As we know, Claudius is brother of Old Hamlet, stepfather of Hamlet. But how much older is he than Hamlet?

-- Celia Yu (jessiea1205@sohu.com), June 06, 2003

Answers

Interesting. Don't know, from the play. Claudius is most probably younger than Old Hamlet, since Old Hamlet was King before him. I imagine Claudius would more likely than not be older than Gertrude. And she'd probably be around sixteen or more years older than Hamlet, given the often comparatively early ages of marriage for women back then.

-- catherine england (catherine_england@hotmail.com), June 06, 2003.

Claudius is actually twelve years older than Hamlet. Hamlets father was 21 when he was born and his mother was 14. King Hamlet is nine years older then Claudius, as their mother was beaten into a coma by her husband shortly after King Hamlet was born. She stayed in the coma for seven years. Once she awoke her husband made haste and quickly impregnated her with Claudius.

-- Rich Walker (kyeiro@hotmail.com), October 16, 2003.