At the start of the play he commands Horatio: .
"Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt.
Do not itself unkennel in one speech.
It is a damned ghost we have seen- (IIIii.70-73).
The play, which closely mirrors the story of Hamlet, Claudius and Gertrude, seems to hit a sore point with Claudius who abruptly ends the performance. A short while later Horatio confirms Hamlet's suspicions, "I did very well note him- (IIIii.264). And so Hamlet now feels justified in avenging the loss of his father killing Claudius in the final scenes with the words "Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane- (Vii.304). - .
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Claudius, the arch-villain in the play, has not only killed Hamlet's father; he has also taken his mother "won to his shameful lust the will of my most seeming virtuous queen- (Iv.45-46). The result, as warned by the ghost, for "the royal bed of Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest- (Iv.82-83). Hamlet has the queen character in his play pledging to remain loyal to the dead king. In Hamlet's eyes, this contrasts with his mother's behaviour. Gertrude sees in this queen' a woman who "doth protest too much methinks- (IIIii.211) while Hamlet declares "oh but she'll keep her word- (IIIii.212). He regards his mother as one who married with "most wicked speed to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets- (Iii.156-157). His feelings of shame are such that he struggles to even regard her as his mother: .
"You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,.
And, would it were not so, you are my mother- (IIIiv.15-16).
The marriage between Gertrude and Claudius he declares "You cannot call it love- (IIIiv.68) at the same time he tells Gertrude that her husband is a "murderer and a villain- (IIIiv.96). Although Gertrude doesn't believe Hamlet at this stage, by the end of the play, in a tragic mistake, her husband accidentally poisons her:.
"No, No, the drink, the drink - O my dear Hamlet.
The drink, the drink - I am poisoned- (Vii.
