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 bibliographies in Folger's web-based catalog, Hamnet (accessed 1/25/2008) returned 2245 entries; the result does not include the number of entries in the library's card-catalog. In one sense textual and critical analyses of "Hamlet" appear in the earliest editions onwards, as they are interpreted in the performances themselves, or unearthed by subsequent scholars, performers, and directors. The following list of subsequent bibliographies is ordered chronologically: "Hamlet" bibliography is flourishing online. Hamlet bibliographies Over 30 years ago a renowned "Hamlet" scholar expressed his astonishment that some 400 works a year dealing with the play were being received at "The Shakespeare Quarterly". The rate