Question

How does Claudius react to Hamlet's play?

Accepted Answer

Claudius stands up during the performance and asks for light so
that he can see well enough to leave the court performance. 
The death of Gonzago has been so very close the Claudius' alleged
murder of King Hamlet that Claudius cannot bear to watch
this.  This moment gives Hamlet reason to believe that
Claudius did in fact murder King Hamlet, and it gives Claudius good
reason to be very suspicious of what Hamlet knows and how he knows
it, so it is a critical moment in the play.  Within the next
pages of the script, Hamlet will mistakenly kill Polonius who he
thinks is Claudius, and Claudius will be making secret arrangements
with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to exile Hamlet to
England.

Answer

In act three, scene two, Hamlet has the players reenact his father's assassination during the play The Murder of Gonzago in order to unveil Claudius's innocence or guilt in the death of his father. Before the scene is performed, Hamlet instructs Horatio to carefully watch Claudius's reaction and see if the king begins to act strange or suspicious. At this point in the play, Hamlet does not fully trust his father's ghost and wants confirmation that Claudius committed regicide in order to follow through with the Ghost's bloody instructions.
During the Mousetrap scene, the players reenact King Hamlet's assassination. The actor playing the king lays down on a bed of flowers while another player pours poison into his ear. Upon witnessing the performance, King Claudius immediately rises and says,

Give me some light, away! (Shakespeare, 3.2.254).

Claudius then leaves the room and Hamlet and Horatio discuss the king's strange reaction. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern then inform Hamlet that Claudius is extremely upset and that his mother requests to have a word with him in her chamber.
Following the performance and Claudius's quick exit, Hamlet is assured that the Ghost is telling the truth about Claudius's role in his father's death. Claudius also recognizes that Hamlet is aware of his evil deed and views him as a considerable threat. Although Hamlet has proof that Claudius assassinated his father, he continues to hesitate and refrains from murdering the king in the next scene while Claudius is attempting to ask forgiveness for his sin.

Answer

Claudius is overcome during the play and leaves the room.
While the actors perform the play that mimics the death of King Hamlet, Hamlet is watching Claudius closely to see how he reacts. Horatio, too, is watching Claudius. 
The king in the play is poisoned by another in the same manner that Hamlet believes Claudius killed King Hamlet—with poison in his ear. Then the murderer woos the dead king's wife. As soon as Lucianus poisons Gonzago, Claudius stands up. Polonius orders them to stop the play and Claudius says, "Give me some light, away!" He needs light to guide his way out of the room. 
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern join Hamlet and tell him that Claudius is in a bad temper and that he's angry. They also tell Hamlet that his mother wants to speak to him. 
Claudius is upset at the play because it looks just like the murder of his brother at his own hands. He killed King Hamlet, married Gertrude, and took the throne for himself. In the next scene, Claudius prays but says he can't be forgiven because he still has all the things he committed the murder to gain.

Answer

In act III Scene 2 of William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the protagonist Hamlet devises a plan to find out if Claudius is actually guilty of murdering his father, the king of Denmark. Hamlet feels he should not take the story of the ghost for real without finding evidence for it. To do this, he directs a play similar to how the king Hamlet was murdered according to the ghost. He believes that Claudius’ reaction to the play will reveal the truth.
In Hamlet’s play, Gonzago, the Duke of Vienna is murdered by his own nephew Lucianus, who pours poison in his ear while he is sleeping. This scene approximates the alleged murder of King Hamlet by Claudius. Moreover, in the play, Baptista, the wife of the king, agrees to marry the nephew of the king who is the murderer, shortly after the king's death. Hamlet names the play "The Mouse Trap", and comments that the play will not affect anyone who has a clean soul and conscience.
But Claudius gets restless and anxious just after watching this. He stands up in the middle of the play, asks to turn on the lights, and angrily leaves.

KING: Give me some light. Away!

After Claudius says this, Hamlet’s play gets halted abruptly and everyone else, except Hamlet and Horatio, also leaves the place.
Later Guildenstern informs Hamlet that Claudius was exceedingly upset after watching the play.

GUILDENSTERN: Is in his retirement, marvellous distempered.

Claudius’ reaction adds weight to the ghost’s story and makes Hamlet believe that he is, in fact, guilty of murdering the king Hamlet.

Hamlet

How does Claudius react to Hamlet's play?

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