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Compare and contrast the impression we get of Claudius in his first speech (II.1)                           with his speech in Scene III, Act 3.

I will be comparing and contrasting the impression that we get of the new King Claudius. I will be doing this by looking at his first speech and the speech in Act 3, Scene III.

Claudius’s rather dramatic opening speech (II.1) appears to be relaxed, eloquent and confident, but its careful structure indicates that the speech is well rehearsed. The style of his first extended speech is open to interpretation; he can be portrayed as overly confident about his marriage, referring to Hamlet as his “cousin” and “son” and his kingship; insecure about his marriage, referring to Gertrude as “th’imperial jointress”; crafty and devious, speaking of Hamlet’s death with no real sorrow or observably fake sadness; or unsure of his role as King; he begins his first Royal speech by speaking at length on personal matters – this could be seen more as small talk than anything else. The reaction of his court can also be seen as ambiguous – his subjects are portrayed as respecting their new King, declaring “In that and all things will we show our duty,” but the characters can also be interpreted as disliking him and his moral standards, as being fearful of him, or being intrigued by the whole affair. Throughout his first speech, his façade shows little signs of cracking – he says

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“discretion” has overcome his natural grief for his “dear brother.” However, during the course of his speeches, there is much evidence of his hypocrisy. He describes old Hamlet as “valiant” and “dear”, despite the fact that Claudius himself was responsible for his death. Here we get the impression that Claudius is a good King and we assume he cares for others but this does change later in the play when his hidden identity comes out of the dark.


Claudius' soliloquy about his remorse over his murder of Hamlet's father is important to the play because it's the one place where ...

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