illustrated portrait of English playwright and poet William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Start Free Trial

Student Question

Who are some key characters in Shakespeare's plays and how do they differ from characters in other Elizabethan plays?

Quick answer:

Key characters in Shakespeare's plays include Hamlet, Ophelia, King Lear, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Othello, Desdemona, Iago, Romeo, and Juliet in tragedies, and Viola, Malvolio, Rosalind, and Touchstone in comedies. Shakespeare's characters are often more psychologically complex than those in other Elizabethan plays. For example, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice is a more nuanced version of the "evil Jew" stereotype compared to Marlowe's Barabas in The Jew of Malta.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

I'm guessing it wouldn't help you to list important characters in Shakespeare's plays as many of the tragedies state their important characters in their titles (Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Timon of Athens, Coriolanus... and so on) and many of the comedies have dramatis personae with several important characters (I'd argue, for example, that Twelfth Night has no 'lead' character: but that Viola, Malvolio, Olivia, Feste and Sir Toby all occupy central positions).

But if, as your second question suggests, you want to compare characters from Shakespeare's plays to characters from other Elizabethan works, then I can offer you some good points of comparison.

Shakespeare's Shylock (The Merchant of Venice) against Marlowe's Barabas (The Jew of Malta) - a far more worked out version of the 'evil Jew' literary stereotype that was dominant at the time.

Shakespeare's Coriolanus (Coriolanus) against Marlowe's Tamburlaine (Tamburlaine the Great) or Jonson's Sejanus (Sejanus) - Coriolanus is undoubtedly a more psychologically complex figure than either of the others.

Shakespeare's King Lear against King Cambises: a comparison which hardly bears making, but will show you how much more humanity and detail Shakespeare invested into his characters than earlier dramatists had done.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

In tragedy Shakespeare’s important characters are: 

Hamlet: Prince Hamlet, Ophelia
King Lear: King Lear, Cordelia
Macbeth: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth
Othello: Othello, Desdemona, Iago
Romeo and Juliet: Romeo, Juliet 

In comedy Shakespeare’s important characters are: 

As You Like It: Celia, Rosalind, Touchstone
Twelfth Night: Viola, Malvolio
Comedy of Errors: Antipholus of Ephesus, Antipholus of Syracuse 

The ‘Shakespeare at eNotes’ section of this website is a great resource and should be looked at for further details. A link is provided below for easy access.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial