Hamlet's letter to Claudius

I've never really seen it explicated, but it contains a few mysteries for me.

High and mighty,
You shall know I am set naked on your kingdom. Tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange return.
      Hamlet.

"High and mighty" sounds sarcastic, but Hamlet does seem to be making a point that he's coming alone and unarmed, unlike, say Laertes who comes with a mob at his back. However, "your kingly eyes" can't be anything but mockery. It's the sort of thing Osric would say with a straight face. The language is slyly pompous. "When I shall, first asking your pardon thereunto . . ." And then the purpose: I wish to tell you just how the hell I got back here. Should be interesting for you.

I see this as Hamlet's getting ahead of events in his inimitable fashion. He's not going to sneak back into Denmark and hide somewhere only to be found out by spies or informants -- no, he's going to attack first by announcing his return right to Claudius himself. Moreover, he does so with his eternally sly, biting, and mocking humor.

And to what reception? Why, Claudius and Laertes just can't make it out! At least they have the sense to see that if this guy's going to be stopped, it better be soon and it better be certain.

But here's my big question: I would love to know just what Hamlet would have said if he had shown up in court on his own, without Claudius's invitation to the duel.

I agree with your interpretation of Hamlet's letter: it is a mixture of boldness and mocking.

As for their meeting following Hamlet's brief exile, there is something really significant about the fact that the initial encounter does not happen at court but at Ophelia's grave. I think that Hamlet, at the moment when he throws himself into her grave screaming

Quote:

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I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers, if you added all their love together, couldn’t match mine.

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is at his most inaccessible. As hard a time as we have trying to read him, this is the moment where we are completely shut out. The same goes for Claudius: he has no idea what to make of this scene and can only wait until Hamlet is back in his court (ha!) in order to carry out the only plan that makes sense to him.