Portayal of the King in Shakespeares Tragedy of Hamlet

Analysis of Shakespeare During Elizabethan times, the survival and longevity of the king or queen was essential for the subjects of the kingdom. The monarchy unified the kingdom, saw to its prosperity, and protected its subjects from foreign invasion. The king was the most important person within the kingdom and without him the kingdom would collapse. Shakespeare echoes this thought back to his audience in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act 3, Scene3, lines 11 through 23 through a passage recited by Rosencrantz. In lines 1 through 7, King Claudius is ordering Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to take the now-deemed-mad Hamlet to England. King Claudius fears for his kingdom and his own life having viewed the†¦show more content†¦With the kings death, his kingdom also dies and that the nature of the kings subjects lives are affected ecconomically, politically, socially, and spiritually-referring to the nature of their lives. In other words, if something malicious were to occur to King Claudius, i.e. Prince Hamlet murdering King Claudius, the affects of Claudius death would have wide spread implications, hence the death of the king is more complex that that of the common person. Rosencrantz completes his affirmation stating the following: It [the death of the king] is a massy wheel [a wheel having considerable bulk or volume] Fixed on the summit [the highest elevation] of the highest mount [the highest mountain], To whose huge spokes [the spokes of this massive wheel] ten thousand lesser things Are mortised [fastened or joined securely; joined together closely and firmly] and adjoined [joined as an adjunct, added, annexed, attached; appended or subjoined], which when it [the wheel; the king] falls Each small annexment [that which is joined together without subordination of one to the other], petty [of little importance, insignificant, or trivial] consequence [a circumstance which follows as a result of something preceding], Attends the boistrous [rough, violent] ruin. Never alone Did the King sigh [emit a soft subtle sound expressing sorrow], but with a general groan [utter a low