Hamlet

This depends on where in the play you are referring to. In the beginning of the play, a good word to describe Hamlet at this point is melancholy. Nobody does melancholy better than Hamlet. The new king, Claudius, is really good at working a crowd. He tries to look sad about his brother's untimely death but hamlet thinks Claudius and his mother are not sincere: he thinks all tears and sadness are "actions that a man might play." When uncle Claudius call's Hamlet his son, Hamlet respond that he may be related but he is nothing like Claudius, "a little more than kin but less than kind."