| hamlet | The price of Denmark and at the university of Wittenberg. At the beginning of the play, hamlet’s father, king Hamlet, has recently died, and his mother, queen Gertrude, has married the new king, Hamlet’s uncle Claudius |
| Claudius | The king of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle |
| Gertrude | the queen of Denmark, hamlet’s mother |
| Polonius | The lord chamberlain of Claudius’s court and the father of Laertes and Ophelia |
| Horatio | Hamlet’s close friend, who studied with the prince at the university of Wittenberg. Hamlet trusts horatio above any of the other characters |
| Ophelia | Polonius’s daughter, a beautiful young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love |
| Laertes | Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother a young man who spends much of the play In France |
| Fortinbras | The young prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet) |
| The ghost | The specter of Hamlet’s recenty deceased father. The ghost, who claims to have been murdered by Claudius |
| Rosencrantz and Guildenstern | former friends of Hamlet’s who are summoned by Claudius and Gertrude to discover the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior |
| osric | the foolish courtier who summons hamlet to his duel with Laertes |
| Voltimand and Cornelius | courtiers whom Claudius sends to Norway to persuade the king to prevent Fortinbras from attacking |
| Marcellis and Barnardo | The officers who first see the ghost walking the ramparts of Elsinore and who summon Horatio to witness it |
| Francisco | a soilider and guardsman at Elsinore |
| Reynalso | Polonius’s servant sent to Franch by Polonius to check up on and spy on Laertes |
hamlet study guide
August 6, 2019