Hamlet Character Analysis
Hamlet
Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark, the title character.He is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Claudius.Hamlet is full of hatred for his uncle\'s scheming.He is mysterious, it\'s hard to define his character.Hamlet is often hesitant, but at other times he is tended to be impulsive.Throughout the play he struggles with whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and struggles with his own sanity along the way.
Hamlet also becomes cruel and rude.He killed Polonius through a curtain without even checking to see who he is.In a word, his suffering changes his characteristic from a gentle prince to a smart, doubtful, cruel and rude man.
Claudius(the king)
He is the King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle.Claudius is an ambitious politician who
occasionally shows signs of guilt and human feeling—his love for Gertrude may be sincere, but it also seems likely that he married her as a strategic move, to help him win the throne away from Hamlet after the death of the old king.When Gertrude inadvertently drinks the poison and dies, Hamlet grabbed his last chance to kill Claudius.Both of them died at the end of the story.
Most of the other important men in Hamlet are preoccupied with ideas of justice, revenge, and moral balance, Claudius is bent upon maintaining his own power.The king is skilled in the use of language.Claudius is ultimately too crafty for his own good.
Gertrude
She is the Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius, the new queen.She loves Hamlet deeply.The Queen caused much uncertainty.The play seems to raise more questions about
Gertrude than it answers.No one knows if there are true love between she and the old king, nor between she and the new king.No one knows whether she knew Claudius’s plan of the murder.There’s only one thing we know for sure, that’s her deep love for Hamlet.
She never exhibits the ability to think critically about her situation, but tends to make seemingly safe choices.Neverthele, she is just too weak to protect the people she loves.
Polonius Polonius is the Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court.The father of Laertes and Ophelia.He is one of many characters who lack integrity.Throughout Hamlet, Polonius looks out for his own interests only, and betrays those he should be loyal to.These aspects of his character are showed in his relationships with the King, Ophelia, Laertes, and Hamlet.
Polonius is two-faced in his interactions with people.Polonius was King Hamlet’s loyal
servent, well liked and trusted by King Hamlet and Prince Hamlet.But Polonius states his loyalty
to Claudius, too.If Polonius was actually loyal to King Hamlet, then he would have never
supported the deceitful, murderous Claudius.Polonius is a dishonorable man.We can conclude Polonius as a character lacks heart and honor.
Horatio
Horatio is Hamlet’s close friend, they studied together at the university in Wittenberg.Horatio is loyal and helpful to Hamlet throughout the play.
Hamlet reveals all his plans to Horatio.Horatio swears himself to keep secret the ghost and Hamlet\'s pretending to be madne.He is always supportive, helpful, loyal and dependable.Maybe that’s why he is Hamlet’s most trusted friend.He also helped Hamlet to prove the king’s guilt in the mousetrap play.And he is the one who remains alive to tell Hamlet’s story after Hamlet died.
Ophelia
Ophelia is Polonius’s daughter, Laertes’s sister.She is a sweet and innocent young girl with whom Hamlet has been in love.She always depended on men to tell her how to behave.Probably, she had lost faith in true love.She loved both her father and Hamlet.She couldn’t accept the fact that the person who had killed her father was her beloved.And she had no one to talk to about what happened, maybe that’s the reason for her madne.But even in her lapse into madne and death, she remains gentle and mild, singing beautiful songs about flowers and finally drowning in the river with the flower garlands she had gathered.
Laertes
Laertes is Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother.He spends much of the play in France.As Hamlet was the one who killed his father and the reason of her sister’s madne.He thought Hamlet was the one to blame.And the King had long wanted to kill Hamlet too, so the king said things to him to make him more angry, and wanted to take revenge.
Different from Hamlet, Laertes more is paionate and quick at action.But he didn’t make any efforts to talk with Ophelia which may prevent her from becoming crazy.
Fortinbras
The young Prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet).Now Fortinbras wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s honor, making him another foil for Prince Hamlet.
The Ghost
The specter of Hamlet’s recently deceased father.The ghost, who claims to have been murdered by Claudius, calls upon Hamlet to avenge him.However, it is 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.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Two slightly bumbling courtiers, former friends of Hamlet from Wittenberg, 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.
Marcellus and Bernardo
The officers who first see the ghost walking the ramparts of Elsinore and who summon Horatio to witne it.Marcellus is present when Hamlet first encounters the ghost.
Francisco
A soldier and guardsman at Elsinore.
Reynaldo
Polonius’s servant, who is sent to France by Polonius to check up on and spy on Laertes.
