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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.0521  Monday, 21 March 2005

From:           Edmund Taft <taft@marshall.edu>
Date:           Friday, 18 Mar 2005 11:43:02 -0500
Subject:        A Claudius Question

Bill Arnold asks Abigail Quart, "[H]ow can you possibly downplay the
central theme of the play, and that is that the kingship has changed
hands in violation of 'Thou shalt not kill!'"

There's a hole in Bill's argument that you could drive a sixteen-wheeler
through. If this commandment is the rock-bed of the play, then Hamlet is
clearly guilty of murder and damned, just as Claudius is. Hamlet kills
Claudius and the kingship changes hands. QED.

Ed Taft

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