Guiltiness

King Claudius

A famous aphorism in Korea : A thief feels guilty throughout his life. Bam! Yes, I am trying to relate this to Claudius. Just from watching a murder scene, he pops up from his throne and stops the play out of his own guiltness. Therefore, I want to give a huge credit to Hamlet for his intelligence - the King's reaction converted Hamlet's assumption to assurance. Anyhow, in this post I want to focus on the King's emotional state.

Here's a fact - he killed his own brother. Not only that, he "stole" his brother's wife. Still unsatisfied, he goes on to create a plan to get rid of Hamlet. Claudius recites, "King: I like him not, nor stands if safe with us, to let his madness range/ Therefore prepare you/ I your commision will forthwith dispatch/ and he to England shall along with you. The terms of our estate may not endure/ hazard so near's as doth/ hourly grow out of his brows." (III, iii, 1-7) Can you see his diabolic conscience? Not only he is not afraid of directly stating his hatred upon Hamlet, but he even orders his followers to kill him at the very moment he reaches England. Having ordered that, Claudius tells Hamlet he is going to be sent to England for education. From these facts, I think Claudius is either stupid, or very brave. He knows that Hamlet doesn't like him much - so if I were him (not that I would kill my brother to take over throne) I would try my best to buy Hamlet's love as much as possible. For instance, instead of sending him to England, I would hire a doctor to check if he was faking madness; if yes, I would try to cure his madness so he doesn't have to worry about getting a dagger stabbed in the back of his neck. As far as stupidness, I would say his actions prove his intelligence level. On the other hand, if we approach him from braveness, he might think Hamlet is not much of a threat to his reign, therefore he might have thought sending him away will remove small potential risk. Whatever the reason behind the cause is, Claudius is diabolic, and personally I think Hamlet should have killed him when he had a chance, despite the fact Claudius was praying.