Hamlet

The plot begins on the cold walls of Elsinore Castle. The ghost of the recently deceased King Hamlet appears to his son and reveals the terrible truth: he was murdered by his own brother Claudius, who poured poison into his ear while he slept, and then married the widow Gertrude and took the throne. The ghost demands revenge. Hamlet, a philosophical and melancholic student from Wittenberg, swears revenge, but deep doubts and questions about the meaning of life paralyze him.

In the following acts, Hamlet feigns madness to cover up his plans, rejects Ophelia (daughter of the court advisor Polonius), stages a "theater within a theater" to force Claudius to give himself up, accidentally kills Polonius, thinking he is the king, is sent to England with orders to be executed there (but survives a pirate attack), while Ophelia, broken by her father's death and Hamlet's rejection, sinks into madness and drowns.

The climax is a duel at court: Laertes (Ophelia's brother) and Hamlet fight with a poisoned sword and poisoned wine prepared by Claudius. In the chaos, all the main characters die – Gertrude drinks the poison intended for her son, Laertes is wounded by his own sword, Claudius is stabbed and forced to drink the poison, and Hamlet dies in the arms of his friend Horace with the words "The rest is silence".

Torbarina's translation from 1956 (first edition MH 1957, third 1979) is considered the canonical Croatian translation of Hamlet – precise, rhythmic, preserving the pentameter and the richness of the language.