Analyze a speech in which you think Claudius uses elaborate language to distract his audience from the truth.
In the second scene of Act I, the reader learns that Claudius, the deceased king’s brother, has taken over the throne by quickly marrying Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. In order to avoid multiple scandals going public, Claudius tries to distort the public opinion by giving a very authoritative and proud speech to the court as the new King of Denmark. There is a great use of rhetoric implemented in the opening address.
Claudius succeeded King Hamlet, instead of Hamlet, the first-born. From approximately the 1100s to 1660, including Shakespeare’s era, the Danish monarch was elected by the Thing or the parliament. Usually, the crown descended in the royal family with primogeniture rules. In the play, it was made possible for Claudius to usurp the crown by obtaining votes with the support of his new wife and queen and Hamlet’s depressed state of mind and public grieving of King Hamlet (Kersley 2013). Hamlet actually refers to this process in Act V, Scene ii:
He that hath killed my king and whored my mother,
Popped in between th’ election and my hopes,
Thrown out his angle for my proper life … (Act V, Scene ii, 68-70)
When Hamlet refers to Claudius as “popped in between th’ election”, he is specifically referring to Claudius’ insertion into the power gap and being elected through the parliament. That is also because Hamlet had been absent from court, studying in Wittenberg (Kersley 2013).
An important American English literature scholar, Roland Frye, argues that there are three primary issues which would have shocked Hamlet, the people present at the Danish court, and also the real Elizabethan audience. The first concern is the marriage of brother-in-law and sister-in-law, which was regarded as incest and treated in intense moral revulsion in Elizabethan times. Second, the speedy remarriage of a widow would have been regarded as improper. Before a widow could remarry, several months of mourning would have to pass. The widow in consideration is the Queen herself; therefore it is even a bigger indecency. The third problem, which would be discovered later by Hamlet speaking with the Ghost, is the union between a widow and the assassin of her dead husband, and once again, worsened by the fact that the assassinated had been king and the widow a queen. Relating to the Shakespearean audience and context, deaths in the Renaissance were not easily forgotten. Certain social death rituals did not last for days or weeks, but for months, if not years (Frye 77).
The whole speech can be considered graceful, fluent and already planned out. This is Claudius’ first function as king. Therefore it is important for him to show a good first impression, and that he has the proper legitimacy and credentials to be considered king. Throughout the address, there is much antithesis and usage of words that distract the audience from the truth. Claudius first addresses the domestic situations. His brother’s death should be grieved together by the whole nation:
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe (Act I, scene ii, 2-4)
Claudius within these lines is trying to portray a feeling of unity that the kingdom should have and emphasize a collective sense of grief. There are more important matters to worry about, such as the Norwegians. This portion of the speech would denote to the listeners that Claudius is so saddened by his brother’s death, and that all of them should remain together, under Claudius, to render respect to King Hamlet. It would be better to grieve for him with the “wisest sorrow, together in remembrance of ourselves” (Act V, scene ii, 6-7), quickly setting the late King aside.
King Claudius then touches on the new gossip: the fact that he quickly married the queen. He confronts the issue openly, as if there would be nothing wrong or suspicious about the matter. He justifies the marriage in several ways. It is not simply his personal choice for marrying Gertrude, but it is a matter of state. He mentions “The imperial jointress to this warlike state” (Act I, Scene ii, 8-9), Gertrude would be his equal partner and helpful to solve the war with Prince Fortinbras which is closing in on Denmark with his army.
There is a grand ambivalence between celebrating the marriage, and mourning:
Have we, as ’twere with a defeated joy,–
With an auspicious and a dropping eye,
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,–
Taken to wife: (Act I, scene ii, 10-16)
Claudius justifies the controversial union by making it seem like a benefit to the kingdom. There is a series of oxymoronic phrases which make him look wiser and in control of the situation. The audience that is mourning for the old king will hear words as defeated, funeral and dirge. Instead, the folks that are celebrating Claudius’ wedding will want to listen to joy, mirth and marriage. There is a balance between the mourning of his brother and the marriage to his sister in law (Frye 80).
The first phrase, “twere with a defeated joy” (Act I, scene ii, 10), suggests that there is a celebration that has been defeated or killed. The two words cancel each other side by side. The second phrase “with mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, in equal scale weighing delight and dole” (Act I, scene ii, 13-14) shows that Claudius is rejoicing for his new marriage and that he is the new King of Denmark, but at the same time Claudius is mourning for his brother’s death, King Hamlet. He has sadness in one eye and happiness in the other. His audience is seeing what they prefer to see, either happiness or sadness.
To conclude the domestic aspect of his speech, Claudius thanks the nobles:
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along. For all, our thanks. (Act I, scene ii, 14-15)
The new king tries to present himself as the legitimate ruler, not as the usurper. He thanks all of the nobles who have helped him ascend to the throne: the ones that elected him and also those who have not interfered when he married his sister-in-law.
Claudius then addresses an important matter that is worrying members of the court. He uses this technique to steer away attention from himself and direct it towards foreign issues. Young Fortinbras is waging war to regain the lost lands by the Norwegians to King Hamlet. The young Norwegian prince is constantly sending threats demanding the lands back. Claudius speaks with a position of authority. At all times, he is calm and has the situation under control. With his intelligent maneuvering schemes, he explains that he will negotiate with Fortinbras’ uncle, the sickly and elderly King of Norway, which is not aware of young Fortinbras’ intentions. And therefore solve the situation without having to shed blood.
Claudius with his inaugural address can be considered to be authoritative, compassionate and great at maneuvering schemes. The speech is highly successful at distorting the truth about the incest and power scandals from the crowd. His rise to power has been careful studied and executed. This imposing speech makes it seem like he would have been the only way to keep the Kingdom of Denmark from civil unrest.
Works Cited:
-The undersigned followed the instructor’s advice by checking a book as a source from Preston Library:
Frye, Roland Mushat. The Renaissance Hamlet: Issues and Responses in 1600. Princeton, N.J. Princeton UP. 1984. Print.
-This newspaper article was utilized in order to better understand Royal Danish succession:
Matt, Kersley. Why Didn’t Hamlet Become King?. The Guardian. 22 May 2013.
-Reviewed what figures of speech are such as the antithesis and oxymoron from an online dictionary:
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-oxymorons.html
-Reviewed certain Act I, scene ii passages for better understanding of the play:
Harding, Stephen. Hamlet Act 1, Scene 2. Genius.com. 2014.
http://genius.com/William-shakespeare-hamlet-act-1-scene-2-annotated/