PoloniusPolonius is a character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. He is the chief counsellor of the play's ultimate villain King Claudius, and the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Generally regarded as wrong in every judgment he makes over the course of the play, Polonius is described by William Hazlitt as a "sincere" father, but also "a busy-body, [who] is accordingly officious, garrulous, and impertinent".
Ghost (Hamlet)The ghost of Hamlet's father is a character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. In the stage directions, he is referred to as "Ghost". His name is also Hamlet, and he is referred to as King Hamlet to distinguish him from the Prince, his son and the protagonist of the story. In HamletThe Ghost appears four times throughout the play: in Act I, Scene i; in the continuum of Act I, Scenes iv and v; and in Act III, Scene iv.
King ClaudiusKing Claudius is a fictional character and the main antagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedyHamlet. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle and later stepfather to Prince Hamlet. He obtained the throne of Denmark by murdering his brother with poison and then marrying the late king's widow. He is loosely based on the Jutish chieftain Feng who appears in Chronicon Lethrense and in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum.
Prince HamletPrince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet (1599–1601). He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew of the usurping Claudius, and son of King Hamlet, the previous King of Denmark. At the beginning of the play, he is conflicted whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and struggles with his own sanity along the way.
Hamlet Q1Q1 of Hamlet (also called the "First Quarto", full title The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke) is a short early text of the Shakespearean play. The intended publication of the play is entered in the Stationers' Register in 1602 by James Roberts, but Q1 was not published until summer or autumn 1603. It was published by the booksellers Nicholas Ling and John Trundle, and printed by Valentine Simmes. Roberts later printed the "" (Q2).
Gertrude (Hamlet)In William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and Queen of Denmark. Her relationship with Hamlet is somewhat turbulent, since he resents her marrying her husband's brother Claudius after he murdered the king (young Hamlet's father, King Hamlet). Gertrude reveals no guilt in her marriage with Claudius after the recent murder of her husband, and Hamlet begins to show signs of jealousy towards Claudius.
Shakespearean tragedyShakespearean tragedy is the designation given to most of William Shakespeare's tragedies. Many of his history plays share the qualifiers of a Shakespearean tragedy, but because they are based on real figures throughout the history of England, they were classified as "histories" in the First Folio.
DenmarkDenmark is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark, also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionallyunitary state that includes the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland in the north Atlantic Ocean. Metropolitan Denmark, also called "continental Denmark" or "Denmark proper", consists of the northern Jutlandpeninsula and an archipelago of 406 islands.
William ShakespeareEnglish playwright and poet (1564–1616)William Shakespeare (c. 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" or simply "the Bard".
Play (theatre)Prose genres Poetry genres Dramatic genresComedyLibrettoPlayhistoricalmoralSatireScriptTragedyTragicomedyHistoryAncientMedievalEarly medievalEarly modernRenaissance18th19th20thContemporary21st MediaVoiceaudiobookspeechWritingbookdigital electronicsebookmanuscript Lists and outlinesOutlineGlossaryBooksEpicfolk-epicsPoetsWritersMovementspoetry groupsCyclesLiterary awardspoetryShort story collection / CycleLost literary worklacunaTheory and criticismSociologyMagazinesCompositionLanguageNarrativeComparativeCircleSocietyPost-literate SocietyPeerFeudEstateWorkshopCircleA play is any instance of theatre primarily characterized by scripted speech: namely, dialogue between characters, monologues, or both.
QuartoQuarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produce eight book pages. Each printed page presents as one-fourth size of the full sheet.
First FolioMr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is considered one of the most influential books ever published. Printed in folio format and containing 36 of Shakespeare's plays, it was prepared by Shakespeare's colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.