oh this is great, both as a story in itself and as ‘tell me claudius’s motive without telling me claudius’s motive.’ it sets up the characters of the twins so well, of where they came from and how they see each other, and how dependent king hamlet is on claudius to save the day with his political sway and how dependent claudius is on king hamlet (without wanting to) for that feeling of being needed, and becoming the center of attention. and then gertrude enters the picture and you know it’s going to be a mess.