Main Character Information:
Hamlet:
Hamlet is the main character in this thick blood thirsty tragic plot. Hamlet was away at university when his father died and was so a un aware that his mother married Claudius (his uncle). He was outraged by this and almost immediately knew there was something wrong and this whole event was planned. Hamlet is the only actor in the play to speak to the ghost who made Hamlet’s doubts on Claudius the reality. The ghost told Hamlet that Claudius poisoned him and that the ghost (in the figure of his father) wanted revenge on Claudius. Hamlet still had a tough decision to make because if he did what his father wants him to do he would to hell but he had to follow his father’s orders. Hamlet apparently turns mad according to the other characters but they don’t know what the ghost told Hamlet. Hamlet gets a chance to kill Claudius in a swordfight with Laertes (who wants to kill Hamlet because had accidently killed Polonius his father). Laertes stabs Hamlet with his poisoned spear but hamlet uses Laertes weapon against Laertes and stabs him and Laertes dies and he stabs Claudius and he dies then finally Hamlet himself dies. Hamlet comes across as a strong leading person who believes in himself whatever he does and he might also come across as a selfish person due to the quote: “Do you think I am easier to be played than a pipe? (Hamlet Quote Act III Se.II)
Claudius
Gertrude
Gertrude was Hamlet’s mother and when Hamlet’s father died she quickly married Hamlet’s uncle/Gertrude’s Brother in Law. Gertrude but did not know the Uncle Claudius’ mischievous plan to get to power. Gertrude was just an innocent queen in this thick blood thirsty plot but got pulled into it accidently and because of that she died. She died because if the fencing match did not go right in favour of Claudius, he had a poisoned wine ready for Hamlet but Gertrude unknowing of all the evil plans her “husband” had made, drank the wine with the poison (which was meant to be a toast of luck for Hamlet) and died.
The King/ The Ghost
The humble unknowing King had very few parts to play in the play but his ghost was the key link to the whole plot of the play. The king appears to have done nothing wrong but his greedy selfish brother, Claudius, wanted the throne to himself so while the king was sleeping in the orchard he got a poison called Hebbenon and put it into a vial and dripped it onto the king’s ears. The ghost is first seen by the guards and then they brought Haratio (a lord) to check and he saw it to so they both told Hamlet and they told him that the ghost looks like the dead king. So Hamlets comes and sees the ghost and follows it. This is where Hamlet is told how the king died. The ghost also told Hamlet to take revenge. There was a problem though, in those days there were people called the Elizabethans who believed that if you killed someone you would go to hell and that the devil would come in different forms to trick you into doing sins and going to hell but then he had to help his father so he decided to trust the ghost.