Characters in Hamlet He is the courtier sent by Claudius to invite Hamlet to participate in the duel with Laertes. (This character is called "Ostricke" in the Second Quarto.) Osric, as well as Polonius, attempts to engage with Hamlet in the elaborate, witty discourse, fully consistent with Baldassare Castiglione's 1528 work, "The Courtier". This work outlines several courtly rules, specifically advising royal retainers to amuse their masters with inventive language. The Players are a company of actors who arrive at Elsinore Castle. Friends of Hamlet, they had earlier performed in "the city" (presumably Copenhagen), but faced stiff competition from boy performers, so they
Hamlet (Thomas) Hamlet! Long live the King!" and the opera ends. A shorter version of the Finale, in which Hamlet dies, and the Ghost does not appear, is called "le dénouement du Theâtre de Covent Garden" ("the ending for Covent Garden"). Thomas may have written it in the belief that the English would not accept an adaptation in which Hamlet lives. There is no evidence, however, that it was performed in Thomas's lifetime, either at Covent Garden or anywhere else. It appears in some German vocal scores and is included as an appendix to the recording with Thomas Hampson as Hamlet. There