Hamlet BrE AmE
the main character in the play Hamlet by William ↑ Shakespeare , which is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark, and is a serious, unhappy young man who is unable to decide how he feels or what he should do. There are many famous phrases from this play, including ‘To be or not to be, that is the question’ and ‘Alas, poor Yorick’, and in pictures Hamlet is often shown holding ↑ Yorick 's ↑ skull (=the head of a dead person without any flesh on it) . ⇨ ↑ Ophelia