Hamlet (character)

Hamlet holding the skull of Yorick with the clown next to him. (PROSE: Hamlet)

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark was the titular character of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

Shakespeare was inspired by the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones to write about father-son relationships when they encountered him in 1599. (TV: The Shakespeare Code) It was Francis Bacon who gave him the idea to write about the history of Hamlet specifically. Although he initially dismissed the story as "not quite in [his] style", he warmed to it once Bacon had left his presence. (TV: The Chase)

In his first thoughts for the early scenes of Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote that Hamlet was the son of a dead king who discovered that his uncle had murdered his father and married his mother to steal the throne, "probably" driving him mad in the process. When reflecting on how he would find this information out, Shakespeare settled on a magician as such things were "common in the theatre" although this character was replaced by the ghost of Hamlet's father in the final draft. (PROSE: Notes on a Play)

Hamlet had a famous soliloquy in Act III Scene I. The earliest known copy of it was annotated with critical comments from the Fourth Doctor. (PROSE: Hamlet's Soliloquy)

Hamlet was friends with Horatio. For the first performance of Act V Scene I, Hamlet was with a gravedigger when he exhumed the skull of Yorick, whom he reflected he knew well. When a clown arrived, Hamlet asked him what his business was. He responded that he was interested in the skull, which he revealed was actually the second skull of the Fendahl which had been lost for centuries. Hamlet witnessed the gravedigger and the clown briefly struggle for control of the skull but the clown tripped over the gravedigger with his scarf into his own grave. He asked the clown "What madness is this?" and he answered "That, as they say, is the question" before departing without another word. (PROSE: Hamlet)

Hamlet died at the play's conclusion. The Sixth Doctor quoted the line "Good Night Sweet Prince" after the death of Oscar Botcherby. (TV: The Two Doctors)