Nit: I've never come across the idea that Claudius didn't react to the play in Hamlet. He jumps up and freaks out a bit (something staged with varying degrees

Nit: I've never come across the idea that Claudius didn't react to the play in Hamlet. He jumps up and freaks out a bit (something staged with varying degrees of subtlety, but not really ambiguously), then later sends Hamlet overseas to get beheaded. I always viewed Hamlet as a staircase-like figure going quite definitely down. The king's not merely dead, he's a tormented ghost. Hamlet must kill his uncle, but he's stymied the first time he tries. Hamlet outmaneuvers Claudius, but in the process kills Polonious, drives Ophelia mad and to suicide, which turns her brother into a deadly enemy...and then damn near everyone dies at the end. I'm trying to wrap my mind around the idea that any of this is ambivalent. :)