Hamlet
Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark, and the protagonist of the story that is told in the film. His father was King Hamlet; Prince Hamlet is the heir to the Danish throne but will not become King until his step-father, whom he believes his mother married with far too much haste, has either abdicated or died. He is resentful and angry that Claudius has become King and he is also finding it difficult to process and deal with his grief over his father's death.
He finds his direction when the ghost of his father comes to him and reveals to him that he was murdered by Claudius so that he could steal the throne. He vows to avenge his father's death and proves himself both a good and strong warrior but also a combative character in general. The majority of his contact with the other characters revolves around some kind of disagreement or another. For example, his altercation with Gertrude is so heated that Polonius, who overhears it, believes that Hamlet is intending to kill her.
Despite his valor in trying to avenge his father, Hamlet is outwitted and dies as a result of poisoning.
King Claudius
Claudius is an evil man who will let nothing stand in his way when it comes to getting what he wants. In the context of the film, what he wants is the Danish throne, and he commits a murder in order to achieve this. The path to the monarchy is morally questionable even notwithstanding the murder, since he is the late King's brother, and by becoming Gertrude's husband, is marrying his sister-in-law. He is both uncle and step-father to Prince Hamlet. Although he is based on the Jutish chieftain Feng, Claudius is not traditionally a Danish name.
He is convinced that Hamlet has become demented by his grief over his father because Polonius has planted this seed of a thought in his mind; when he realizes that Hamlet knows he poisoned the King he tries to have his nephew killed.
Gertrude
Gertrude is Queen of Denmark twice over, firstly when married to King Hamlet, and the second time when married to her husband's brother Claudius, whom her son believes she has married far too quickly at an almost indecent speed. However, she is unaware that her first husband was murdered, and was not party to this at all. After her marriage to Claudius she and her son have a fractious and difficult relationship.
Polonius
Polonius is a busybody at best, and a master manipulator at worst. He is quite convinced that Hamlet has gone mad, which concerns him, he convinces King Hamlet to spy on Hamlet although his intentions for Hamlet are nowhere near as murderous as Claudius' are. Polonius is murdered by Hamlet when he is discovered eavesdropping on him, although Hamlet does not intend to kill Polonius; he thinks the eavesdropper is Claudius.
Ophelia
Another character given to madness and fits of dementia, Ophelia is a noblewoman, the daughter of Polonius. She is in love with Hamlet but is devastated when he ends their relationship at the insistence of her father and brother, which drives her completely insane. She drowns herself after her father's murder by the man she is still in love with.
Horatio
Horatio is one of the few friends that Hamlet appears to have, and the two have known each other since they were at college. He fought alongside King Hamlet in the battle of Fortinbras. He is loyal, open and completely uninvolved in the skulduggery and intrigue within the court.
Laertes
Ophelia's brother, and Polonius' son, He blames Hamlet for both of their deaths, although Hamlet only ended his relationship with Ophelia at Laertes' and Polonius' insistence. When Claudius tells him that Polonius was killed by Hamlet, he kills Hamlet by stabbing him with a poisoned sword, before poisoning himself, but as he lays dying he reveals that Claudius is at the root of all of the murders.
Fortinbras
Crown Prince Fortinbras does not appear in the film a great deal until the end of the film when he leads his army to storm Elsinore Castle, taking the throne of Denmark for himself.
