Maci Lechtaler

Mrs. Jewell

ERWC 12

18 March, 2022

A Look Into the Family Battle

Imagine your uncle marrying your mom, with this there is one question that comes to my

mind. Do you call him your uncle or step dad. Claudius late King Hamlet's brother and now has

became king by marrying the queen, taking away the heir young Hamlet's turn. This event

brought all kinds of trouble to the surface between Claudius who is the antagonist and the

protagonist, young Hamlet. Claudius has now been labeled as a crazy, inconsiderate,

untrustworthy king in the prince's eyes, but that may not be the case with the rest of the citizens.

Shakespeare has now left us wondering what Claudius’s true intentions are.

Though Claudius may be seen as a compassionate, grieving, and sympathetic king in

most people's eyes:

Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death

The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our heart in grief, and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
That we with widest sorrow think on him. (I.II.1-6)

While giving a speech to the citizens of Denmark Claudius expresses his sorrow to them after

King Hamlet, his brother died and recently married his sister in law. He describes to the people

that even though this is a sad time for them they are all in this together and will get through it.

We believe that Claudius is doing this to ultimately gain everyone’s trust. As well as to build a

relationship as king with them. In addition, the new king then goes on in his speech stating,

“Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, /Th’ imperial jointress to this warlike state,
/Have we as ‘twere with a defeated joy” (8-10). After expressing to everyone that they are all sad

and it is okay for them to be, he ultimately stresses that the queen who just got remarried is

carrying the biggest emotional burden. Do Hamlet's feelings not matter? It's his father who has

just died, and his mom is already married again. By stating this he essentially is saying that

everyone else’s feelings really don’t matter, but they don’t perceive the meaning in that way.

To continue, Hamlet does not see or look at Claudius in the same loving way everyone

else does. There is a reason for his hostile feelings of untrust towards the king:

Of impious stubbornness. ‘Tis unmanly grief.

It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
A heart unfortified, <a> mind impatient
An understanding simple and unschooled. (98-101)

What happened to caring and compassionate Claudius. We just thought that he was

compassionate for others and now he says this to the prince. How can someone patronize another

individual about the way they are grieving over the death of their father. Claudius is being the

complete opposite of compassionate. He is now providing a glimpse of his true self. While

Hamlet is grieving the death of his father he is being criticized by the king.

Furthermore, we are now in the midst of wondering what Claudius’s motives are as king

of Denmark. There are two main possibilities, first being that he is truly for the good of the

kingdom. Second, being bad, narcissistic ulterior motives, which is what I believe, “And we

beseech you, bend you to remain /Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye” (119-120). Why

would Claudius want Hamlet, the one who was supposed to become the king when King Hamlet

died, to stay in the kingdom? While Claudius tells Hamlet to do one thing, like to grow up and

get over his fathers death a second later, he wants him to stay home so he can be comforted. I

personally would expect the opposite, therefore, this implies that there is something else going

on that is unknown to everyone except King Claudius and possibly the queen.
 In conclusion, even though the antagonist has made himself seem to be a caring,

empathetic, and trustworthy leader. We as the audience have had the chance to understand that he

is actually the complete opposite, being crazy, untrustworthy, and a manipulative human being

and king. After taking the time to analyze this drama's acts 1 and 2 we have an even better

understanding of the conflict that has arisen and potentially what will come from it while Young

Hamlet travels through his family's inner battle.

 Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012.

Notes-
Commentary: restating other people's ideas into your own words, is not your ideas(not original
thought), “gist” of a passage/story

Where it belongs: as a paraphrase(evidence), background info in introduction, lead in before

evidence(context)

Commentary: elaborates on evidence, explains significance of evidence, analyzes characters

actions/emotions, reveals the relationship between evidence and subclaim and the claim,
provides “opinion” language, analyzes events and the effect on other areas of the plot, elaborate
on character motivation, talks about what evidence means instead of what happened in it
BELONGS: AS INSIGHT AND INFERENCE, AFTER THE EVIDENCE,
THESIS/CLAIM=SUB-CLAIMS, CONCLUSION

Formula:
Body
~sub-argument/reason
~lead-in
~”evidence”
~commentary=recites
~connection to sub-arguments
Explains how it ties to main claim
(ties to next piece of evidence)