Hamlet

Hamlet

In the first three acts of the play Hamlet, King Claudius go through a subtle, but

defined change in character. Claudius role in the play begins as the newly corrinated king

of Denmark. The former king, King Hamlet, was poisoned by his brother, Claudius,

while he was asleep. Claudius, however, made it known to everyone that the king died of

a snakebite in the garden, and thus no one knew of the murder that had just taken place

making his murder the perfect crime. The only problem that Claudius must deal with

now is his conscience.

After Claudius commits the deed of killing King Hamlet, he almost immediately

marries Hamlet's wife, Queen Gertrude. Claudius also gains a new son, his former

nephew Hamlet, the son of King Hamlet. Young Hamlet is very displeased with his

mother's hasty marriage of Claudius and is angered by this incest. Hamlet has a deep

attraction for his mother which goes beyond the traditional, mother-son relationship. At

this point in the play, Hamlet does not know that Claudius has murdered his father, but he

dislikes him anyway. Claudius is not a bad king, which is demonstrated by his handling

of the situation between Young Fortinbras and Denmark, but he is not extremely popular

with the people and has brought back the obnoxious custom of firing the cannons

whenever the king takes a drink. Claudius' conscience, here is non-existent.

After the ghost of the dead King Hamlet tells Hamlet t...

Hamlet

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