In early plays there are practically no descriptions of the characters.  Questions about certain Shakespeare characters will never be solved to the satisfaction of all performers.  For instance, how old is Hamlet in the tragedy?  How close to madness did the dramatist expect actors to portray his actions?  During Hamlet’s fencing match with Laertes in the last scene the Queen says, “He’s fat, and scant of breath.”  Was she describing his size, or meaning that he was out of fencing trim?

Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Julius Caesar a detailed description of the appearance and manner of acting of one of the chief characters of the tragedy.

    Let me have men about me that are fat;
    Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o’ nights: 
    Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
    He thinks too much:  such men are dangerous.
       * * * * *
    Would he were fatter!  But I fear him not: 
    Yet if my name were liable to fear,
    I do not know the man I should avoid
    So soon as that spare Cassius.  He reads much;
    He is a great observer, and he looks
    Quite through the deeds of men; he loves no plays,
    As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
    Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
    As if he mock’d himself and scorn’d his spirit
    That could be mov’d to smile at any thing.

In As You Like It when the two girls are planning to flee to the forest of Arden, Rosalind tells how she will disguise herself and act as a man.  This indicates to the actress both costume and behavior for the remainder of the comedy.

                         Were it not better,
    Because that I am more than common tall,
    That I did suit me all points like a man? 
    A gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh,
    A boar-spear in my hand; and—­in my heart
    Lie there what hidden woman’s fear there will—­
    We’ll have a swashing and a martial outside,
    As many other mannish cowards have
    That do outface it with their semblances.

In many cases Shakespeare clearly shows the performer exactly how to carry out his ideas of the nature of a man during part of the action.  One of the plainest instances of this kind of instruction is in Macbeth.  The ambitious thane’s wife is urging him on to murder his king.  Her advice gives the directions for the following scenes.

                              O never
    Shall sun that morrow see! 
    Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
    May read strange matters.  To beguile the time,
    Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
    Your hand, your tongue:  look like the innocent flower,
    But be the serpent under’t.  He that’s coming
    Must be provided for:  and you shall put
    This night’s great business into my dispatch;
    Which shall to all our nights and days to come
    Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.