Hamlet is the son of the late King Hamlet who died two months before the start of the play. After King Hamlet's death his brother Claudius becomes king and marries King Hamlet's window Gertrude. Young Hamlet fears that Claudius killed his own brother to become king of Denmark greatly angering Hamlet. Two officers Marcellus and Barnardo summon Hamlet's friend Horatio and later Hamlet himself to see the late King Hamlet's ghost appear at midnight. The ghost tells Hamlet privately that Claudius had indeed murdered King Hamlet by pouring poison in his ear. Hamlet is further enraged and plots of how to revenge his father's death.