While it isn’t strictly necessary to know the show Hamlet in order to follow this one, (this isn’t Hamlet, but the show plays into the story of Something Rotten), it adds a LOT to have some familiarity.
Hamlet, himself, is a Danish Prince in the story. His father has just died, and his uncle marries his mother basically immediately afterward. A guard, Marcellus, has begun to see strange happenings while atop the castle ramparts at night. While patrolling the castle, guards keep seeing what appears to be a ghostly apparition of the dead King. Marcellus, struggling to reconcile what he is seeing with what he thought was real, says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
Here is a silly but useful video that gives you the story of Hamlet in under 3 minutes. I strongly suggest watching it!
Some other quotes from Hamlet that you may have heard…and a reminder, this show is FOUR HUNDRED years old, still performed all over the world, and still referenced in pop culture.
“O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!”
(Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 2)
“That one may smile and smile and be a villain.”
(Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 5)
“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
(Polonius, Act 2 Scene 2)
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.”
(Polonius, Act 2 Scene 2)
(This is often summarised or misquoted as: ‘There’s method in his madness’)
“To be, or not to be, that is the question.”
(Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1)
“The lady protests too much, methinks.”
(Gertrude, Act 3 Scene 2)
(This is often misquoted as: ‘Methinks the lady doth protest too much’)
“The rest is silence.”
(Hamlet, Act 5 Scene 2)
“Goodnight, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”
(Horatio, Act 5 Scene 2)
And, finally, if you’ve ever seen something in a movie or tv show where a character is doing something like this:
that’s from Hamlet (“Alas, poor Yorick!”)!