Melancholy, bitter, cynical, full of hatred for his
uncle’s scheming and disgust for his mother’s
sexuality.
CLAUDIUS
Hamlet's uncle
Driven by his sexual appetites
and his lust for power
Villain of the play
Occasionally shows signs of
guilt and human feeling—his
love for Gertrude, for instance,
seems sincere.
GERTRUDE
Shallow, weak woman who seeks affection
and status more urgently than moral
rectitude or truth.
Hamlet's mother
Loves Hamlet deeply but is married to Claudius
THE GHOST
Claims to have been murdered by
his once brother Claudius
Not entirely certain whether the ghost is what it appears
to be, or whether it is something else. Hamlet speculates
that the ghost might be a devil sent to deceive him and
tempt him into murder, and the question of what the
ghost is or where it comes from is never definitively
resolved.
CHARACTERS CONTINUED
POLONIUS
Father of Ophelia and Laertes
Mistakenly gets killed by Hamlet
OPHELIA
Whom Hamlet has been in love with
Sweet and innocent young girls who obeys her
brother and father.
Dependent on men to tell her how to behave,
she gives in to Polonius’s schemes to spy on
Hamlet.
She drowns
Hamlet uses her? Says that he loves her then treats her
kind of like she's nothing. "Get thee to a nunnery!" He's
basically saying that no one wants her and that she
might as well go be a nun to fulfill a purpose because
being Ophelia sure isn't one
LAERTES
Passionate and quick to action, Laertes is
clearly a foil for the reflective Hamlet.
Tries to kill Hamlet with the poison on his sword and succeeds,
only for that to backfire because Hamlet use the same dagger on
him
Often indecisive and hesitant, but at other times
prone to rash and impulsive acts.
Hamlet feels a responsibility to avenge his
father’s murder by his uncle Claudius, but
Claudius is now the king and thus well protected.
Moreover, Hamlet struggles with his doubts
about whether he can trust the ghost and
whether killing Claudius is the appropriate thing
to do.
SOLILOQUIES
To be or not to be that is the question...
Legitimacy of suicide in an unbearably painful world
To live or not to live?
He compares death to sleep and thinks of the end to suffering, pain, and uncertainty it might bring,
O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven..
When Claudius confesses that he did steal his brother's crown
Proof that he's power hungry
He knows he's sinned but he feels as if he's already
gained a lot and it not willing to lose what he has from
his kingdom to his woman
MUY IMPORTANTE
Guildenstern and Rosencrantz were basically spies for Claudius and
ended up dying because Hamlet found out that there was a plan to kill
him and Hamlet himself later on switched the letters on their way to
England.
Claudius is very persuasive
Hamlet starts to go a little insane, but
has stated that it was only pretend
but was
(Kind of important but wasn't important enough to be put into the movie)
Fortinbras's father was killed for
the land that Hamlet's father got to
take over when they were in a
duel. Fortinbras during this whole
play plans to take the land back
because he feels that it's his.
At the end of the play Fortinbras' does get his land back, not only that but he is now King of the WHOLE land.
Hamlet creates a play that's called "Mouse Trap" to see if Claudius gets any
reaction from it. It's based off of what The Ghost told Hamlet how the murder
went down with name changes and a rhyme scheme.
Hamlet does get a reaction from Claudius
and know then and there that Claudius
killed his father.
QUOTES
Gertrude: "These words are like daggers... speak no more!"
Hamlet takes out his anger on his mother and Ophelia but when he's alone with his
mom in the bedroom after killing Polonius on accident, he speaks the truth to the
point where Gertrude can't take it anymore.
Claudius: "Tis unmanly grief"
Claudius is insulting Hamlet because he can't seem to get over his father's
death and his mother's remarriage.
Laertes: "Will cut his throat in the church!"
Claudius has turned Laertes
mad and he will do anything to
get rid of Hamlet.
HORATIO
Our friend and Hamlet's best bud
In the end of the play Horatio wants to kill himself as well but Hamlet said, "No! Live to tell MY story."