Globe Education Online

In his penultimate blog post, Tim discusses Claudius in detail: his love of Gertrude, his guilt, and manipulation of Laertes.

Claudius

At the moment we are running acts. I find this to be a very good way of doing things, as the scenes within the acts run into each other smoothly.

I have been thinking about Claudius’ reaction to Gertrude drinking the poison. Some people play Claudius looking on unfeelingly. I think that this is wrong. It is a genuine mistake. I think that they do love each other. He tries to stop her, but doesn’t get to her in time. There is nothing left for him after that, and he doesn’t try to defend himself, he’s just too broken. I think that although he is very self-centred, he does need her and he genuinely loves her.

I have been having difficulty in the middle of the play where Claudius’ guilt begins to get to him. I’m still working on that. I need to work out how much guilt there is. How long the attacks of guilt last. What effect these attacks have on him and his relationship - do they drive him to drink? I’m not sure whether having him drunk all the time will work, but it's an idea.

I have also been thinking about how skilful Claudius remains with Laertes. I think that this is his sense of self-survival. Laertes wants to kill Claudius because he blames him for his father’s death. Claudius skilfully manages to get Leartes on his side, willing him to help in the plot to kill Hamlet. This all happens very quickly. He doesn’t see that it could go as wrong as it does.

I feel as though we are working very constructively at the moment.

These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process-they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.

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