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Plays › The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark › Player Queen

Player Queen

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark · 5 speeches across 1 scenes

An actor performing in the play-within-the-play. Her character's extreme vow of fidelity mirrors and critiques Gertrude's remarriage, serving as Hamlet's psychological trap for Claudius.

Who they are

The Player Queen appears only in the 'Mousetrap' scene. She portrays a queen who passionately swears never to remarry if her king-husband dies, a direct parallel to Gertrude's swift marriage to Claudius. Her performance is a crucial piece of Hamlet's staged evidence, designed to provoke Claudius's guilt and confirm the Ghost's story. Her dramatic function is entirely metatheatrical, existing to reflect and comment on the primary plot.

Playing them

Play her with heightened, formalized emotion appropriate for a staged declamation. The vocal delivery should be clear, projected, and slightly melodramatic to contrast with the naturalistic tension of the court observers. The performance must balance sincerity within the play-within-the-play and its function as a deliberate, piercing mirror to Gertrude.

Appearance

As a performer in a traveling troupe, her costume would be theatrical and distinct from the court's dress, perhaps simpler or more emblematic. Her physical presence is focused on the Player King, with gestures that underscore her vows.

Where they appear

Play Player Queen

Take the part and Yorick reads every other role aloud, following you line by line as you speak.

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Shakespeare the way it was meant to be had — out loud

These plays were written to be performed, not silently read. Yorick is a rehearsal app that lets you perform them: you take a part in any of Shakespeare’s 38 plays, and Yorick reads every other role aloud, listens while you speak your lines, keeps your place, and prompts you the moment you dry.

It is built for the person who has to be off book by tech week — school and college productions, community theatre, festivals, drama students and classical auditions — and for anyone who wants to hear a scene rather than skim it. Alongside the performance you get a plain-English translation of every speech, scene context, performance notes, and the ability to ask about any line and get an answer that already knows the play, the scene and who is speaking.

The text is the public-domain Cambridge/Globe edition. Translations and notes are AI-generated rehearsal aids for actors and students, not a scholarly apparatus. Yorick runs in a browser with nothing to install, and on iPhone and Android.