"Ellen Schoeters is a member of Actorama + where actors can upload a monologue or scene performance for peer review. What do you think of Ellen Schoeters's performance?"
(0 votes)
| Character | King Claudius | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Adult (36-50), Senior (>50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Persuasive | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Renaissance | |
| Genre | Tragedy | |
| Description | King Claudius addresses Hamlet about the mourning of his father | |
| Location | ACT I, Scene 2 | |
Summary
The play is set in Denmark at the Castle Elsinore. The King Hamlet has just died and his brother, Claudius, has replaced him and also married his dead brother's wife, Gertrude. In the second scene of ACT I, Claudius addresses the court on his recent marriage to Gertrude, on political matters and also gives his blessings to Laertes, the son of the Lord Chamberlain Polonius, who is about to leave for France.
He then turns to Hamlet, who is still mourning his father and doesn't seem to get over it. Even if is natural to mourn his father's death, he exhorts him to get over it. To persevere in his mourning, he argues, is "unmanly" and shows that he has no character. The king also says Hamlet is the next in line for the throne and urges him not to go back to school in Wittenberg but to remain with them.
He then turns to Hamlet, who is still mourning his father and doesn't seem to get over it. Even if is natural to mourn his father's death, he exhorts him to get over it. To persevere in his mourning, he argues, is "unmanly" and shows that he has no character. The king also says Hamlet is the next in line for the throne and urges him not to go back to school in Wittenberg but to remain with them.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
|---|
| KING CLAUDIUS 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your father: But, you must know, your father lost a father; That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound In filial obligation for some term To do obsequious sorrow: but to persever In obstinate condolement is a course Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief; It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, An understanding simple and unschool'd: For what we know must be and is as common As any the most vulgar thing to sense, Why should we in our peevish opposition Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven, A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, To reason most absurd: whose common theme Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, From the first corse till he that died to-day, 'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth This unprevailing woe, and think of us As of a father: for let the world take note, You are the most immediate to our throne; And with no less nobility of love Than that which dearest father bears his son, Do I impart toward you. For your intent In going back to school in Wittenberg, It is most retrograde to our desire: And we beseech you, bend you to remain Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye, Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. |
