CLAUDIUS
Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake
To show yourself indeed your father's son
More than in words?
LAERTES
To cut his throat i' th' church.
KING
No place indeed should murder sanctuarize;
Revenge should have no bounds.
(4.7.141-146)
Now here's a revenge hero the groundlings can get behind: revenge is a higher ideal even than church—or so Claudius tells Laertes. But, come on, would you trust the guy?
Quote 5
KING CLAUDIUS
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
(1.2.1-7)
King Claudius begins by acknowledging Old King Hamlet's death and says it "befitted" the "whole kingdom" to mourn Old Hamlet's loss (emphasis on the past tense.) But, he also asserts that it is "wise" for the "whole kingdom" to move on quickly. Self-interest ("remembrance of ourselves") and self-preservation are both far more important. But why? Well, Claudius, as we will soon learn, is responsible for murdering Old King Hamlet so it's no wonder he wants to sweep the guy's life under the rug. Claudius has also helped himself to Old Hamlet's wife and crown so it's in his best interest if the kingdom moves on and forgets Old Hamlet. Pretty crafty, King Claudius.
KING CLAUDIUS
Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?HAMLET
At supper.KING CLAUDIUS
At supper where?HAMLET
Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A
certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at
him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We
fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves
for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is
but variable service—two dishes but to one table.
That's the end. (4.3.19-28)
Hamlet tells Claudius that Polonius is "at supper," but what he really means is that Polonius is being eaten for supper. (There goes our appetite.) Is this part of his "antic disposition" or is this really how Hamlet sees things?