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Claudius character essay
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This is an allusion to Julius Caesar. This allusion refers to Caesar’s assassination by his friend Brutus. And this reminds the audience about the Claudius murders his brother, Hamlet’s dad. Also, this is the foreshadowing of Polonius’s destiny. He acts Caesar who is killed, and he will be killed as
Preceding Act 1, King Hamlet is murdered by his brother, Claudius. Claudius’s feelings regarding his treacherous act are well represented by the song “Be Prepared” from the Disney Movie, The Lion King. Claudius constructs a ploy against his brother Hamlet, so as to be the king of Denmark. Scar, who sings “Be Prepared”, also plots against his brother in order to seize the throne. “Be prepared…For the death of the king! / Why? Is he sick? / No, you fool, we’re going to kill him…and Simba too!” (Be Prepared). Scar uses the hyenas to convey his strategy, and plans to murder Simba. It can be argued that Polonius was able to assist Claudius in the murder of his reigning King. Polonius is a constant voice in Claudius’s head, and is much like his own personal spy. Of course, Polonius is using this connection in an attempt to widen his foothold in the monarchy, and is striving for the attention of the current king, even if it means sacrificing the happiness, safety, and trust of his only daug...
Every person has their own individual beliefs and values that they live by. There is a line that one believes they will never cross. However, people can also be easily persuaded to abandon these values if the reasoning is fair enough. This is human nature. To manipulate someone is to use or change them for a specific purpose. In Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, he illustrates how easily people can change their minds through manipulation. He conveys how people can be manipulated, how they manipulate themselves, and how they manipulate others.
Hamlet thinks he conceives a brilliant plan to catch Claudius by overwhelming his emotions to force him to admit to murdering his brother, the King. Little does Hamlet know that the plot of his backfires and shows the plot and emotional similarities in the world of Gonzago and his own world. At his request, the players include a “dozen or sixteen lines”(II.ii.541) into play. To insert these lines Hamlet depicts the murder, Lucianus, as the nephew of the king, instead of the brother to the king. Unintentionally, Hamlet draws attention towards himself as the play seems to mimic him as Lucianus, the murder, instead of Claudius as Lucianus. Most scenes should not have the interpretation changed by an issue of semantics and familial relations. Nut, this proves the exact opposite of the play. Shakespeare, therefore, prompts Hamlet to contend with a contradiction, a paradox: if Lucencious is the brother of the King the action is immoral, if Lucencious is the nephew of the king the action is
Of course, by his delaying his revenge, the entire plot of the play goes in a different direction. Immediately after this scene Hamlet speaks with his mother, unknowing of the fact that Polonius is hiding behind a curtain in the room with them. When the Queen becomes frightened by Hamlet's irate demeanor she cries out for help, as does Polonius. Hamlet mistakes Polonius for Claudius and stabs him to death.
Claudius is the antagonist in this play, in easier words, the villain. He is the brother of the now dead King of Denmark, Hamlet. Claudius murders his brother and does it in a way that it seems as though death had claimed him in a natural way. He is then quick to marry Queen Gertrude, as a favor to the state of Denmark. Claudius throughout the play is calculating, and will do anything to stay in power: including murdering the son of his current wife, his nephew, Hamlet. During the play, Hamlet becomes a threat to the crown and power in his possession. To overcome this, Claudius confides in Laertes that Hamlet was the cause of Polonius’s death. In an act of revenge Laertes plans his act “I will do ‘t. And for that purpose I’ll anoint my sword. I bought an unction of a mounteback, so mortal that, but a dip a knife in it, where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, collected from all simples that have virtue under the moon, can save the thing from death that is but scratched withal. I’ll touch my point with this contagion, that if I gall him slightly it may be death” (4.7.139-148). This works wonderfully in Claudius’s favor. With Laertes plotting to avenge his father, Claudius won’t have to get his hands dirty again, and...
Hamlet’s curiosity caused him to not only suspect his mother, but also kill poor Polonius. He believed Gertrude was an accomplice in the murder of his father.Hamlet has violent outbursts towards his mother. His anger increased as Gertrude misinterpreted the situation. She believed that she was in danger of being assaulted and therefore cries out for help. Hamlet, who was full of rage, runs his dagger through the arras and kills Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius. "O me, what hast tho done/Nay, I know not. Is it the king?" (III-iv.27-28) Hamlet's passion was furiously aroused, and his words to his mother grew increasingly bitter and sharp. His words acted like daggers that shattered Gertrude's peace of mind. "Nay, but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, stewed in corruption, honeying and making love over the nasty sty.
Furthermore, it is possible to propose that Shakespeare merely uses this scene to provoke irritation and consequently suspense from the audience. If Hamlet wasn’t given this opportunity to kill Claudius we would have not this insight into Hamlet’s indecisiveness, possible cowardice and inability to kill Claudius in cold blood. It is probable to suggest that through this soliloquy we are shown that Hamlet’s initial passion for revenge after the Ghost’s visitation has faded as the play progresses to merely thinking about killing Claudius.
Although Polonius had shown great servitude to King Hamlet, Gertrude, and Prince Hamlet, he now serves the very man that killed his former master. Presenting himself to Claudius, this vacillating subject gives the new ruler his utmost respect: “I assure my good liege, I hold my duty as I hold my soul, both to God and to my gracious king” (2.2.46-48). Yes, Polonius does not know that Claudius murdered his own brother. Still, Polonius never questioned how King Hamlet died so abruptly and why his brother married his widow. Without hesitation, this once ...
Polonius decides once again that he needs to listen in on Hamlet, leading him to hide behind the curtain. Gertrude is going to tell Hamlet that his actions have gotten out of hand and Polonius plans to listen in silence. Before hiding Polonius tells Gertrude “Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here.” Hamlet then enters the room and he and Gertrude have an emotional interaction. When Gertrude calls out for help, Polonius yells and Hamlet is alerted to his location. Thinking it was the King, Hamlet says “How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead” before stabbing the noise. Hamlet then realizes that it was not the King that he
Playwright, William Shakespeare, in the play Julius Caesar, utilizes many instances of rhetorical devices through the actions and speech of Caesar's right-hand man, Mark Antony. In the given excerpt, Antony demonstrates several of those rhetorical devices such as verbal irony, sarcasm, logos, ethos, and pathos which allows him to sway the plebeians. The central purpose of Mark Antony’s funeral speech is to persuade his audience into believing that Caesar had no ill intentions while manipulating the plebeians into starting a rebellion against their new enemies, Brutus and the conspirators.
Following the performance of “The Mousetrap”, Hamlet is summoned to his mother's chamber. Upon arguing with Gertrude over the intentions of his play, and his reasons for wanting to distress the king so openly, Hamlet kills Polonius. “How now? A rat? Dead for a ducat, dead (III.iv.27-28)! Perhaps Hamlet did not know whom he was killing. “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! / I took thee for thy better”(III.iv.38-39)! Perhaps Hamlet thought he was killing the king.
... to show how Hamlet’s mother began to have relations with Claudius after King Hamlet died. Once Claudius realizes that this is about him he stand up and asks for light.
... the only way to honour his father Polonius is by killing Hamlet. In addition, as Claudius reads the letter from Hamlet to Laertes he says “'Tis Hamlet’s character. “Naked” And in a postscript here, he says “alone.” Can you advise me?” (IV, VII, 52-53). This shows that Claudius takes advantage of Hamlet’s return alone as an opportunity for Laertes to kill him. Through Claudius’s actions the readers observe how he deceives Laertes into killing Hamlet for his own benefit without getting blood on his hands. Furthermore, Claudius’ desperation to kill Hamlet leads to him losing sight of what is important, which is being the king of Denmark, what he originally wanted, instead the lies he told and the manipulation he spread is now taking over. To conclude, it is evident through the play that the words and actions of Claudius have only lead to the spread of deception.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tale of betrayal and revenge, attrition and tragedy. One sees this theme throughout the interactions between each character. While the play’s main tragedy is the death of King Hamlet at the hand of his brother Claudius, the accidental death of Polonius truly initiates the demise of the others. In a tragedy, audiences often seek someone to hold responsible. Polonius is a trusted advisor, Lord Chamberlain, for the king and queen. He has one son and one daughter. His son, Laertes, is a classmate and friend of Prince Hamlet. His daughter, Ophelia, holds the prince’s heart and loves his as well. An old, foolish man whose trite and meddlesome personality cost him his life, Polonius is easily the most loathsome character
This description of Hamlet moulds him into "a tragedy of a man who cannot make up his mind" and thus in his soliloquy acts as an oblique commentary on his relationship with his uncle, his newly formed opinion of his mother and the grief for his father which pervades his mind. The "degree of scepticism" which Hamlet approaches his environment with not only concerning in the world around him, although it is this world an "unweeded garden" which seems to cause him most strain (enough strain that he doesn't want to exist in it anymore). It is also however directed towards Claudius, "[Hamlet's] father's brother", who Hamlet actively attempts to alienate as foreign and as a traitor because Claudius embraces the marriage and dismisses the funeral. Claudius is more concerned with the new relation between his "sometime sister", "now queen" and himself, and unlike Hamlet who becomes a slave of his environment, Claudius embraces the events unfolding before him.