Hamlet - Claudius
What could be worse than killing your brother? Marrying his wife right after! Claudius is the shadiest character in Act I of Hamlet. Claudius had poured the juice of a hebenon (henbane; a very poisonous plant) into his brother’s, Hamlet Sr.’s ear. Hamlet Sr. died quickly but was “doomed for a certain term to walk the night.” Claudius then hurriedly married Gertrude and became king. Hamlet knows none of this however, yet already holds certain contempt for his step-father/uncle.
In scene 2, Claudius gives a very sly speech, side-stepping the fact that he is in the middle of a very incestuous relationship. He says, “With an auspicious and a dropping eye, / With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, / In equal scale weighing delight and dole, -/Taken to wife…” Claudius tries to beat around the bush and not really explain anything about his marriage to Gertrude. No one questions him because he is King, but the people are not happy about this situation anyway. Claudius’s slick nature somewhat surfaces when he is speaking to Hamlet also.
He is obviously uncomfortable with the fact that Hamlet is still mourning the death of his father and almost seems to bully him to stop: “…to preserver/ In obstinate condolement is a course/ Of impious stubbornness; ‘tis unmanly grief;/ It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,/ A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,/ An understanding simple and unschooled…” Claudius, of course, seems to say this with a face full of smiles as if politely correcting Hamlet, but it seems obvious that he is downright afraid of what Hamlet could do if he discovered the truth. This is expressed even more when Claudius says, “…we beseech you, bend you to remain/ Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye, / Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
Claudius acknowledges the apparent paradox of the royal marriage so soon after the King's death "With an auspicious and a dropping eye/With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage/In equal scale weighing delight and dole". The juxtapositions of “delight and dole”, “dirge in marriage”, and “an auspicious and a dropping eye” once again frame Claudius as
In other words, he displays the natural rise and fall of a deceiver. As the illusionist and criminal, Claudius is the owner of secrets he wishes would never be discovered since the throne isn’t the only thing at risk for him. To understand Claudius, one must understand that the severity of his crime comes at the price of his own head. In effect, this is Shakespeare hinting at the idea that the illusionist will eventually hurt himself through his own illusions. In the beginning, Claudius acts like a true noble king. To most characters he was of strong character and perhaps he only took the throne because he was told to since nothing was out of nature. However, as he quickly realizes that Hamlet knows of his faults, Claudius’ character makes a sharp turn in personality. This is shown through the way he addresses Hamlet. Before the meta-theatre occurs, Claudius is shown to be comfortable in addressing Hamlet, the son of the man he murdered, as his own; “But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—" (1.2.64). In comparison, as his fear begins to further develop into paranoia, he begins to address Hamlet as not his own child, but Gertrude’s child as he asks, “Where is your son?” (4.1.3). By doing this Claudius attempts to end relations with Hamlet physically and mentally. In spite of that, that didn’t seem to be enough for Claudius. In addition to considering Hamlet an enemy,
Claudius feels much guilt about the death of his brother he also faces the desires of power. The guilt of his brother death drives Claudius to be on his toes around the kingdom. He remains very scared that someone like Hamlet Jr. might avenge his father’s death. Hamlet Jr. chooses to use a play to test Claudius’s guilt. He rewrites parts of the play to replicate the story voiced by the ghost. Hamlet Jr. watches Claudius carefully during the performance, and the king leaves during it (Gale). Claudius gets up and leaves because he cannot bear to see the reenactment of how he killed his own brother. The internal conflict of the guilt about his brother eats Claudius up and he goes to repent for the corrupt act he has done: “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,/ And like a man to double business bound,/ I stand in pause where I shall first begin,/ And neglect; what if this cursed hand,/Were thicker than itself with brothers blood” (3.3.40-45). Claudius repents but knows his words will mean nothing to the heavens because Claudius is an insincere being whom
After the death of Old Hamlet and Gertrude’s remarriage to Claudius, Hamlet feels extremely angry and bitter. “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (1.2.133-134). Due to the death of his father, he is already in a state of despair and the lack of sympathy that his mother has towards his sorrow does not aid him in recovering from this stage of grief. “Good Hamlet, cast thy knighted colour off, / And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark” (1.2.68-69). Hamlet is struggling to accept the fashion in which Gertrude is responding to the death of Old Hamlet; she seems quite content with her new life with Claudius, which is a difficult concept for him to accept as after the d...
When Hamlet’s mother remarries to Claudius, her husband’s murderer, Hamlet is disgusted that she could move on so quickly. He’s also disturbed over the fact that his Uncle could kill his own brother, and then marry his brother’s widow. This “incestu...
Claudius is very paranoid towards Hamlet. While Claudius and Gertrude are introducing themselves to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Claudius has an idea how to find out what is causing Hamlet’s behavior, so he asks them to spy on Hamlet. Claudius tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern “And to gather/ So much as from occasion you may glean,/ Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus” (Shakespeare II.ii.15-17). Claudius is so paranoid that he has to resort to asking Hamlet’s friends to get information on him so he can know if Hamlet know the truth about him. Claudius constantly thinks of Hamlet as a threat and wants to keep an eye out for him constantly, so Claudius is paranoid that Hamlet will do something eventually.
Hamlet possesses an uncomfortable obsession with his mother’s sexuality. For this reason, Hamlet’s soliloquies provide most of the audience’s information about Gertrude’s sexual activities. In his first soliloquy, Hamlet refers to the relationship between Gertrude and Claudius when he exclaims, “Within a month…She married. O, most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (I, ii, 153-157). In saying this, Hamlet displays how hastily Gertrude has abandoned the late King Hamlet, Hamlet’s father, such that she has already married Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle. In addition, Hamlet acknowledges that Gertrude and Claudius have quickly developed a very sexual relationship. Despite the very recent death of her husband, Gertrude is unable to control her sexual desires, and she remarries less than two months after King Hamlet’s funeral.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet Relationships between characters of the younger and older generations is a main focus and central theme of Hamlet. The play differs from convention in that older characters are generally found to be the ones who have acted wrongly or who have made mistakes. The younger generation, Hamlet included, tend to act according to what they believe to be morally correct and appear to have a greater conscience and sense of justice. Generally, productions of Hamlet present the younger generation in such a way that the audience would feel sympathy with them and disgust at the actions of the older generation. However, there are exceptions to this and at certain places in the text,
Hamlet – the Wise Polonius The older gent in Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, namely Polonius, is no type character. Rather he is quite rounded and complex. This essay will explore his character.
His belief is that if Claudius were to die during confession, Claudiuss' spirit would ascend to heaven and Hamlet will not accept this. Hamlet figures he will wait until "He is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in th'incestuous pleasure of his bed, at game a-swearing, or about some act that has no relish of salvation in't, then trip him". (80) Hamlet's obvious plan is to wait until Claudius sins, and then avenge his father. This move cost Hamlet his life. Hamlet's previous decision was based upon his belief in divine purposes.
King Hamlet's "foul and most unnatural murder" (Shakespeare I.v.31) tops Claudius' list of egregious sins. Using his mastery of manipulation, Claudius, the “incestuous” and “adulterate beast” managed to win the honorable queen Gertrude by using the “shameful lust [of her] will” (I.v.49…52-53). Claudius had to use verbal trickery to influence Gertrude into switching husbands that quickly after her husband’s death, which shows his true skill: lying convincingly. Claudius manages to validate his ascent to the throne by diverting attention away from him and to the attack by the young Fortinbras of Norway (I.ii.1-38). The most horrible of Claudius’ crimes is his lack of emotion over his traitorous fratricide. Claudius does not even give his late brother a word of respect; instead the focus is upon the future of Denmark. Claudius goes so far as to chastise Hamlet for his “unmanly grief” (I.ii.98), emphasizing that for the benefit of Denmark; all those affected by the death of King Hamlet should keep a strong façade. Later in Hamlet, Claudius begins to openly express his remorse and recognizes the immorality of his actions when he says himself: “O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven;/ It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t, / A brother’s murder. Pray cannot I” (III.iii.40-42). He expresses his grief and sin in private but keeps a façade in front of the rest of the kingdom. Claudius is
Claudius is the king of Denmark, who is a very powerful and assertive man. He is the type of person that will do anything to get what he wants and everything in his power to stay king. He will do what it takes to get his way, even if that means betraying the person he is supposed to be committed to and love, his wife Gertrude. Gertrude is the mother of Hamlet, who she deeply cares for and loves. She is convinced that Claudius does as well. In order for Claudius to stay as king he must keep Gertrude happy and pleased. He accomplishes this by pretending to love Hamlet in front of Gertrude when in reality he wants to kill Hamlet. Claudius faces the truth that his secret got out and Hamlet knows he killed King Hamlet. Not wanting to ruin his reputation and of course stay king he plans to have Hamlet killed. He lets Gertrude believe...
Tragedies in the Greek theater when compared to tragedies in the Renaissance theater varied in similarities and differences. Greek theater encouraged the use of religious figures while Renaissance theater was supposed to be strictly pagan in its ideologies. Theater was most dominantly used to depict the social and religious constraints of the time period. For example, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex are both portrayals of deceit, murder, and revenge all of which lead to the demise of its leading characters. Hamlet is depicted as a young man who is seeking revenge for his fathers death. Oedipus is a king who means to free the people of Thebes from a disease that has been plaguing them. They share similarities in that each of their love interest are conduits of their pain and anguish, further pushing the protagonists over the precipice. The voice of reason that they share is Creon in Oedipus Rex and Horatio in Hamlet. Their tragic flaw is that they are both ultimately and utterly doomed and no amount of guidance will steer them away from what has been predestined by fate. They are ultimately doomed to be their own Achilles heel.
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...
Claudius killed Hamlet’s dad and then married his mom to become the leader of Denmark. Later in the play, Hamlet sees his dad’s ghost and is informed of the horrific act committed by his uncle. Hamlets’ dad’s ghost says, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I. V. 25). Hamlets’ dad says this to Hamlet so that his uncle could get retribution for his actions. Hamlet has many opportunities to kill Claudius, but is unable because of the wrong timing.