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Hamlet - Characters in the Play

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Image of the cover of The Folger Guide to Teaching Hamlet

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Hamlet - Characters in the Play
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Characters in the Play

Characters in the Play
The Ghost
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, son of the late King Hamlet
 and Queen Gertrude

Queen Gertrude, widow of King Hamlet, now married to Claudius
King Claudius, brother to the late King Hamlet
Ophelia
Laertes, her brother
Polonius, father of Ophelia and Laertes, councillor to King Claudius
Reynaldo, servant to Polonius
Horatio, Hamlet’s friend and confidant
Voltemand
Cornelius
Rosencrantz
Guildenstern
Osric
Gentlemen
A Lord
bracket
courtiers at the Danish court
Francisco
Barnardo
Marcellus
bracket
Danish soldiers
Fortinbras, Prince of Norway
A Captain in Fortinbras’s army
Ambassadors to Denmark from England
Players who take the roles of Prologue, Player King, Player Queen, and Lucianus in The Murder of Gonzago
Two Messengers
Sailors
Gravedigger
Gravedigger’s companion
Doctor of Divinity
Attendants, Lords, Guards, Musicians, Laertes’s Followers, Soldiers, Officers