King Claudius And Hamlet Comparison Essay

In his multi-layered tragedy, Hamlet, William Shakespeare creates a comparison between the two foil characters of King Hamlet and King Claudius to further convey the theme of corruption, and the poor leadership that results from it. Shakespeare utilizes both explicit and implicit comparisons made by other characters and the two characters themselves to juxtapose the “Hyperion” King Hamlet to the “Satyr” and “rank” Claudius. These comparisons are made to emphasize the corruption of the current King that has led to “something rotten in the state of Denmark” and has left its citizens “sick at heart”.

In his very first soliloquy, Hamlet makes many comparisons between the two Kings. The first of Hamlet’s many comparisons is illustrated by his use of mythological allusions to “Hyperion”, a brave and glorious sun-god, to describe his father and “a satyr”, a lustful and constantly drunk creature, to describe his uncle. Hamlet’s use of a simile in the line “but no more like my father than I to Hercules” not only establishes his own self-deprecating nature but also serves to juxtapose Hamlet’s opinion of his father to that of

King Hamlet had been known to actively participate in battle whereas King Claudius does not seem to realize the importance of battle which becomes apparent when he states that “no jocund health that Denmark drinks today but the great cannon to the clouds shall tell” even though they are in the midst of preparing for a war. He also demonstrates his poor leadership when Polonius orders him to “give first admittance to th’ambassadors” and is seemingly unfazed by the inappropriateness of Polonius’ actions. Claudius also concedes that young Fortinbras wants to attack Denmark now because he is “having a weak supposal of our worth or thinking by our late dear brother’s death” This supports the idea that Claudius is not a strong leader like his