Sly Whispers
...f a great funeral, but quickly turns mourning into celebration and moves on “With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage” to whatever lies ahead. He is a decisive man, fair in his politics and commanding in his bedroom. Claudius deceives everyone in different ways and at different times, always and only to protect himself from everyone else finding out that he killed the king. From the start, his very words are like a drug, aimed at deflecting Hamlet away from his grief. In a wider sense, the state itself is poisoned by Claudius. He uses Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as his tools; he employs spies and underhand methods. He tries to make Hamlet disappear by sending him to England in the company of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern rather than by any process of law or a direct challenge. Claudius uses Laertes' hate for Hamlet to his advantage. Claudius says, "And you must put me in your heart for friend,/ Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,/ That he which hath your noble father slain/ Pursued my life."4.7.2-5. He is suggesting to Laertes that they should allie themselves against Hamlet. Claudius thinks of a plan to kill Hamlet in a way that will leave them both appearing innocent. Claudius wants Laertes to duel Hamlet with a sharp pointed sword, and not with a sword that is tipped for safety during dueling. He states to Laertes "A sword unbated, and, in a pass of practice/ Requite him for your father." 4.7.139-140. Laertes agrees, but he will also put poison on the tip of the sword so that the smallest scratch will cause Hamlet to die, "I will do't/ And for that purpose I'll anoint my sword/ I bought an unction of a mountebank/ So mortal that, but a dip a knife in it,/ Where it drowns blood no cataplasm so rare,/ Collected from all simples that have virtue/ Under the moon, can save the thing from death that is but scratched withal."4.7.141-147. Gertrude chooses to marry Claudius, and she defends him even to her son. In actuality, she never opposes Claudius in anything. If he were dark and sinister in all things, she would fear and despise him. Rather, she follows him willingly even when he plans to send her beloved son into the jaws of death. Claudius seems to be sincere in his love for her. But it also seems that he married her as a strategic move, to help him win the thrown. Wher...