Hamlet: Character Mind Map & Summary
Every character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, grouped by family and loyalty, plus who kills whom, an act-by-act summary and the facts that come up again and again in UGC NET.
The Character Mind Map
Tap any name to open the character’s role, key moment, fate and famous line.
Prince Hamlet
Prince of Denmark and student at Wittenberg. Son of the murdered King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude; nephew and stepson of Claudius. The Ghost orders revenge, and he delays: thinking, doubting, feigning madness (his “antic disposition”).
To be, or not to be, that is the question.Fate: dies from Laertes’s poisoned sword (Act 5)
👑 Royal Family
Hamlet’s familyClaudiusKing of Denmark · Hamlet’s uncle & stepfather
Role: The villain. He poisoned his brother King Hamlet (poison poured in his ear as he slept in the orchard), took the crown and married Gertrude.
Key moment: Rises in panic during the Mousetrap play; later tries to pray but cannot repent.
O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven.Killed by Hamlet: poisoned sword + poisoned wine
GertrudeQueen · Hamlet’s mother
Role: Marries Claudius less than two months after her husband’s death, which disgusts Hamlet (“Frailty, thy name is woman!”).
Key moment: The closet scene, where Hamlet confronts her, and she reports Ophelia’s drowning.
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.Dies drinking the poisoned cup meant for Hamlet
Ghost of King HamletHamlet’s dead father
Role: Appears on the battlements, reveals that Claudius murdered him and demands revenge, but tells Hamlet to leave Gertrude “to heaven”.
Key moment: Appears again in Gertrude’s closet (Act 3), seen only by Hamlet.
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.Murdered by Claudius before the play begins
🏛️ Polonius’s Family
Father–son–daughterPoloniusLord Chamberlain · father of Laertes & Ophelia
Role: Talkative, meddling royal adviser who loves spying. Believes Hamlet is mad with love for Ophelia.
Key moment: Hides behind the arras (curtain) in Gertrude’s closet; Hamlet stabs him, thinking he is Claudius.
Brevity is the soul of wit.Killed by Hamlet through the arras (Act 3)
LaertesPolonius’s son · Hamlet’s foil
Role: Returns from Paris to avenge his father, and acts at once where Hamlet delays. Plots with Claudius: a poisoned (unbated) sword in a “friendly” duel.
Key moment: Exposes Claudius as he dies and exchanges forgiveness with Hamlet.
I am justly kill’d with mine own treachery.Killed by his own poisoned sword (Act 5)
OpheliaPolonius’s daughter · Hamlet’s beloved
Role: Obeys her father and rejects Hamlet. Driven mad by Hamlet’s cruelty and her father’s death.
Key moment: The nunnery scene (“Get thee to a nunnery”); the mad scene where she hands out flowers.
There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.Drowns in a brook (reported by Gertrude, Act 4)
ReynaldoPolonius’s servant
Role: Sent to Paris by Polonius to spy on Laertes (Act 2, Scene 1), which shows how spying runs through the whole court.
Survives🤝 Friends & Spies
True vs false friendsHoratioHamlet’s loyal friend from Wittenberg
Role: Calm, rational and trustworthy, the one person Hamlet fully confides in.
Key moment: Tries to drink the poison to die with Hamlet; Hamlet asks him to live and tell the story.
Good night, sweet prince, / And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!Survives to tell the story
Rosencrantz & GuildensternOld school friends turned spies
Role: Summoned by Claudius to spy on Hamlet; escort him to England carrying a letter ordering his execution.
Key moment: Hamlet secretly rewrites the letter so that they are executed instead. (Tom Stoppard’s 1966 play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead retells their story.)
Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! (Hamlet to them)Executed in England (reported in Act 5)
MarcellusOfficer of the watch
Role: Sees the Ghost with Bernardo and brings Horatio to witness it.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.Survives
BernardoSoldier on guard
Role: Speaks the very first line of the play: “Who’s there?”, which sets up the play’s mood of doubt and questioning.
SurvivesFranciscoSoldier on guard
Role: Relieved from watch in the opening scene.
For this relief much thanks. ‘Tis bitter cold, / And I am sick at heart.Survives
🎩 The Court
Claudius’s servantsOsricFoppish young courtier
Role: Brings Hamlet the king’s wager on the fencing match and acts as judge of the duel (Act 5, Scene 2). Hamlet mocks his flowery speech.
SurvivesVoltemand & CorneliusAmbassadors to Norway
Role: Sent by Claudius to the old King of Norway to stop Fortinbras’s attack on Denmark; they return with news that he will march on Poland instead.
Survive⚔️ Norway
The outside threatFortinbrasPrince of Norway · Hamlet’s foil
Role: His father was killed by old King Hamlet. A man of decisive action, the opposite of Hamlet.
Key moment: Arrives at the bloody ending and takes the Danish throne; Hamlet gives him his “dying voice”.
Let four captains / Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage.Survives: becomes King of Denmark
Old NorwayKing of Norway · Fortinbras’s uncle
Role: Old and bedridden; stops his nephew’s plan to attack Denmark once Claudius’s ambassadors inform him. Mentioned, never seen.
Norwegian CaptainOfficer in Fortinbras’s army
Role: Tells Hamlet the army is fighting for a worthless patch of Poland, which triggers the soliloquy “How all occasions do inform against me” (Act 4, Scene 4).
🎭 Players & Others
Small roles, big exam valueThe PlayersTravelling actors (Player King, Player Queen, Lucianus)
Role: Perform The Murder of Gonzago, which Hamlet renames “The Mousetrap” and rewrites to copy his father’s murder. Lucianus, “nephew to the king”, pours the poison.
Key moment: The First Player’s emotional Hecuba speech shames Hamlet into action.
The play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king. (Hamlet)
The GravediggersTwo “clowns” · comic relief
Role: Joke about death and Ophelia’s suicide while digging her grave (Act 5, Scene 1). We learn Hamlet is 30 years old.
Key moment: Dig up the skull of Yorick, the late king’s jester.
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio. (Hamlet)
YorickDead court jester (appears only as a skull)
Role: Carried young Hamlet on his back. His skull makes Hamlet think about how death levels everyone, from jesters to Alexander the Great.
The PriestDoctor of Divinity
Role: Refuses Ophelia a full Christian burial because “her death was doubtful”, which angers Laertes.
English AmbassadorsArrive at the very end
Role: Announce the news that “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead”, the phrase Stoppard used as his title.
Sailors / PiratesMessengers
Role: Pirates attack Hamlet’s ship to England and send him back to Denmark; sailors deliver his letter to Horatio (Act 4, Scene 6).
Memory Hook: 3 Sons, 3 Dead Fathers
Shakespeare mirrors Hamlet’s situation in two other young men. Remember this and you’ll know all the foils.
Who Kills Whom: The Death Map
Eight deaths. Only one happens before the play begins; four happen in the final scene.
Act-by-Act Summary
The whole plot in five quick stops.
Act 1The Ghost Speaks
- A ghost resembling the dead king appears on the battlements of Elsinore.
- Claudius is now king and has married Gertrude; Hamlet, still in mourning, is bitter.
- Laertes leaves for Paris; Polonius gives advice (“To thine own self be true”) and orders Ophelia to avoid Hamlet.
- The Ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius murdered him. Hamlet swears revenge and decides to put on an “antic disposition” (pretend madness).
Act 2Madness & Spies
- Ophelia reports Hamlet’s strange visit; Polonius decides Hamlet is mad with love.
- Claudius brings in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet.
- Travelling players arrive. Hamlet plans a play that re-enacts the murder to test Claudius’s guilt.
Act 3The Turning Point
- “To be, or not to be” soliloquy, then the nunnery scene with Ophelia while Claudius and Polonius spy.
- The Mousetrap: Claudius storms out, which confirms his guilt.
- Hamlet finds Claudius praying and spares him so his soul won’t go to heaven.
- In Gertrude’s closet Hamlet kills Polonius behind the arras; the Ghost reappears.
Act 4Consequences
- Claudius sends Hamlet to England with R&G and a secret death order.
- Hamlet sees Fortinbras’s army and resolves: “My thoughts be bloody.”
- Ophelia goes mad; Laertes storms back demanding revenge.
- Hamlet returns after a pirate attack. Claudius and Laertes plot the poisoned sword and cup. Ophelia drowns.
Act 5The Final Duel
- Graveyard scene: gravediggers, Yorick’s skull, Ophelia’s funeral; Hamlet and Laertes fight in her grave.
- Hamlet tells Horatio how he sent R&G to their deaths; he accepts fate (“The readiness is all”).
- The duel: Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius and Hamlet all die.
- Fortinbras arrives and takes the throne; Horatio will tell the story.
Must-Know Exam Facts
The details that keep coming up in UGC NET, SET and PGT papers.
Full Title & Date
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, written c. 1599–1601. First Quarto 1603 (“bad quarto”), Second Quarto 1604–05, First Folio 1623. Shakespeare’s longest play.
Sources
The Amleth legend in Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum, retold by François de Belleforest in Histoires Tragiques (1570), and a lost earlier play, the Ur-Hamlet, often credited to Thomas Kyd.
Genre
Revenge tragedy in the Senecan tradition (like Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy), with a ghost, feigned madness, a play-within-a-play and a bloody ending.
The 7 Soliloquies
- “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt” (1.2)
- “O all you host of heaven!” (1.5)
- “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” (2.2)
- “To be, or not to be” (3.1)
- “‘Tis now the very witching time of night” (3.2)
- “Now might I do it pat” (3.3)
- “How all occasions do inform against me” (4.4)
Play-within-the-Play
The Murder of Gonzago, renamed “The Mousetrap” by Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 2). Agatha Christie later borrowed the title.
Key Critics
T. S. Eliot, “Hamlet and His Problems” (1919): the play is “most certainly an artistic failure” because it lacks an objective correlative; he also calls it “the Mona Lisa of literature”. A. C. Bradley (Shakespearean Tragedy, 1904): melancholy explains the delay. Ernest Jones (Hamlet and Oedipus, 1949): the Oedipus complex. Coleridge: too much reflection. Goethe: “a great deed laid upon a soul unequal to it”. G. Wilson Knight: “The Embassy of Death”.
100+ Key Works of English Literature
All the character mind maps in one printed book.
