Who He Is
Claudius is the king of Denmark, brother of the dead king, married to the widow Gertrude and uncle and stepfather of Hamlet. According to the Ghost, he killed his brother with poison poured into his ear in the orchard and seduced the queen. He reigns with measured speech and the Council at his side, keeps his nephew close and watched, and confesses the crime on stage only when he is alone and tries to pray.
Trajectory
In scene 2 of Act I, he announces his marriage to Gertrude, sends envoys to Norway and lets Laertes return to France. He asks Hamlet to give up mourning and stay at Elsinore, and the queen insists.
In scene 2 of Act II, he calls Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, together with Gertrude, to probe Hamlet, and hears from Voltimand and Cornelius the news from Norway, and from Polonius the theory that the prince has gone mad for love. In scene 1 of Act III, he hides with Polonius to spy on Hamlet’s meeting with Ophelia, sees that it is not love, and decides to send him to England.
In scene 2 of Act III, at The Mousetrap, he sees his own crime reproduced: the actor pours the poison into the ear of the sleeping king. He rises, orders the lights lit and leaves. In scene 3 of Act III, alone, he confesses his brother’s murder and tries to pray, but cannot while he keeps the crown and the queen.
May one be pardon’d and retain th’offence?(III.3)
In scene 1 of Act IV, he hears from Gertrude of Polonius’s death, sees in his stepson’s freedom a threat to everyone, and decides to ship him off. In scene 3 of Act IV, he explains to the councilors that he cannot punish him by law, because the people love him, and reveals, alone, that the letters to the English king demand the prince’s death. In scene 5 of Act IV, he calms Laertes, who breaks into the castle at the head of a crowd that acclaims him king.
In scene 7 of Act IV, a letter from Hamlet arrives announcing his return, and the king leads Laertes into the plan for the duel: an unprotected sword, to which Laertes himself adds the poison for the tip, and a poisoned cup in reserve, which is Claudius’s idea. For this the king uses this argument:
That we would do, / We should do when we would; for this ‘would’ changes(IV.7)
In scene 2 of Act V, the challenge comes through Osric. Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine, Laertes is wounded by his own blade and accuses the king, and Hamlet drives the blade into him and then makes him drink the poisoned wine.
Relationships
- Hamlet: the nephew and stepson, whom he holds at Elsinore, sends to England with letters of death, and arms the duel. He is killed by him at the end.
- Gertrude: the queen, whom he married and who drinks, in the duel, the cup that was meant for Hamlet.
- Polonius: the counselor who sets up with him the meeting of Hamlet and Ophelia, and who dies behind the tapestry.
- Laertes: the furious son of Polonius, whom he calms and turns into an executioner.
- The Ghost: the murdered brother, who demands revenge.