Claudius! How does he do it?
...n. /It hath the primal eldest curse upon't/A brother's murder" (Shakespeare III336-38). Another love, which Claudius fakes, is the love he has towards his nephew and stepson, Hamlet. In his first speech to his court Claudius tells Hamlet not to leave for school but to remain in Denmark; "It is most retrograde to our desire/And we do beseech you, bend you to remain/Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye" (Shakespeare I2114-117). However, later in the play Claudius develops a plan to send Hamlet away from Denmark with the aid of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; "And he [Hamlet] to England shall along with you [R & G]" (Shakespeare III34). Claudius also refers to himself as "Thy loving father, Hamlet" (Shakespeare IV350) but when Hamlet is out of the room a few moments later Claudius has a complete change of face in which he reveals his plan to have Hamlet executed; "Our sovereign process, which imports at full/By letters congruing to that effect/The present death of Hamlet" (Shakespeare IV363-65). Even the love Claudius showed for Gertrude can be questioned in its validity. Claudius, near the beginning of the play, appears to be happy about his marriage to Gertrude and in the later scene of Claudius' soliloquy, he lists Gertrude as one of the reasons he murdered his own brother. We can assume by this that Claudius did appear to love Gertrude, but we cannot say for certain. During the final scene of Laertes and Hamlet's fight Claudius poisons Hamlet's drink, but does nothing to prevent Gertrude from accidentally drinking the poison save his saying "Gertrude, do not drink" (Shakespeare V2280). Another character source of information relating to the appearance versus reality theme would be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Both appear to be Hamlet's friends; "My honour'd lord! / My most dear lord!" (Shakespeare II2223-224) but in reality both are just workers for Claudius who attempt to assist in the murder of Hamlet. Hamlet realizes this and voices his distrust of the duo, "my two schoolfellows/Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd" (Shakespeare IV1202-203). One other character which allows us to take a good look at appearances versus reality is Hamlet. The most famous example of this theme would be Hamlet's "antic disposition" (Shakespeare I5171) which we learn later in the play is in fact, just a act "I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind/is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw" (Shakespeare II2377-378). Hamlet is a very convincing actor for even his own mother, "Alas, he's mad" (Shakespeare III4105), and father, "nor stands it safe with us/To let his madness range" (Shakespeare III31-2), think that he is mad. There is also Hamlet's use of the play to determine th...