Blogging about my opinion of King Claudius in Hamlet is hard, because my opinion of him changes throughout Hamlet, which actually makes me find him a really frustrating character. Depending on how you read it or how he is portrayed he could be anything! There are no stage directions in the speech like 'acting suspiciously' (I know that would be a rubbish stage direction) so you can read it however you want and actors/directors can interpret it how they want.
For example, someone could read the line about 'with mirth in funeral and dirge in marriage' and think that he was eeeeeevil and that he doesn't care about his dead brother 'mirth in funeral', and that he doesn't care about his new wife 'dirge in marriage'. Someone could then read the same line and say 'WHAT he was only joking fool, stop taking Claudius so seriously, you know what he's like, that old joker.'
So, in short, I can't really make my mind up about Claudius yet, until something clicks and I think :O , I'm a bit undecided. I'm leaning towards the evil side, but not super evil, just determined and sort of willing to kill people to get what he wants sort of evil.
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