The meaning of evil has changed throughout history. In today’s world, evil has become a hazy term. What is evil? Who is evil? Men like Osama Bin Laden have been described as the term 'evil' for their atrocities against humanity. Now it seems evil has an exclusively human meaning; when a person violates the rights of others on a massive scale, he or she is evil. In Shakespeare's time, the Renaissance period, evil had a similar, but altered meaning for people. Evil was a being that violated Christian moral codes. Therefore, a man such as Claudius, from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, a murderer and a ruthless manipulator, who uses "rank" deeds to usurp the thrown is in direct violation with the Elizabethan societal rules, and he is evil. Greed, …show more content…
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 …show more content…
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Claudius is the ambitious antagonist who will do absolutely anything to become king and rule Denmark. Claudius commits fratricide, regicide, and deicide so that he could quench his thirst for success and power. As he ascends to top of the kingdom, he kills and tears down anyone in his way. Many things are rotten in the state of Denmark and it originates from the royalty, which greatly affects the well being of the state of Denmark. When thinking of this idea of a rotten royalty, it important to think about what is the cause of this rotting kingdom. Before Claudius claimed the throne, the kingdom was prosperous and beautiful environment. Claudius is the weed that kills everything that was once pure in Denmark. He causes all of the internal destruction, which causes Denmark to decay from the inside. Claudius breaks all laws for his evil and selfish plan of becoming the king and eventually spoils the whole
Early on in Hamlet, a guard slightly mentions that there is “something rotten in the state of Denmark” (Shakespeare, I.iv.90). The tranquility of Denmark is suddenly shattered by Claudius’s marriage to Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, only a short time following the death of King Hamlet. To Hamlet was revealed the murder of his father and becomes determined to avenge his father’s death no matter the cost. This sets off a trail of pretending, backstabbing, plotting, luring, and deadly accidents that ultimately lead to a clash of hatred between the characters and the doom of Denmark. Shakespeare animates the characters with these sinful deeds and vengeance to illustrate that these corruptions strips the innocence and sanity in human kind. Had Hamlet not gone on a tangent and lost his mind about the murder of his father, there might not have been a domino effect of madness knocking down everyone else in this royal chain. Hamlet pretends to have app...
Claudius, the uncle of Prince Hamlet and the King in the play, has his secret guilty conscience exposed when he is shown a theatrical performance that mirrors the horrible situation he is in, causing his reality of death to be immediately determined by Hamlet. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet is told by the ghost of his father of how Claudius robbed him “of life, of crown, [and] of queen”; however, Hamlet cannot accuse Claudius of murder due to the fact that he has not revealed any sign of guilt to him, or to any other character in the play (I. V. 75). Shakespeare purposely uses an aside to reveal Claudius’ true emotions of how he believes his deed “is...ugly [and such a] / heavy burden” so that the audience can visualize how one hides
Throughout the play, Claudius faces an entanglement between having dictatorial authority and doing as he pleases, and listening to his kingdom in order to sustain his status. Claudius’s primary goal is to sustain his throne as the ruler of Denmark, and he’s willing to go through any means in order to achieve his goal. However, due to the questionable circumstances that led Claudius to attain the throne, he is required to temporarily sacrifice his desires at times in order to upheave his public appeal. At the beginning of the play, Claudius presents a speech to his courtiers, expressing his grief concerning Old Hamlet’s death. Additionally, he shares the news of his marriage with Gertrude, the Queen. Through the manipulative tone he uses during h...
Claudius decieves everyone in different ways and at different times , always and only to protect himself from everyone else finding out that he killed the king. We can't truly say that he deceived Gertrude or not because we still don't know if she knows about Claudius killing the king or not because that is part of her own deception , but we know that he deceived the people and Hamlet himself (before he talks to the ghost). This next quote comes from the ghost of the king convicting Claudius of the murder ,"If thou didst ever thy dear father love- revenge his foul and most unnatural murder(p.57, act1,scene5 ,lines29-31). This quote proves that Claudius actually did commit the murder. This next quote is from Claudius himself after the funeral and the wedding giving a speach about the death of the king and the whole deal with Fortinbras,"To our most valiant brother-so much for him(p.21, act1 ,scene2 ,line25)." This quote shows that Claudius obviously doesn't have much remorse for his dead brother and might be covering up the fact that he killed him. And we all know what that means...What does it mean?! It means that he actually is the rat and is the evil one in the play.
Hamlet’s struggle to re-order Denmark ultimately results in extreme chaos. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince Hamlet destroys Ophelia while feigning madness, mortally combats Laertes, who is avenging Polonius’s death, and fails to kill King Claudius, who contributes to Hamlet’s murder as well as the deaths of Gertrude and Laertes. Hamlet’s struggle to restore order in Denmark clearly results in these chaotic situations.
He effectively fools everyone about the murder and plants the seed of death within the kingdom, bringing the ghost to speak to young Hamlet. Claudius poisons the throne with his unjust claim and as a result also poisons the whole kingdom. Hamlet tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, The state that Denmark is in directly relates to Claudius’ actions of murdering the king, which appears to be poisoning the kingdom. Claudius marries his own dead brother’s wife and gets away with it, creating corruption in the family and in turn poisoning all of Denmark. The royal family begins to fall apart, coinciding with the fall of the nation they rule, all because of Claudius’ malicious doings. In the midst of the play it is seen that the king himself look as if he is also a victim of poison when he says, Claudius comes to terms with what he has done, he knows that he has committed the absolute worst sin of all; murder. He has effectively poisoned his mind with infecting it with thoughts and feelings of extreme guilt, so much so that he cannot even pray or ask for forgiveness. Claudius uses the word “rank,” in this context can be inferred as, having a foul and offensive odor, and it strongly implies that
These are two: Claudius' incest with the Queen, and his murder of his brother. Now it is of great importance to note the profound difference in Hamlet's attitude towards these two crimes. Intellectually of course he abhors both, but there can be no question as to which arouses in him the deeper loathing. Whereas the murder of his father evokes in him indignation and a plain recognition of his obvious duty to avenge it, his mother's guilty conduct awakes in him the intensest horror
King Claudius, as first revealed by Hamlet Sr.’s ghost, is a corrupted man. During Hamlet’s exchange with his ghostly father in the castle barracks, the secret of Claudius’s crime is exposed to Hamlet “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wears his crown.” (1.5.45). Claudius had killed Hamlet Sr. and was now trying to hide it with notable acting. Continuing with lacerations at Claudius, the ghost described him as “that incestuous, adulterate beast/ With witchcraft of
Since the dawn of time, man has struggled fiercely over the internal conflict within himself between doing what is right for oneself as opposed to doing what is right for society in general. It is what I refer to as the good vs. evil complex. The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare somewhere between 1599 and 1603, presents a plethora of characters that are faced with the challenge of not allowing self-interest to reign supreme.
Seen from the early scenes of the play until Claudius’ last breath, Claudius’ only concern is gaining and maintaining power by any means necessary. His introduction into power begins with his own manipulative plot—that succeeds—to kill his brother, which the ghost tells Hamlet within the first act of the play (Shakespeare 59, 61). Claudius’ entrance into the position of king is centered around crime, murder, and manipulation, which in return is the basis of his reign. Further along into the play, readers notice that majority of the men portrayed in the play are concerned about justice or moral balance. However, the man in the position of absolute power is preoccupied with lust and schemes. As the play progresses, Claudius’ malfeasances become more apparent once Hamlet’s “insanity” reaches its peak and kills Polonius (171). More concerned with preserving his seat in the court, Claudius resorts to a plan
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...
... 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.
The Nature of Evil in William Shakespeare's Hamlet Works Cited Missing 'Hamlet' is a Shakespearean revenge tragedy, which was a strong, and entertaining form of drama popular in the Elizabethan era during which Shakespeare (1562-1616) lived. ' Hamlet', like many of Shakespeare's plays has been inspired by another famous tragedy, in this case, 'The Spanish Tragedy', a revenge play written by Thomas Kyd. The great political turbulence that was taking place in England with conspiracies against the Queen and those in power could also have prompted Shakespeare to write a play like 'Hamlet'. Though the play is made up of the stock conventions of a typical revenge tragedy - a murder, with the ghost of the murdered returning to a loved one, the delay in vengeance, mental disturbance of the avenger and finally, the avenger's death, Shakespeare has made 'Hamlet' original by focusing on the psychology and tragedy of the characters and the situations. The characters in the play are like real people, and even though the play was written centuries ago, readers can still relate to their mentality, sensitivity and reactions to situations.
In addition to this internal struggle, Hamlet feels it is his duty to dethrone Claudius and become the King of Denmark. This revenge, he believes, would settle the score for his mother’s incestuous relationship and would reinstate his family’s honor. These thoughts are solidified in Act I, Scene 5, when his father’s ghost appears and informs Hamlet that is was Claudius who murdered him, and that Claudius deprived him “of life, of crown, and queen” (line 75). This information leads to Hamlet’s promise to kill Claudius, while not punishing his mother for their incestuous marriage. His statement, “thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain” (lines 102-103), demonstrates his adamant decision to let nothing stand in the way of his promise for revenge.
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.