g, caring husband who appears to want to help his grieving nephew. However, the audience also learns of the malicious actions of Claudius through King Hamlet's ghost. He commits regicide by killing the king of Denmark, Hamlet's father and his brother. He makes sure that his actions are covert so not to be caught. Claudius then commits the act of incest with Hamlet's mother and his brother's wife, Gertrude, "O, most wicked to post/ With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" (I.ii.161-162). Although his actions are legally not considered incest, in the realm of the play, both Hamlet and King Hamlet consider Claudius and Gertrude's marriage incest. At the conclusion of the play, Claudius lets Gertrude drink the poison, merely suggesting that she should not "Gertrude, do not drink...It is the poisoned cup. It is too late" (V.ii.317,319). Claudius indirectly kills Gertrude by allowing her to drink the poison filled cup, and does not express any remorse for his so called loving wife. As the audience sees, Claudius puts a mask of loving and caring, but truly he is a self-serving, cold, remorseless, calculating man. W
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