The King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle, and the play’s antagonist. The villain of the play, he is a calculating, ambitious politician, driven by his sexual appetites and his lust for power.

The Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius.

The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court, a pompous, conniving old man. He is the father of Laertes and Ophelia.

Hamlet’s close friend, who studied with the prince at the university in Wittenberg. He is loyal and helpful to Hamlet throughout the play. After Hamlet’s death, He remains alive to tell Hamlet’s story.

Polonius’s daughter, a beautiful young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love. She is a sweet and innocent young girl, who obeys her father and her brother, Laertes. Dependent on men to tell her how to behave, she gives in to Polonius’s schemes to spy on Hamlet. Even in her lapse into madness and death, she remains maidenly, singing songs about flowers and finally drowning in the river amid the flower garlands she had gathered.

Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother, a young man who spends much of the play in France. Passionate and quick to action, He is clearly a foil for the reflective Hamlet.

The young Prince of Norway, whose father the king was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet).

Two slightly bumbling courtiers, former friends of Hamlet from Wittenberg, who are summoned by Claudius and Gertrude to discover the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior.

Also known as Robin Goodfellow, he is Oberon’s jester, a mischievous fairy who delights in playing pranks on mortals. Though A Midsummer Night’s Dream divides its action between several groups of characters, he is the closest thing the play has to a protagonist.

The king of the fairies, he is initially at odds with his wife, Titania, because she refuses to relinquish control of a young Indian prince whom he wants for a knight. His desire for revenge on Titania leads him to send Puck to obtain the love-potion flower that creates so much of the play’s confusion and farce.

The beautiful queen of the fairies, she resists the attempts of her husband, Oberon, to make a knight of the young Indian prince that she has been given.

A young man of Athens, in love with Hermia. He cannot marry her openly because her father, wishes her to wed Demetrius. He becomes the victim of misapplied magic and wakes up in love with Helena.

A young man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia and ultimately in love with Helena. His obstinate pursuit of Hermia throws love out of balance among the quartet of Athenian youths and precludes a symmetrical two-couple arrangement.

a young woman of Athens. She is in love with Lysander and is a childhood friend of Helena.

A young woman of Athens, in love with Demetrius. Demetrius and her were once betrothed, but when Demetrius met her friend, he fell in love with her and abandoned her.

Hermia’s father, who brings a complaint against his daughter to Theseus: he has given Demetrius permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia, in love with Lysander, refuses to marry Demetrius. His severe insistence that Hermia either respect his wishes or be held accountable to Athenian law places him squarely outside the whimsical dream realm of the forest.

The heroic duke of Athens, engaged to Hippolyta. He represents power and order throughout the play. He appears only at the beginning and end of the story, removed from the dreamlike events of the forest.

The legendary queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus. Like Theseus, she symbolizes order.

The overconfident weaver chosen to play Pyramus in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. His head is transformed into an ass.

a Scottish general and the thane of Glamis who is led to wicked thoughts by the prophecies of the three witches, especially after their prophecy that he will be made thane of Cawdor comes true. He is a brave soldier and a powerful man, but he is not a virtuous one. He is easily tempted into murder to fulfill his ambitions to the throne, and once he commits his first crime and is crowned King of Scotland, he embarks on further atrocities with increasing ease.

the main character's wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position. Early in the play she seems to be the stronger and more ruthless of the two, as she urges her husband to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins, however, she falls victim to guilt and madness to an even greater degree than her husband.

characters who plot mischief against Macbeth using charms, spells, and prophecies. Their predictions prompt him to murder Duncan, to order the deaths of Banquo and his son, and to blindly believe in his own immortality.

The brave, noble general whose children, according to the witches’ prophecy, will inherit the Scottish throne. Like Macbeth, he thinks ambitious thoughts, but he does not translate those thoughts into action.

The good King of Scotland whom Macbeth, in his ambition for the crown, murders.He is the model of a virtuous, benevolent, and farsighted ruler.

A Scottish nobleman hostile to Macbeth’s kingship from the start. He eventually becomes a leader of the crusade to unseat Macbeth. Macbeth has his entire household killed.

The son of Duncan, whose restoration to the throne signals Scotland’s return to order following Macbeth’s reign of terror.

The son and heir of Montague and Lady Montague. A young man of about sixteen, he lives in the middle of a violent feud between his family and the Capulets, but he is not at all interested in violence. His only interest is love. At the beginning of the play he is madly in love with a woman named Rosaline, but the instant he lays eyes on Juliet, he falls in love with her and forgets Rosaline.

The daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet. A beautiful thirteen-year-old girl, she begins the play as a naïve child who has thought little about love and marriage, but she grows up quickly upon falling in love with Romeo, the son of her family’s great enemy.

He secretly marries the impassioned lovers in hopes that the union might eventually bring peace to Verona.

A kinsman to the Prince, and Romeo’s close friend. He finds Romeo’s romanticized ideas about love tiresome, and tries to convince Romeo to view love as a simple matter of sexual appetite.

the woman who breast-fed Juliet when she was a baby and has cared for Juliet her entire life. A vulgar, long-winded, and sentimental character, she provides comic relief with her frequently inappropriate remarks and speeches.

A kinsman of the Prince, and the suitor of Juliet most preferred by Capulet. Once Capulet has promised him he can marry Juliet, he behaves very presumptuous toward her, acting as if they are already married.

The play’s protagonist and hero. A Christian Moor and general of the armies of Venice, He is an eloquent and physically powerful figure, respected by all those around him. In spite of his elevated status, he is nevertheless easy prey to insecurities because of his age, his life as a soldier, and his race.

A jealous suitor of Desdemona. Young, rich, and foolish, he is convinced that if he gives Iago all of his money, Iago will help him win Desdemona’s hand.

The daughter of the Venetian senator Brabanzio. She and Othello are secretly married before the play begins. She is equally capable of defending her marriage, jesting bawdily with Iago, and responding with dignity to Othello’s incomprehensible jealousy

Othello’s ensign, and the villain of the play. He is twenty-eight years old. While his ostensible reason for desiring Othello’s demise is that he has been passed over for promotion to lieutenant, his motivations are never very clearly expressed and seem to originate in an obsessive, almost aesthetic delight in manipulation and destruction.

Othello’s lieutenant. He is a young and inexperienced soldier, whose high position is much resented by Iago who uses his youth, good looks, and friendship with Desdemona to play on Othello’s insecurities about Desdemona’s fidelity.

he aging king of Britain and the protagonist of the play. He is used to enjoying absolute power and to being flattered, and he does not respond well to being contradicted or challenged. At the beginning of the play, his values are notably hollow—he prioritizes the appearance of love over actual devotion and wishes to maintain the power of a king while unburdening himself of the responsibility. Nevertheless, he inspires loyalty in subjects.

Lear’s youngest daughter, disowned by her father for refusing to flatter him. She is held in extremely high regard by all of the good characters in the play—the king of France marries her for her virtue alone, overlooking her lack of dowry. She remains loyal to Lear despite his cruelty toward her

Lear’s ruthless oldest daughter and the wife of the duke of Albany.  Shakespeare’s audience would have been particularly shocked at her aggressiveness, a quality that it would not have expected in a female character. She challenges Lear’s authority, boldly initiates an affair with Edmund, and wrests military power away from her husband.

Lear’s middle daughter and the wife of the duke of Cornwall. She is very similar to her older sister, when they are not egging each other on to further acts of cruelty, they jealously compete for the same man, Edmund.

A nobleman loyal to King Lear whose rank, earl, is below that of duke. He is an adulterer, having fathered a bastard son, Edmund. His fate is in many ways parallel to that of Lear: he misjudges which of his children to trust. He appears weak and ineffectual in the early acts, when he is unable to prevent Lear from being turned out of his own house, but he later demonstrates that he is also capable of great bravery.

Gloucester’s older, legitimate son. He plays many different roles, starting out as a gullible fool easily tricked by his brother, then assuming a disguise as a mad beggar to evade his father’s men, then carrying his impersonation further to aid Lear and Gloucester, and finally appearing as an armored champion to avenge his brother’s treason.

Gloucester’s younger, illegitimate son. He resents his status as a bastard and schemes to usurp Gloucester’s title and possessions from his brother. He is a formidable character, succeeding in almost all of his schemes and wreaking destruction upon virtually all of the other characters.

A nobleman  who is loyal to King Lear. He spends most of the play disguised as a peasant, calling himself “Caius,” so that he can continue to serve Lear even after Lear banishes him. He is extremely loyal, but he gets himself into trouble throughout the play by being extremely blunt and outspoken.

The husband of Lear’s daughter Goneril. He is good at heart, and he eventually denounces and opposes the cruelty of Goneril, Regan, etc.

A Roman general, he is given the name  after he leads the Roman armies to victory against the Volscian city of Corioles. Brave, fearsome in battle, and extremely honorable, he is also overly proud, immature, inflexible, and stubbornly aristocratic. These faults, combined with a fierce contempt for the lower classes of Rome, lead to his exile from his native city.

A Roman noblewoman and the mother of Coriolanus. She is devoted to her son and delights in his military exploits, having raised him to be a warrior; he, in turn, often allows himself to be dominated by her iron will.

A Roman nobleman, or patrician, and a friend to Coriolanus. Gifted with a clever tongue, he has a reputation as a great wit, which he uses adeptly to avoid conflict.

One of the tribunes elected by the common people, or plebeians, of Rome to serve as their representative in the government. A clever politician, he regards Coriolanus as a great danger to the class he represents and to the Roman state and works to keep him out of power.

A general of the Volscians, Rome's enemy. He is Coriolanus's great rival in warfare but is not quite the equal of the Roman general, and his inability to defeat Coriolanus rankles him.

Leonato’s niece and Hero’s cousin. She is generous and loving, but, like Benedick, continually mocks other people with elaborately tooled jokes and puns. She wages a war of wits against Benedick and often wins the battles. At the outset of the play, she appears content never to marry.

An aristocratic soldier who has recently been fighting under Don Pedro, and a friend of Don Pedro and Claudio. He carries on a “merry war” of wits with Beatrice, but at the beginning of the play he swears he will never fall in love or marry.

A young soldier who has won great acclaim fighting under Don Pedro during the recent wars. He falls in love with Hero upon his return to Messina. His unfortunately suspicious nature makes him quick to believe evil rumors and hasty to despair and take revenge.

The beautiful young daughter of Leonato and the cousin of Beatrice. She falls in love with Claudio when he falls for her, but when Don John slanders her and Claudio rashly takes revenge, she suffers terribly.

An important nobleman from Aragon, sometimes referred to as “Prince.” He is a longtime friend of Leonato, Hero’s father, and is also close to the soldiers who have been fighting under him—the younger Benedick and the very young Claudio. He is the most politically and socially powerful character in the play.

A respected, well-to-do, elderly noble at whose home, in Messina, Italy, the action is set. He is the father of Hero and the uncle of Beatrice. As governor of Messina, he is second in social power only to Don Pedro.

The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro; sometimes called “the Bastard.” He is the villain of the play; his evil actions are motivated by his envy of his brother’s social authority.

Hero’s serving woman, who unwittingly helps Borachio and Don John deceive Claudio into thinking that Hero is unfaithful. Unlike Ursula, she is lower class. Though she is honest, she does have some dealings with the villainous world of Don John: her lover is the mistrustful and easily bribed Borachio.

An associate of Don John. He is the lover of Margaret, Hero’s serving woman. He conspires with Don John to trick Claudio and Don Pedro into thinking that Hero is unfaithful to Claudio. His name means “drunkard” in Italian, which might serve as a subtle direction to the actor playing him.

One of Don John’s more intimate associates, entirely devoted to Don John. Several recent productions have staged him as Don John’s potential male lover, possibly to intensify Don John’s feelings of being a social outcast and therefore motivate his desire for revenge.

The constable in charge of the Watch, or chief policeman, of Messina. He is very sincere and takes his job seriously, but he has a habit of using exactly the wrong word to convey his meaning. He is one of the few “middling sort,” or middle-class characters, in the play, though his desire to speak formally and elaborately like the noblemen becomes an occasion for parody.