Hamlet III: Act 3 Scene 1-2

In Hamlet's first thoughts alone after the play, he makes a reference to Nero. Specifically, he says, "let not ever / the soul of Nero enter this firm bosom" (III.ii.426-427). While the conventional meaning of this phrase would be that Nero killed his mother whereas Hamlet would not, there are multiple connotative associations with Nero that are lost to one without knowledge of the Roman empire. Nero is generally regarded as the morally worst Roman Emperor. Aside from marrying his mother, he committed a number of heinous crimes against the Christians. There was a great fire in Rome during his rule, and, according to legend, he watched Rome burn to the ground (although the phrase that he "fiddled while Rome burned" is generally regarded as inaccurate). Finally, he built a giant statue of himself, called the Colossus, merely to placate his own ego (this is where the Flavian Amphitheatre gets its modern name, the Colosseum). These images combine to form an image of a ruler who is entirely egotistical, malicious and incompetent. Hamlet cries to let him not be so. While the direct correlation is certainly the most relevant, the other connotations of Nero associate closely with Claudius: he is egotistical and malicious in stealing the crown and incompetent in his choices with Fortinbras. Thus, Hamlet is not only avoiding the direct association, but also any association with the terrible decisions of his father.