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Claudius And Hamlet - School Essays

Claudius And Hamlet

When at the beginning of Act I scene ii of Hamlet we find that Claudius, and not young Hamlet is king of Denmark, we are surprised.
Part of this surprise comes from our anticipation that the son of the old king should be the natural heir to the throne. Shakespeare takes advantage of this expectation by naming his prince 'Hamlet'. So when, after encountering the ghost, Horatio and the others decide to "impart what we have seen tonight/Unto young Hamlet" (I, i,185), we are expecting to meet a young king and not the elder Claudius.
Why old Hamlet did not name his son as successor is not clear, but that he could have is shown strikingly when Claudius makes "the world take note" that Hamlet ...

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Denmark to be vulnerable "by our late dear brother's death" has been demanding "the surrender of those lands/Lost by his father" (I, ii, 23-24). In a gesture of contemptuous superiority, Claudius simply declares "So much for him" (I, ii, 25). That crisis is over.
The fact is Claudius is in control. He has already acknowledged the moral awkwardness of marrying his "sometime sister" Gertrude but characterizes it as mere political expedience: she is "The imperial jointress to this warlike state"(I, ii, 8-9). He thanks his supporters who have shown their "better wisdoms, which have freely gone/With this affair along" (I, ii, 15) and illustrates, through the brief exchange with Polonius and Laertes, precisely how support of his rule can be rewarded:
What wouldst thou beg Laertes?
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
The head is not more native to the heart,
The hand more instrumental to the mouth,
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
...

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Added: 9/16/2008 07:25:38 AM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 680
Pages: 3

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