He is a calculating, ambitious politician, driven by his sexual appetites and his lust for power, but he occasionally shows signs of guilt and human feeling—his love for Gertrude, for instance, seems sincere.
The young Prince of Norway.
The ghost of Hamlet's father reappears and warns his son not to delay revenge or upset his mother.
Hamlet confronts Laertes, Ophelia's brother, who has taken his father's place at the court.
Hamlet discovers Claudius has a plan to have him killed once he arrives.
Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, married Hamlet's recently-widowed mother, becoming the new King of Denmark.
Hamlet writes a play which includes scenes that mimic the murder of Hamlet's father.