King Claudius Rhetorical Analysis

Claudius uses skillful rhetoric to frame his wedding in the most politically efficacious method he can. The primary tactic Claudius employs is drawing attention away from sympathy for the fallen King, and toward the future stability of the state of Denmark. In doing so, he may displace some of the scrutiny placed on him in the aftermath of his brother’s death and Claudius's prompt marriage to his brother’s wife.
Claudius opens with a concession “Our dear brother’s death/the memory be green, and that it us befitted/To bear our hearts in grief”, indicating to his audience that he empathized with their feelings of pain. However, two lines later, Claudius declares “discretion fought with nature/That we with wisest sorrow think on him/Together with remembrance of ourselves.” Here Claudius introduces the idea that spending time grieving, “nature”, is at odds with practicality, “discretion”, and that for the citizen to become too absorbed in mourning would be to neglect their own well being.
Claudius acknowledges the apparent paradox of the royal marriage so soon after the King's death "With an auspicious and a dropping eye/With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage/In equal scale weighing delight and dole". The juxtapositions of “delight and dole”, “dirge in marriage”, and “an auspicious and a dropping eye” once again frame Claudius as

sympathetic to the grief of the kingdom, but ultimately pragmatic, as he is able to balance the tragedy of his brother’s death with the importance of maintaining the state of Denmark.
Claudius expands on the importance of the marriage by reminding his citizens of the threat posed by an attack from Norway. The danger comes in the form of the son of the late previous king, Fortinbras, who now holds “a weak supposal of our worth” and believes “Our state to be disjoint and out of frame”. Claudius explains that these are the result of Hamlet’s death, and that without confident leadership, Denmark will appear too weak to fend off an attack. This ties directly to his earlier supposal that grief was inopportune, because it creates an imminent threat, one that could be exacerbated by a kingdom in perpetual grief.
Hamlet’s death is a necessary component of Claudius’s plan to become king, but his prompt marriage to his brother’s wife appears strange.

Claudius is able to divert attention from the circumstances surrounding the marriage by asserting that Denmark is in mortal peril, and that a new king is needed to restore security. He is able to do this effectively by appealing to his audience that while grief is understandable, it is not rational, and it does not assist with any present affairs of the kingdom. In doing so, Claudius appears to be in tune to the grief, but able to hold himself sufficiently distant to make wise

decisions.