"I enjoy his ideas. I feel as though I have spent far too much time in my life questioning what justifies a sovereign's decisions or a sovereign's reign, without too deeply considering the question of what justifies sovereignty itself. Imagining a state of nature is rather like imagining what it was like when we all first arrived here. I assumed a place like this needed a lord because how else would it keep itself? But it just so happens that every need is provided for by magic, and the mansion keeps itself. And though I came up with problems I believed leadership could solve, a wiser friend came up with many ways the same problems could be solved by the community. I'm not certain Rousseau and I are always starting from the same principles, but I can follow his logic quite clearly." It's surprisingly easy to discuss political philosophy now with a stranger. Claudius is sure that, back in Elsinore, he would carefully conceal all his political opinions and outright lie about them if necessary. And yet he's been here long enough that it shouldn't be a wonder -- Laertes started speaking treasonous things surprisingly quickly.

Wryly, Claudius adds, "I also like what Rousseau writes on the so-called right of the strongest. And this line -- all power comes from God, I admit; but so does all sickness: does that mean that we are forbidden to call in the doctor?"