Claudius

Also known as: King / his Majesty · Family: Danish court · Role: King of Denmark · First appears: Hamlet · Act I, Scene II

In Act I, Scene II, Claudius becomes King of Denmark, takes Gertrude as his wife and queen, and calls Hamlet both his cousin and son. He sends Cornelius and Voltemand to Norway to address Fortinbras’s military preparations, grants Laertes permission to return to France, and accepts the service of his court. “Taken to wife; nor have we herein barr’d”

When Hamlet remains in Denmark, Claudius and Gertrude summon Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to investigate his altered behavior. With Polonius, he arranges for Hamlet to encounter Ophelia while they watch unseen, and he later orders Hamlet sent to England. After Hamlet stages a play depicting his father’s poisoning, Claudius reacts violently, ends the performance, and becomes severely distressed. He then reveals that he murdered his brother to gain the crown and Gertrude, while Hamlet chooses not to kill him as he prays.

In Act IV, Scene III, Claudius again orders Hamlet taken to England, instructing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to hurry him aboard and secretly directing England to execute him. When Hamlet announces his return, Claudius joins Laertes in planning a rigged fencing match, preparing poisoned weapons and a poisoned cup as alternative means of killing him. “The King, the King’s to blame.”

At the fencing match in Act V, Scene II, Laertes’s poisoned blade wounds Hamlet, and the poisoned cup kills Gertrude after she drinks from it. Hamlet then forces the potion on Claudius and kills him.