Claudius's reaction

[jinwooprk]

In act 4 scene 5 when Ophilia comes up to the King Claudius and sings her songs which signifies that she has gone truely mad, I was interested in Claudius's reaction. Claudius truely feels sorry for her father's death and he really pities on her. However, Claudius's reaction to Hamlet, when he lost his father seems somewhat differerent even though King Hamlet was Claudius's brother.

SO overall, It was interesting to see Claudius's reaction to Ophilia contrasts with his reaction to Hamlet when they both lost their fathers.

Don't you guys think that it's another evidence that Claudius killed King Hamlet? or any other suggestions?

[sujeonggg]

I don't think the king truly pitied on Ophelia. It kinda seemed to me that those words he spoke to her were not really true. Rather, it seemed to me like he was just blurring them out without any special meanings toward her. And right after this scene, he met Laertes, appealed his innocence and tried to manipulate Laertes to kill Hamlet. So I think all of King's actions toward Laertes-Polonius-Ophelia affairs are false.

[juliekim]

That's true. Because when Hamlet was mourning his father's death, Claudius was acting all happy and trying to convince him to get over with it. He might have done so because he thought mourning was a "womanly" thing to do. Maybe that's why he was more sympathetic towards Ophelia than Hamlet. But it's more likely that he reacted differently because he was responsible for Hamlet's father's death.

[sarahlee2]

That is true that his actions were different towards Ophelia and Hamlet. But I think if you look at it more, Claudius didn't really mean the words that he said to Ophelia. I think as a king, he had to give some kind of condolences to the death of his royal advisor. It makes sense though that he would act differently towards Hamlet because Claudius provably felt at least some guilt when he was comforting Hamlet.

[seongrae]

I agree that Claudius’ reaction to Ophelia and Hamlet was different when they both lost their fathers. Claudius’ reaction for Hamlet’s depression and sadness was to encourage him and get over with it like a man and told him to treat him as father. This reaction was for a son and really hoped Hamlet to overcome his sadness. However, as King Claudius think that Polonius died because of his son Hamlet and as Ophelia is a women, Claudius’ reaction is different that he truly feels sorry for her.

[hannahs]

It's different because Claudius actually liked Polonius and was sad that Polonius died. He didn't gain anything from Polonius's death. However, Claudius gained so much from Hamlet's father's death. He got to become King and he also got the queen. So I think it's natural that he'd have a different reaction.

[davidh]

Well It depends on people's opinion. I think I agree with you but on the other hand, he might have feel something else like not liking the story.... that might be odd fact. Since I agree with you, I guess he did feel sorry or... maybe mad because it portrayed his story.

[jessicak016]

During this scene, Claudius had other trouble to deal with besides Ophelia, who has gone crazy and mad. After he found out that Hamlet did not hesitate to kill Polonius, Claudius went into panic and tried to make a plan to get rid of Hamlet and bring order to the palace. And mad Ophelia added to his trouble. So that might be the reason why Claudius wanted to deal with her carefully as possible, so that nothing would go wrong with her either.

[ginayang]

I never thought about that but now that you point it out, Claudius did behave differently towards Hamlet and Ophelia. King Hamlet's death was a celebration for Claudius because he got rid of his biggest competition and he wanted others including Hamlet to acknowledge him. Thus, Claudius telling Hamlet to stop grieving shows how much he hated King Hamlet and how he wanted to replace him. On the other hand, Polonius died because Hamlet thought it was Claudius spying. So Claudius feels responsible for the death of an innocent and loyal servant. Therefore, he treated Ophelia nicely after her father's death.

[michellelee]

I agree with you that Claudius had different reactions towards the death of the two people. Claudius actually seemed happy with his death since he gained the king's position. On the other hand, he expressed a bit of sympathy towards Ophelia.

[hanbikang]

It was different because ofcourse Claudius has a little bit of guilty because he is the one who really was happy about old hamlet being away. For him hamlet was different than ophilia.

[jinseong]

The reactions had to be different because Claudius became a king by killing his brother. and Claudius did it in order to benefit himself. He could not have been truly sad for King Hamlet's death. However, like in polonius's death, Claudius might have been acutally sad since he liked poloinus and it's a death that the was not involved in.

[jessicashim2013]

Yeah the reactions were different. I think he pitied more for Polonius's deatyh because he knew that Hamlet was trying to kill him but accidently killed Polonius instead. So he can think that Polonius died for him. On the other hand, Claudius killed old Hamlet so he wanted Hamlet to forget about it as soon as possible and accept him as his new father.

[junaen0416]

You are right, Claudius reaction to Ophelia is way too different than he was towards Hamlet. He was so sympathetic and all sorry to Ophelia when she lost her father because he lost his most trusted man and mainly because it was Hamlet who committed the murder and he had to find a way out of his misery ( the truth about King Hamlet's murder) by blaming Hamlet of his madness.

[joannekim]

I think King Claudius's reactions were different because he was dealing with a woman and a man. Crying and mourning for a father's death for long time was considered womanly and weak. When Claudius told Hamlet to stop mourning, it was part of culture at that time. It is not a hard evidence that the king killed Hamlet's father. Of course, the king might have said it because he felt nervous and wanted Hamlet to forget about his father. Meanwhile, the king pitied Ophelia and let her mourn because she was a girl.