Hamlet Group

Question:


jagtig

What evidence is there that anyone except Hamlet thought his mother and uncle's behavior unreasonable?

Shakespeare goes to great pains at the outset to show Claudius a positive figure. He "wins the peace." No one disputes his fitness except Hamlet. Is there something we should know? Was Hamlet Sr. a worse option for a war-weary Denmark? Did Claudius deliver Denmark from Hamlet, Sr.? Was more war inevitable as long as he lived? Where are the lines that say that Claudius was truly evil?

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Posted by jagtig on Wednesday April 22, 2009 at 8:27 AM and tagged with characters, claudius, hamlet.

Answers:

  1. mark1966
    mark1966 Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    Claudius rules by fear, yet he is afraid of the mob who turn on his palace with Laertes. he also cannot deal with Hamlet after the death of Polonius because of fear that the common people love Hamlet. Horatio supports Hamlet throughout and cannot be 'bought' like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Opheliaalso speaks out against Claudius, when she is 'mad' she offers him the flowers fennel and columbine which were symbols of flattery and foolishness. In Elizabethan England fennel was also known as a herb that wilted quickly when picked and could indicate adultry. When she hands out rue she insults the king and queen to their faces as it was a herb connected to sorrow, repentence and connected to adultry and abortion.  Claudius is also condemned by us the audience, for marrying in haste his dead brothers wife, in his dealings with Hamlet and the underhand way he wishes to have him murdered behind Gertrude's back by the king of England. He is not shown as a trustworthy character.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/hamlet

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    Posted by mark1966 on Saturday April 25, 2009 at 7:49 AM