What Happens in Hamlet Act 1 Scene 1

The first scene of Hamlet takes place along the outer walls of Elsinore, Denmark. Horatio, friend of Hamlet and fellow student, accompanies the guards Bernardo and Marcellus on watch to check their claim of having twice seen a chilling sight: the ghost of King Hamlet, father of Prince Hamlet. Horatio is completely skeptical of this claim, but his skepticism is quickly destroyed by the appearance of the Ghost.

Now convinced, Horatio and the guards ponder the reasons for the late king's return, supposing that it might have something to do with the round-the-clock preparations for war and heightened security of which their watch is a part. Horatio supposes the Ghost's appearance is a sign of dangerous events coming. In the midst of this discussion the Ghost once again appears, though it will not address Horatio, who tries to speak with it. The three men resolve to inform Hamlet of the apparition, feeling sure that it will speak to him.

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BBC adaptation, 2009

In his introduction to the play in the Riverside Shakespeare (2nd ed., p. 1187), Frank Kermode comments:

The unusual obliquity of the opening is worth noting. Shakespeare normally opens with plot and thematic material of the highest importance, shrewdly and economically presented; Julius Caesar, the last tragedy before Hamlet, is a fine instance. In Hamlet all is different; one has almost to assume an audience that knew the story and was willing to be teased by indirection. To be sure, the opening scene is as economical in the creation of atmosphere as that of Macbeth. There is the challenge of Barnardo, who nervously steals the sentry's words; the telling "I am sick at heart"; the cold and the fear. "Shakespeare," says T. S. Eliot, "had worked for a long time in the theatre, and written a good many plays before reaching the point at which he could write those twenty-two lines." Out of their varied rhythms, and the beautifully unexpected speech of Marcellus, "It faded on the crowing of the cock," there arises, as Eliot says, "a kind of musical design." But meanwhile the ghost–"this thing"–has appeared. (Horatio as sceptic raises questions as to its status which could have been avoided.) There has been speculation as to its purpose, but one thing seems sure: it has to do with the state of the nation–it "bodes some strange eruption to our state"–and with the armaments drive now in progress under the threat from Norway. That it genuinely has to do with the state of the nation–its spiritual rather than its merely political state–we shall learn; and to give us a "musical" sense that this is so, there is the unexpected speech about Christmas. But so far as plot goes, this might be the opening scene of a play about a Caesar-like Hamlet now dead but still posthumously interested in empire. Young Hamlet is not even mentioned until line 170–after nearly nine minutes' playing time.

Opening scene from the 2009 BBC adaptation:

Notice that the BBC version develops an idea that will become a prominent motif throughout this play: the motif of surveillance. We begin this scene through the eyes of the video cameras, and when the Ghost appears again, we will see this scene through the cameras here too. In a play which is so much about seeing, witnessing, playacting, spying, and observing, this is a particularly apt way to begin.

Full play synopsis via kids at the Great River Shakespeare Festival:

What Happens in Hamlet Act 1 Scene 1

Source: https://genius.com/William-shakespeare-hamlet-act-1-scene-1-annotated

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