16th Century Scotland & ``Hamlet'' Part Two

3) ``Again, Shakespeare's Denmark is a place where the king has been murdered and his wife has married the murderer. This also happened in sixteenth-century Scotland; Darnley is almost invariably alluded to in contemporary documents (Buchanan's Oration and Detection, for instance), as the "king"; the "king" had been murdered, and his wife had married the murderer.
``Shakespeare's Denmark also is a place where a councillor is murdered in the presence of a queen, and his body disposed of "hugger-mugger" fashion by a staircase. This, also, had happened in contemporary Scotland in the case of Rizzio's murder.''
4) Our author also notes that in both Scotland and in the play there is a love for strong drink. Dr. Buchanan in his ``Oration and Detection'' refers to Bothwell the elder as a drunken beast and it is in Hamlet that drink plays a killer role.
The resemblances between Scotland and ``Hamlet'' would be more than striking, but also lawful. The Elizabethans were curious perhaps a bit anxious as to who would be their new ruler and what's up with Scotland, their ruler's home, given the added possiblity of an invasion from their northern neighbor.