The Hamlet Project

It is rather a long list of grievances.
Claudius has really done some A+ work as a villain.
The phrase I’m most interested in here is the one about popping in between the election and Hamlet’s hopes.
First, because this is one of the most explicit references to the question of succession that hangs over the play but is rarely addressed directly.
Second, the “election” sounds like a democratic process but it is certainly not in this case. In fact, it illustrates how we got such a word as election and how its roots are in powerful men choosing a single powerful man to be their figurehead – and it is that way still in so many ways.
Third, popping is such a light word for what the results are. It is an interesting choice for the action. Claudius just pops in where Hamlet should have been and the whole succession committee was like, oh, it’s you? Oh, okay – fine. Next order of business!