Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge of Prince Hamlet. The Prince is called to wreak upon his uncle Claudius by the ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet. Claudius had murdered the King and seized the throne.?
Hamlet departs from dramatic convention that a drama should focus on action, not character. In Hamlet, it is through the soliloquies, not the action, that the audience learns Hamlet's motives and thoughts.