Hamlet

Sc. 1, Lines 38-45: What evidence shows the King's overriding concern about maintaining his political power?

King. Oh Gertrude, come away!

The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch

But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed

We must with all our majesty and skill

Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern!

[Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]

Friends both, go join you with some further aid.

Hamlet in madness hath polonius slain,

And from his mother's closet hath dragged him.

Go seek him out: speak fair, and bring the body

Into the chapel. I pray you haste in this.

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]

Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends,

And let them know both what we mean to do

And what's untimely done. So, haply, slander,

Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,

As level as the cannon to his blank,

Transports his poisoned shot, may miss our name

And hit the woundless air. O come away,

My soul is full of discord and dismay.

[Exeunt]

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Claudius knows Hamlet is a danger to his power. He decides to ship Hamlet off, to England, to be killed.

The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch

But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed