The title character is the son of a murdered king, who appears in ghostly form to the young prince.<ref>[[Harold Bloom]]: "When we first encounter him, Hamlet is a university student who is not being permitted to return to his studies. He does not appear to be more than twenty years old, yet in Act V he is revealed to be at least thirty, after a passage of a few weeks at most." [http://www.princehamlet.com/chapter_1.html]</ref> The dead king accuses his brother, Claudius, (young Hamlet's uncle) of murdering him. | The title character is the son of a murdered king, who appears in ghostly form to the young prince.<ref>[[Harold Bloom]]: "When we first encounter him, Hamlet is a university student who is not being permitted to return to his studies. He does not appear to be more than twenty years old, yet in Act V he is revealed to be at least thirty, after a passage of a few weeks at most." [http://www.princehamlet.com/chapter_1.html]</ref> The dead king accuses his brother, Claudius, (young Hamlet's uncle) of murdering him. |