Instead, Gertrude’s love for Claudius creates a thrilling twist to the closet scene in which he is revealed as a murderer. The final Act, in which she is clearly aware that the wine is poisoned, sees her sacrifice herself to save Hamlet.

Gertrude also tell Hamlet to “stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.” She and Claudius do not want Hamlet to return to Wittenberg, his school in Germany. Instead they want him to be happy with their new changes and their family and stay with them as the create a new life.

She is not sympathetic to his grief, and wants him not to show the signs of mourning. He tells him it is weak and unmanly to wallow in this grief. He tells Hamlet to think of him as being a new father to him. Like Gertrude, Claudius seems to be very uncomfortable with the grief Hamlet displays.

Queen Gertrude, who is Hamlet’s mother, speculates that the cause of this disturbance may be that he is in love with Ophelia, daughter of Polonius. This would be a very unequal match for a Prince of Denmark. The Queen then enlists Ophelia’s aid in helping discern Hamlet’s mental state.

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the general scholarly consensus is no, the Queen does not know that Claudius killed Hamlet’s father until Hamlet tells her. Since Hamlet stops accusing his mother of the murder at this point, it seems he’s satisfied that she’s innocent based on the surprise she shows at having been accused.

As for Gertrude, she gets to stay queen, which has to be better (certainly to someone as shallow as Gertrude) than just becoming an ordinary noblewoman. There is other conjecture that Claudius and Gertrude have been a thing for a long time and that’s why they get married so quickly after King Hamlet’s death.

Claudius can also be sensitive and gentle. He is genuinely sorry for Polonius’ death, and he truly loves Gertrude. He also sincerely likes Ophelia, and treats her with the kindness that she should receive from her great love, Hamlet.

Gertrude and Claudius marry each other while Hamlet is still grieving the death of his father. Even though he does not know the new king is the murderer, Hamlet is explicitly against the marriage for some reason, and he keeps accusing his mother of lust until she regrets her decision.

In Act 3 Scene 4, Hamlet accuses Gertrude of lust for marrying Claudius only few months after King Hamlet’s death – he believes that Gertrude married Claudius for he own desire.

He knows that he cannot be forgiven because he is “still possessed / Of those effects for which [he] did the murder” (3.3. 57-58). In other words, Claudius killed his brother, the old king Hamlet, because his ambition tempted him to take his brother’s crown as well as his brother’s wife.

To heaven. Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge. With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; And how his audit stands who knows save heaven.

Claudius knows he can’t expect forgiveness for killing Hamlet’s father because he is not sorry he did it. He is glad he did it. He loves being king and he loves being married to Gertrude. When Hamlet comes across Claudius seemingly at prayer, Hamlet believes his step-father really is praying and repenting of his sins.

Answer: Because he is not willing to let go of his riches, his title and his queen.

Hamlet does not kill Claudius when he assumes that he is praying because he doesn’t want Claudius to have the luxury of going to heaven while his father, unjustly murdered, suffers in hell. He doesn’t want to do Claudius the “favor” of sending him to heaven.

Why does Claudius think he cannot be forgiven for the murder of his brother? Hamlet observes Claudius in the praying position, which causes him to think twice about killing him. If he kills Claudius while in prayer, that means Claudius was able to repent for his sins and will be sent to Heaven.

Elsewhere in the castle, King Claudius speaks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Badly shaken by the play and now considering Hamlet’s madness to be dangerous, Claudius asks the pair to escort Hamlet on a voyage to England and to depart immediately.

What is the effect of Claudius’ soliloquy? In his soliloquy he talks about the guilt he feels, he doesnt want to ask for forgiveness. It is ironic because Hamlet thought that he could not kill him because he would be sent to heaven but Claudius says that his prayer didnt work.

His ambition drove him to kill his brother so that he could take both the crown and his brother’s wife, and now he feels that he cannot sincerely repent because he wants to keep those things that he gained. He wants to repent but he cannot (3.3. 71, 72). Claudius then tries to pray and finds that he cannot truly do so.

Claudius kills his brother mainly because of jealousy, the crown, the queen and a hatred of his brother. Therefore Claudius is guilty of the murder of his brother. Claudius feels guilty about killing his brother. We can see Claudius;s remorse when he is talking to God and gives his monologue about his his murder.

Hamlet, in a fury, runs Claudius through with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink down the rest of the poisoned wine. Claudius dies crying out for help. He says that he wishes Fortinbras to be made King of Denmark; then he dies.

Why does Ophelia come to see her father in the middle of ACT II, SCENE 1? Ophelia and Polonius take this to mean that Hamlet is insane, gone mad because she rejected her love. You just studied 8 terms!

Hamlet. In a sense, Hamlet is both guilty and not guilty when it comes to the murders of Claudius and Polonius. In a literal sense, technically he did kill both of these men although the word guilty can mean several things.

They will prepare themselves with fear and prayer. Hamlet thinks that if he kills the King while he is praying the king will go to heaven. This tells us that Hamlet is thinking about the consequences he will have if he kills the king while he is praying. When Claudius commits a sin then Hamlet will kill him.

Claudius killed Hamlet for his crown (that is, to become King of Denmark), to serve his own ambitious nature, and in order to marry Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark.

It is likely that Hamlet really was in love with Ophelia. Readers know Hamlet wrote love letters to Ophelia because she shows them to Polonius. In addition, Hamlet tells Ophelia, “I did love you once” (3.1. 117).

Hamlet shows throughout the play that he is really in love with Ophelia. One piece of evidence showing that Hamlet really did love Ophelia is when he tells her, “I did love you” (Act 3 scene 1 line 126). Hamlet confesses that he truly loved her, but then goes back on his word and says he never loved.