear in mind that Hamlet's mistrust of the ghost is very typical of the Elizabethan era contextually speaking a lot of Elizabethans thought that the ghost supernatural witches were always mischievous creatures that caused chaos therefore Hamlet is acting according to what typical Elizabethans would expect which is not to complete you trust everything that the ghost says at face value however what the ghost does say and also the likeness of the ghost looking like his dead father is too compelling and it's too important for Hamlet to not ignore so he decides that he's going to feign madness at different points in order to see whether Claudius is going to fall for his tricks and ultimately reveal that he's the one that killed his father so that's it when it comes to the key events to know for act one