The Shakespeare characters that stuck

Lately I've been reading Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, in which Judi Dench reminisces about her very long and successful history performing Shakespeare plays on the professional stage. I've really enjoyed reading about her experiences, and it's got me thinking about the characters that have resonated with me, whether I've played them myself or not. One of my favourite things about Shakespeare's work is how fantastically compelling his characters are; they feel so real and so understandable, despite being made only of 400-year-old lines of dialogue. Perhaps my own acting background has made me more skilled at forming that fullness of these characters' humanity, but I am certainly far from alone in appreciating the richness with which the Bard imbued the personas he created.

Over the two decades (approximately) that I've spent getting to know Shakespeare's plays, I've amassed a growing collection of favourite characters from various plays. Today, I'd like to introduce you to a few of them.