act 1: scene 2

The day after Horatio had seen the ghost of his father, King Claudius gives a speech to his courtiers explaining his recent marriage to Horatio’s mother and recently widowed, Gertrude. The new king Claudius asks Horatio why “the clouds still hang” upon him as he is wearing mourning clothes. After a calm but heated discussion, Horatio expresses to himself the desire for his existence to be non-existent.