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
Ghost (Hamlet) 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. He is loosely based on a legendary Jutish chieftain, named Horwendill, who appears in "Chronicon Lethrense" and in Saxo Grammaticus' "Gesta Danorum". According to oral tradition, the Ghost was originally played by Shakespeare himself. The Ghost appears three times in the play: in Act I, Scene i; in the continuum of Act I, Scenes iv and