[Literature] Close Analysis on Hamlet - Claudius' First Speech

[Special At Specialist]

This is a close analysis on "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare. It is about Claudius' first speech in Act 1 scene 2. It's a bit short because it's only 1 passage, which is only really 1/3rd of an essay. Nevertheless, please rate me out of 10 and tell me how I can improve.



The mourning of Claudius’ “dear brother’s death” is portrayed in a positive and genuine manner on behalf of the recently crowned king of Denmark. By describing Hamlet as such, Claudius is able to relate himself to a position of power, so as to reduce the fear of change after a tragic death has occurred. He also strategically utilises the words “our” and “us”, so as to acknowledge the sympathy that his audience is presenting, as well as exhibiting some himself. This reduces the tension between the grieving citizens and the secretly self-serving king.

The sorrow with which Claudius had endorsed was seemingly the “wisest” emotion that he could express. It “befitted” both the audience’s need for remorse and Claudius’ need for acceptance. The emotions that Claudius expresses are not natural, but rather conventional. If it is not appropriate for Claudius to sympathise in a certain way, then he simply chooses not to do so. This breaks the boundaries of the psychology of most human beings, since he attempts to behave in a chillingly logical way. On the other hand, the visibility of his character expresses itself as concerningly similar to the citizens.

However, this unnatural adaptation of emotions does not come free of charge. The ‘discretion fought with nature’ that Claudius describes implies a sort of private war that Claudius is fighting with himself. His attempts to cover his actions in a discrete way are waging constant war with the natural instability of his human mind. This leads to multiple fraudulent slips in his speeches, as well as unveiling his innermost guilt in a later scene when he watches a play of someone being poisoned.

Upon realising the risk of his psychological flaws, Claudius is quick to change the subject to a ‘young Fortinbras’ of Norway. Ironically, his descriptions of the prince of Norway somewhat intersect his own true identity. The ‘weak supposal’ that Claudius expects Fortinbras to think of him is actually possessed by Claudius in his judgements of the prince. The condescending and patronising adjective of the word ‘young’ is a fine demonstration of this. In a similar fashion, Claudius feels like he is being ‘pester[ed]’ by the prince of Norway, when in actual fact it is his innermost conscience that is doing the pestering.

The continuous use of ‘us’ divides the shackling guilt of his own thoughts to a small portion of blood on each of his comrade’s hands. In such a way, Claudius is not only lying to his people about the death of king Hamlet, but also lying to himself about the responsibility of the problems that he has caused.

To end the speech, Claudius mentions the ‘impotent and bed-rid’ uncle of the prince of Norway. This is strikingly similar to the position that Claudius is in. His nephew is a young and ambitious warrior and he is weak and ill from the actions which he has committed and the life which he has led.

[dilks]

It is a bit hard to mark a single passage, because passage analysis in general draws context from what the essay is about, and from the outset you don't really state what your thesis is, therefore it is impossible to say whether or not you have successfully argued it; it simply doesn't make sense for analysis to exist in a vacuum like this.