SARAH: Both then and now, gilded means covered by a thin sheet of gold. So the 'gilded hand' refers to a criminal's hand full of gold coins to pay off a judge.

RALPH: But Claudius also evokes a more systematic corruption because to gild also meant to pay a tax. Perhaps Shakespeare was taking a swipe at the merchant guilds, which were associations of a town's merchants whose primary function was to enforce their mafia-like business monopolies.

SARAH: This is supported by the fact that Shakespeare's father had been severely fined for violating just such monopoly in the wool trading business.