In 1.2, Shakespeare introduces three significant characters: Prince Hamlet, King Claudius, and Queen Gertrude. The scene opens with King Claudius' speech explaining his recent marriage to Gertrude, his brother's widow and Hamlet's mother. This speech attempts to balance the pain of his brother's death with the happiness of having married "his sister" (1.2.8). “The clouds still hang” (1.2.66) over Hamlet as he refuses to shed his “night-color” (1.2.68) and continues to mourn his father's death. Claudius urges Hamlet to think of him “as a father” (1.2.108), yet Hamlet's suspicions, resentment, and disgust at his mother's rapid and incestuous marriage prevent this. Gertrude's marriage to Claudius irritates and disturbs Hamlet. She resents her mother for forgetting her father only a month after his death and marrying her uncle in "O' most evil speed" (1.2.156). The state of Denmark, his father's death, and his mother's marriage make Hamlet wish that "the LORD had not set / His canon 'against self-killing!" (1.2.131-32), inaugurating the suicides...