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
Defensor minor sola contritio et vera poenitentia de commisso absque omni confessione facta vel fienda sacerdoti, ut immediate absolvatur per Deum." Marsilio does not exclude absolutely confession: he says only that it is useful but not essential, which it would be if it were a precept, therefore he also denies the priestly power to inflict penalties. Only contrition frees from sin not repentance of any material or spiritual character almost like a compensation for the sin."Quamvis in hoc saeculo nullam realem aut personalem satisfactionem exhibeat pro peccatis." Defensor minor The Defensor minor is a work by Marsilius of Padua written around 1342.