Hamlet, the Elizabethan revenge tragedy written by William Shakespeare involves diverse controversies among several characters regarding treachery, revenge, incest and moral corruption. Claudius, a supporting character exhibited his corruption by disregarding morals and ethics by indulging in devious acts towards other characters.
As with all the supporting characters in Hamlet, Claudius is not developed to his possible potential. His primary role in the play is to cause Hamlet's confusion and anger, and his ensuing search for truth and life's meaning. Claudius is not a static character. While his qualities are not as thoroughly explored as Hamlet's, Shakespeare crafts a whole human being out of the treacherous, usurping King of Denmark.
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When we first encounter Claudius, he strikes us an intellectual and adept ruler.
He gives a speech that does his country proud, acknowledging his brother's death and the impending conflict with Norway. Claudius knows that a change in government could ignite civil turmoil, and he is afraid of possible unlawful allegiances and revolt. His speech contrasts the people's loss with the new beginning they will have under his care, and he uses the death of Hamlet's father to create a sense of national camaraderie. "the whole kingdom/To be contracted in one brow of woe" (i.ii.3,4).
Queen Gertrude has chosen to marry Claudius, and she defends Claudius even to her son, Hamlet, In fact, she never follows him freely even when Claudius assembles to send her beloved son, Hamlet, into the jaws of death. Queen Gertrude brushes her own husband’s death by saying “Thou know’st tis common, all that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity” (i.ii.72,73) Claudius was in fact sincere in his love for her. He explains his feelings for her at the end of Act IV, but he has proven these feelings consistently throughout the play.
One may argue that Claudius displays more heroism than Hamlet. Claudius manipulates fortune and takes what is not rightfully his, but remains unremorseful for his actions; Claudius possesses enough strength to admit that he would do the same again. Hamlet, undecided by conscience to smite the morally deficient Claudius, causes the death of six bystanders’ before he accomplishes
his goal. Claudius, the great Shakespearean antagonist completely mirrors Hamlet. Claudius is no more deceitful than Hamlet; both ultimately believe that the end rationalizes their means, and both ultimately sacrifice humanity and humaneness in the achievement of their goals. What makes Claudius a villain is that he is wrong, and Hamlet is right. Claudius is a sneak who murdered his brother and lied. Hamlet commits his murders in the open and suffers the consequences of his own conscience. Claudius undermines his conscience and refuses to ask for divine forgiveness. Hamlet seeks contrition and liberates himself of guilt before he dies; Claudius receives no forgiveness and seeks none. Hamlet will spend eternity in Heaven; Claudius will burn forever in a day in Hell.
Claudius greedy intentions take him to his murderous action. Claudius says, “The whole kingdom/to be contracted in one brow of woe”. (Shakespeare1.2.3-4) Claudius killing old king Hamlet knows that was the only way to have the kingdom. He gives the kingdom a new start under his new government and things that favors him but he still has those devious ways. He also gives the people a speech to represents how good of a ruler his is going to be and he even acknowledges his brother’s death. He gets to maintain the country affairs in his own way. The
Delving into the character of King Claudius in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, we find a character who is not totally evil but rather a blend of morally good and bad elements. Let’s explore the various dimensions of this many-sided character.
Claudius begins his speech with an acknowledgement of Hamlet’s death and his own marriage to Gertrude. Claudius claims that the “green” memory of his “dear brother’s death” “befitted” Denmark to contract into “one brow of woe” (1.2). Despite Claudius’ affectionate reference to Hamlet, his hypocrisy is transparent. The colour imagery reveals the freshness of Hamlet’s death. The metaphor used suggests the kingdom is expected to unite and share the grief over its loss but the diction in “befitted” hints Claudius disapproval of expected mourning rites, causing the audience to doubt his sincerity. Furthermore, Claudius adds that “discretion fought with nature” causing him to think of Hamlet together with a “remembrance of [himself]” (1.2). The metaphorical conflict between “discretion” and “nature” contrasts Claudius’ hasty marriage to the expected mourning after Hamlet’s death. Moreover, in Claudius’ statement, the dependen...
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.
Throughout Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the revelation of Claudius’ betrayal of the late King Hamlet becomes the causation of a slippery slope of events that revolve around a revenge on Claudius for his betrayal against the late King. Consequently, this key act of betrayal forms the plays overall theme of revenge while also showing the connection between power and corruption and the idea that ‘”what goes around, comes around.”
Hamlet’s dogged attempts at convincing himself and those around him of Claudius’ evil, end up being Claudius’ best moments. The audience doesn’t have just one view of Claudius; the other characters favorable ideas of Claudius as king and person lets them see the humanity, good and bad, in Claudius. An allegory for the human soul, Claudius is many things: a father, a brother, a husband, and a king. He, like anyone else, has to play the role to the best of his ability, but is still very human and susceptible to the evils of human emotion ranging from concern to jealousy, all of which could have easily fueled his decisions. Page 1 of 6 Works Cited Hamlet, Shakespeare.
When King Claudius enters for the first time in the play he begins by acknowledging the death of Old King Hamlet. He describes his elder brothers sudden death as, “green” and, “that it is befitted/To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom” (1.2.1-2). Claudius is attempting to sound melancholy as he paints his brother’s death as recent and fresh in his mind. He furthers a portrayal of innocence by declaring that he thinks it is proper to mourn the old king throughout the kingdom. However, Claudius continues to say that although he believes it is “wisest” to mourn him he must also do it with “remembrance of ourselves” (1.2.5-6). Though Claudius appears to exhibit profound sorrow for his “dear brother’s death”, he fails to depict real sorrow for him as he quickly states that he must not forget about himself and his own well being (1.2.30). Claudius solidifies this conception when he speaks of grief as “fitting”, though he fails to mention that he himself is or has experienced any form of grief for the death of his brother. Claudius also uses the plural pronoun “ourselves” and “our” rather than the personal pronoun “me”. This separates Claudius emotionally from his brother’s death because he t...
William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a play that tells of a young man, Hamlet, who wanted revenge for the death of his father. After speaking with his father's spirit, Hamlet was led to believe that the person who murdered his father was his uncle, Claudius. Claudius kills his brother mainly because of jealousy, the crown, the queen and a hatred of his brother. Therefore Claudius is guilty of the murder of his brother.
With his thinking mind Hamlet does not become a typical vengeful character. Unlike most erratic behavior of individuals seeking revenge out of rage, Hamlet considers the consequences of his actions. What would the people think of their prince if he were to murder the king? What kind of effect would it have on his beloved mother? Hamlet considers questions of this type which in effect hasten his descision. After all, once his mother is dead and her feelings out of the picture , Hamlet is quick and aggressive in forcing poison into Claudius' mouth. Once Hamlet is certain that Claudius is the killer it is only after he himself is and and his empire falling that he can finally act.
Claudius ends King Hamlet’s life in order to pursue a more sophisticated style of governance. King Hamlet had been a proud, haughty man who took risks with his country. Horatio describes this as a positive characteristic, saying that when the King was challenged, he “Did slay this Fortinbras, who by a sealed compact well ratified by law and heraldry, did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands which he stood seized of to the conqueror” (1.1.85-88). His brash actions were wildly popular in Denmark at the time—Horatio and the guards are awestruck by the bravery that King Hamlet displayed in gambling the country to maintain his pride— but they weren’t the actions of a skillful diplomat. In assassinating the
Claudius is responsible for the death of King Hamlet, regardless of this, he wants to portray himself as someone that is worthy of running the nation of Denmark. Claudius connects to the people of Denmark by demonstrating that they are all participating in the grieving of King Hamlet, “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief” (I.ii.1-3). King Hamlet’s death is very recent, but Claudius places himself as someone that is part of the kingdom that will be mourning the death of King Hamlet. This is demonstrated through irony since instead of mourning he is actually enjoying what King Hamlet has left behind; the nation of Denmark and his wife, Gertrude. Through this, Claudius also demonstrates that he wants others to believe that he has not done anything wrong. In order to convey the image of being healthy, Claudius and his court drink merrily within the castle; making the excesses that the court enjoys apparent. Hamlet is not fond of the drinking but then comes to the conclusion that “His virtues else, be they as pure as grace, As infinite as man may undergo, Shall in the general censure take corruption” (I.iv.33-35). Hamlet then foreshadows his own destiny. No matter how good a person may be, that person can become corrupt due to something that has ...
In general terms, corruption is the act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle. In politics, corruption is the misuse of public power and image.Whether it is realized or not, no country is wholly free of the disease of corruption, and if it is allowed to develop and become significantly strong, it can obstruct the good processes of governing and deteriorate the fabric of society. It can become a barrier to continual development and make it so that essentially no room remains for justice to succeed. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the destructive force of corruption is clearly exemplified through the abundance of imagery concerning decay, death, disease, sickness, and infection as the play progresses. The first and foremost example of this corruptionis the murder of King Hamlet and the resulting incestuous marriage of Gertrude and Claudius, which forms the foundation for corruption becoming a regular happening in the state of Denmark.The disease of corruption in the play stems from Claudius and slowly spreads through Elsinore and eventually results in the collapse of Denmark, which is signified by the takeover of the castle and land by Fortinbras, the nemesis of Hamlet and the Norwegian Crown Prince.Through the characters of Polonius, Claudius, Ophelia, and Hamlet, the evolution and disease-like spreading of this corruption can be observed.
Claudius is seen in Hamlets eyes as a horrible person because he convicted murder and incest. Claudius had killed the king of Denmark, Old Hamlet, to obtain the position of the throne. He had been jealous of Old Hamlet’s wife Gertrude and wanted to marry her for her power. Although, such an act would be called incest and considered unnatural he did not care, all he had cared about was the power that he would be stealing from Hamlet and Old Hamlet, Gertrude’s son and husband (R). When Hamlet had talked to his f...
Although Hamlet seemed to be superior in all other characteristics, his one flaw cost him his life. Without doubt, it cost the lives of many others as well. If Hamlet could have taken immediate action, many deaths could have been avoided. Although Hamlet succeeds in his revenge, his procrastination proves to be his flaw in every event that took place.
Hamlet fits the profile of a tragic hero because he is presented with a straightforward mandate from the ghost, the spirit of his father, and instead of devoutly pursuing his father’s revenge he differs the task to a later time. The ghost convinces Hamlet that in order for his soul to rest peacefully, Claudius must be slain. With this in