If I had to guess Claudius’ survival strategy up to this point, I’d say it could be summed up in the first part of this line. I bet he’s trained himself to bear all smooth and even. He has a finely crafted public persona. Despite the fact that he is a murderer, he almost never lets anyone see his feathers ruffled. He probably has said this thing about bearing all smooth and even to himself his whole life.

Where did Claudius learn this? How does he know that punishing Hamlet outright will blow back on him? It feels like he’s had some experience with this. He hasn’t been king for very long so it would seem likely that he learned his politics in the court before becoming King. What was his position before? Something like Polonius’?
Was he charged with delivering some punishments to beloved people in the past?
I can imagine a time in the past where Claudius had to do some dirty work like this for Hamlet Senior and it blowing back on him, feeding the fire of bitterness that had likely been glimmering since their childhood. Perhaps it was the moment that Claudius began hatching his plan.

So Claudius thinks Hamlet’s popular with the people because he’s handsome? Is that the idea here? It’s funny because the distracted multitude must not be so enamored of Hamlet, otherwise they might have clamored for him to be king after the death of his father. It takes no time at all for Laertes to hustle up some multitudes to support him – so one would think that if Hamlet were popular enough, the people might have been moved to at least pipe up and be like, “Hey what’s going on here? Isn’t Kingship supposed to travel from father to son?”
But as far as we know, nothing like this happens. Maybe the people don’t like Hamlet quite as much as Claudius thinks.

What was the balance of law and royalty? It’s hard for me to imagine from this democratic society I live in how these things interacted. It would seem that royalty, being “divinely” selected and so on are technically above the law. That is, Claudius seems to have a choice here about whether or not to let the laws work. And maybe, at the time, there’s not, like, a system in place – it’s like – it’s the law not to kill people but it’s sort of up to the king if that law gets enforced. Is that the deal?

I mean, in our society, there is, at least, the illusion that no one is above the law. A highly privileged well connected person can work the system to his advantage but he still has to run it through the system. He can’t just skip it at the whim of the King.

This line does, though, make me wonder if Claudius doesn’t actually mean throwing Hamlet on a legal system – but “strong law” as code for execution. That is – is the law of the land that murder leads to execution? That the death penalty is the strong law?

That’s what this line feels like to me.
And of course this is an old old system.

*
I wrote this bit about a year and a half ago and it has felt in recent months that a highly privileged well-connected person has been working the system so hard that he has actively undone the system to suit him. But today it feels as though the rule of law will catch up with him. If we’re lucky, all that he has undone will not have been enough to keep him from the law. Michael Flynn pled guilty today and hopefully it’s all going down from here.

It is awfully convenient for Claudius that Hamlet kills Polonius. I mean, he was going to send him to England anyway but once he kills Polonius, he suddenly has the perfect cover story for this decision. Previously, he’d have had to publicize Hamlet’s madness with here-say. But with a murder? Well…it’s clear that something that must be done. And “England” is that convenient, ready made plan.

Also – side note – on the day that this post is going up – Michael Flynn has just pleaded guilty and it feels like American Christmas! There have been so many men it has felt dangerous to have loose and it feels like we’re getting closer to fixing that problem. Merry Mueller Month!

How quickly we go from personhood to the impersonal body. Not even an hour before this moment, Polonius was a person with a body, of course, but he was himself. If you were looking for Polonius, you would not inquire after the body. But the moment death kicks in, your body, while seemingly still connected to the idea of a person, suddenly becomes the body.
There is a clear difference between the living body and the dead one. It is not always immediately clear in the moment. There is a moment of blurriness between life and death but once that moment has passed, the body becomes the body and the person a memory.

I bet it is, murderer.
Me? I’m doing okay. While I am frustrated by many things, I’m pretty unified in myself and pretty clear about what sorts of things need to be done. I won’t say it’s not hard. Because it is. But things being hard is very different than having a soul full of discord and dismay. I’ve managed to keep the discord and dismay outside of myself for the time being. Outside may be chaos. And it does feel like chaos sometimes.
But inside. I am clear as a mountain stream in spring.

Traveling feels like one of those things that makes life worth living. In a world that can get dull and worn with age, a change of scene can activate a sense of wonder and surprise. It is one of those things than can predictability inspire me to create.
On my own, I can rarely find a way to travel much or very far – but my mother has recently retired and so, every few months or so, she’ll suggest another journey. Come away to Greece. Come away to Rhode Island. Come away to Ireland. And I will.

And here we see Claudius’ chief concern: his own reputation. He really is a politician.
He is not worried about Hamlet (obvs) or Gertrude or mourning for Polonius. He is simply worried about his political reputation. It is remarkably transparent. Nice line, though. It’s a funny time to get poetic. But hey, probably policy is the one thing Claudius truly loves.

Who are these wise friends? The Royal Bridge partners? Their usual dinner parry guests? Their roommates from college?
It’s interesting to have these people we’ve never met or heard referenced before turn up at this point in the play. Because he begins with “Come, Gertrude…” it seems as though he may be referring to their mutual friends – their couple friends – but, of course, he could also mean HIS friends, the Royal “Our friends” which would be the more political group of “friends” I imagine. This might make more sense given that Claudius’ chief concern about this murder are its political repercussions.