] ] I've often wondered whether Hamlet would not have been very happy to have accepted his uncle as the new King of Denmark if that's where Claudius has stopped.

(snip)

] I wonder if he would have put up a fight for the throne if Claudius had not married his mother so quickly. The marriage has weakened his resolve and, more so, because in dethroning Claudius he would also be dethroning his own mother.

Do you think one of the reasons Claudius married Gert was to make sure Hamlet accepted him as king? He knows Hamlet is a threat and is his prime rival for the crown. Claudius marrying Gert would make Hamlet waver on contesting Claud as king to spare his mothers feelings, out of respect for her, and so she would not be dethroned? And this way, as her husband and lover, Claudius can use Gertrude, Hamlet's greatest living influence, to control his greatest threat.

Food for thought...