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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help
As LunarCaustic has properly noted, Hamlet does condemn Claudius in the play's final scene for having "popp'd in between th'election and my hopes." This certainly suggests that Hamlet felt he had a shot at the the throne, and was somehow robbed of his chance. One other interesting point: in the graveyard scene Hamlet interrupts Laertes' mourning with the cry: "This is I, Hamlet the Dane." The appellation "the Dane" has a very specific meaning; it means "the King of Denmark." (See Claudius' reference to himself as "the Dane" in I.ii and cf. the references to the King of Poland as "the Polack" in II.ii). Why Hamlet chooses that particular moment to proclaim himself the (rightful) King of Denmark has been a mystery to most people--as has the rest of Hamlet's behavior in that portion of the scene.Posted by Charles Weinstein on April 02, 1997 at 14:41:32
In Reply to "Rightful King" posted by Lillith on March 29, 1997 at 07:32:40
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