Note to Hamlet, 2.2.578-580: "fatted all the region kites / With this slave's offal"


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Hamlet,
Act 2, Scene 2, lines 578-580
Hamlet says this when he accuses himself of being a coward. He means that if he weren't a coward he would have killed King Claudius and fed his guts to the kites, which are carrion-eating birds.

Hamlet isn't just imagining a fitting punishment for King Claudius. The kind of thing he describes would have been seen by some members of his audience, because a common part of the punishment for treason was for the traitor to be disemboweled while he was still alive, and to see his entrails eaten by dogs and kites.


Red Kite Eating Carrion