Claudius Vs. Hamlet

Claudius Vs. Hamlet

Is Claudius a worthy adversary for Hamlet? Some would argue that Claudius was not even close to being worthy enough to be Hamlet's opponent but if you look at all of the evidence in the play, you might think otherwise. First of all, Claudius was obviously worthy if Hamlet is the one who chose to seek revenge. There are also so many minor details that add up to compare Claudius with Hamlet. Claudius was a lot smarter than people gave him credit for. He was clever enough to devise a plan to kill the king, he had spies all around watching Hamlet's every move, and he found a way to become king.

In Claudius' case, killing the king without the entire world suspecting him took a lot of planning and work. He poisoned the king in a way that no one would suspect him. The play does not say where he got the poison used for King Hamlet but it is not likely that he could just walk down to the market and purchase it. Claudius had to find some specific person who would have such deadly drugs in their possession. He then had to find a way to get the king alone, which also probably was not very easy. Usually royalty will have an assistant or a guard with them at all times whether it is only family in the room or not. In Shakespeare's play, the king's ghost tells about his death and states that, "With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial, and in the porches of my ears did pour the leperous distillment." Claudius would have needed to have a way to get close to the king to pour the poison into his ear. After all of this, He knew that even if someone did suspect him of a murder, he would have to play it cool no matter what. Killing the king was incredibly wrong but I must give Claudius credit because he had to put much eff...

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...e up the chance to kill Claudius himself because he would not get enough punishment that he deserved in the after life if he killed him then. Claudius would have to be a worthy adversary if Hamlet felt that he deserved to suffer also in the after life.

Claudius messed up Hamlet's life terribly, but by doing that he became a worthy opponent. He showed all the skills that he had to use against Hamlet at every chance he got.

There are many minor details that add up to compare Claudius with Hamlet. Claudius was a smart man who did not get as much credit as he deserved. His death may have come before Hamlet's at the end of the play, but he put up a good fight and made sure that Hamlet would die as well. He was clever enough to devise a plan to kill the king, he had spies all around, and he found a way to become king. Claudius was a worthy adversary for Hamlet.