| King Hamlet | Father of Prince Hamlet;appears as ghost at castle ramparts and later in queen’s bedchamber demanding revenge for his murder |
| Hamlet | Prince of Denmark, son of the late King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude; has returned from school in Wittenberg |
| Queen Gertrude | widow of King Hamlet, now married to King Claudius |
| King Claudius | brother to King Hamlet; Hamlet’s unclemurdered King Hamlet by pouring poison into his ear;present King of Denmark;married to Queen Gertrude |
| Ophelia | Hamlet’s girlfriend, sister of Laertes, daughter of Polonius |
| Laertes | brother of Ophelia, son of Polonius;plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet in rigged duel |
| Polonius | father of Ophelia and Laertes;counsellor to King Claudius;spies on Hamlet for Claudius, thinks Hamlet is lovesick;while spying on Hamlet in queen’s bedchamber, hiding behind arras (tapestry) is killed by Hamlet |
| Horatio | Hamlet’s true friend and confidant;fellow student at Wittenberg |
| Cornelius | ambassador sent to old Norway concerning worries that Prince Fortinbras may try to attack Denmark; |
| Rosencrantz | a courtier, a former friend of Hamlet who is sent along with Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet and then sent to escort Hamlet to England |
| Guildenstern | a courtier, a former friend of Hamlet who is sent along with Rosencrantz to spy on Hamlet and then sent to escort Hamlet to England |
| Francisco, Bernardo, Marcellus | Danish soldiers acting as night watchmen at Elsinore;first to see the Ghost of King Hamlet |
| Captain | A captain in Fortinbras’s army getting passage through Denmark per agreement reached by old Norway;sent by Fortinbras to the court, happens to meet Hamlet |
| King Fortinbras | prior to action of play had been defeated and killed by King Hamlet and had lost lands of Norway to Denmark;father of Prince Fortinbras and brother to “old Norway” |
| Where is the castle located? | Elsinore, Denmark |
| Where does the story take place? (the setting of the story) | Elsinore, Denmark |
| King Claudius | Hamlet’s uncle and the present King of Denmark |
| Cornelius | Ambassador sent to old Norway concerning worries that Prince Fortinbras may try to attack Denmark |
| Guildenstern | friend of Hamlet who is sent along with Rosencrantz to spy on Hamlet and then sent to escort Hamlet to England |
| Horatio | Hamlet’s true friend; a fellow student at Wittenberg |
| King Claudius | the present King of Denmark; married to Queen Gertrude |
| King Fortinbras | Had been defeated and killed by King Hamlet and had lost lands of Norway to Denmark |
| King Fortinbras | father of Prince Fortinbras and brother to “old Norway” |
| King Hamlet | Appears as a ghost at castle ramparts and later in queen’s bedchamber demanding revenge for his murder |
| Laertes | Brother of Ophelia, son of Polonius |
| Laertes | Plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet in a rigged duel fight |
| Osric | Foolish courtier at the Danish court, sent to invite Hamlet to duel with Laertes |
| Players | Actors who perform “The Murder of Ganzago,” which Hamlet calls “The Mousetrap” to Claudius; |
| Prince Fortinbras | Prince of Norway |
| Prince Fortinbras | Wants to avenge his father’s death and regain lands, but at old Norway’s command, accepts deal to invade Poland instead |
| Reynaldo | Servant to Polonius, sent by Polonius to spy on Laertes in Paris |
| Rosencrantz | Friend of Hamlet who is sent alongwith Guildenstern gto spy on Hamlet and gthen sent to escort Hamlet to England |
| Voltemand | Ambassador sent to old Norway concerning worries that Prince Fortinbras may try to attack Denmark. |
| Hamlet | The protagonist of the story |
| Gertrude | The Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius |
| Rosencrantz and Guildenstern | Courtiers, former friends of Hamlet from Wittenberg, who are summoned by Claudius and Gertrude to discover the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior |
| Voltimand and Cornelius | Courtiers whom Claudius sends to Norway to persuade the king to prevent Fortinbras from attacking. |
| Francisco | A soldier and guardsman at Elsinore |
| Reynaldo | Polonius’s servant, who is sent to France by Polonius to spy on Laertes in Paris |
| Marcellus and Bernardo | The officers who first see the ghost walking the ramparts of Elsinore and who summon Horatio to witness it. |
| Claudius | the antagonist |
| Hamlet | the protagonist |
Hamlet Characters
August 6, 2019