Robert Graves: I, Claudius

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In the book I, Claudius written by the novelist Robert Graves is a fictional autobiography about a man named, Tiberius Claudius who lives in Ancient Greece. He has some tremendous conflicts within himself which the author shows through his use of characterization and imagery.

Born on the July 24, 1885, Robert Graves was born into a family of a well diverse European heritage with his family tree full of Irish, Scottish, German, English, and Danish natives. He was also born into an awfully wealthy family so he was well off as a child. His uncle, Leopold von Ranke, was a historian, a very highly accomplished one at that. In the Eighteenth Century he had another relative, Richard Graves, whom wrote The Spiritual Quixote it was a novel only successful in its time era. His father even wrote poetry, though there is no evidence that Robert wrote poetry or novels, but actually he tried to escape his fathers hold on him and make an identity for himself and make his own life.

In his youth he went to preparatory schools instead of attending any regular schools. In 1907, he got a scholarship to go to Charterhouse. While there he had many harsh feelings towards any of his fellow classmates and even less feelings for the teachers there. He started up writing poetry after he was a boxer and becoming school boxing champion in Welter and Middle weight. In academics he was very successful also. So successful that he got a full ride St. Johns College in Oxford where he wanted to study classics. He travelled to the nearest place he could find for officer training and signing up as a reaction to the declaration of war for WWI. While on a holiday vacation in Wales he .joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He toured France as a captain in the month of M...

... middle of paper ...

...all in all Athenodurus tries to protect the weak Claudius from most conflicts in his life and from his stammering and stuttering when he is nervous to speaking publically without even a stammer. “Who wants to be a Roman Caesar? We do. At least, we would if we were interested in having sex with family members, and enjoyed the adrenalin rush one gets wondering if, this time, the food really is poisoned.”(Historyhouse,web)

Works Cited

Graves, Robert. I Claudius. New York: Random House Inc., 1961. Print.

Liukkonen, Petri. “Robert Graves (1895-1985).” Kirjasto.sci.fi. Ari Pesonen, Kuusankasken Kaupunginkirjasto. 2008. Web. April 2, 2011.

Wilde, Robert. “Robert Graves.” About. Robert Wilde. n.d. Web. April 3, 2011.

“Robert Graves.” HistoryHouse. History House Inc. n.d. Web. April 3, 2011

Simkin, John.“Robert Graves.” Spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk. n.d. April 3, 2011

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