Claudius Rhetorical Analysis Act 3

What exemplifies a speech in which persuasive appeals and devices convey emotion and persuade audience members without using false information? Antony's speech in Act III of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare exemplifies a speech in which persuasive techniques work to achieve the speaker's goal. Mark Antony's speech consists of several persuasive techniques that amalgamate to form an effective piece of persuasive rhetoric. Antony's speech is an effective piece of persuasive rhetoric because he uses ethos, pathos, and rhetorical questions.

Many people know that Julius Caesar was betrayed and killed by many people who he had thought to be his friends. Some less common knowledge is that he did still have friends and others who stayed loyal to him. One man named Mark Antony was the most loyal of them all, even after Caesar’s death. When he found out Caesar had been killed, he began plotting to get on the traitor’s good sides and make it seem as if he had joined them so that he could convince the citizens to fight against them with him. He deceived the traitors and convinced them to let him speak at Caesar’s funeral, and in this speech he turned the citizens against them using very powerful rhetorical skills. After he had drove the traitors from the city, he took control of the city and led them to victory in a war against the conspirator’s armies. These are three telling examples that prove Antony’s skill and potential as a leader.

In Act III, scene III, Shakespeare illustrates Claudius's inner turmoil with an internal monologue. In Claudius's soliloquy, he states that he had murdered his brother,the absolute confirmation that such an act has occurred. Through Claudius soliloquy, Shakespeare reveals Claudius's inner character and further characterizes his disposition, though the remorse he feels is not for his slain brother but for the consequences he faces because of it. Shakespeare is able to depict Claudius’s internal conflict and how it reflects his character.

The ghost had said the soliloquy to show how the city of Denmark was affected by the Claudius’s actions. Claudius being called was a symbolic moment, it symbolizes the serpent as an introduction of sin into the world (R). He is now known to be causing sins to the world starting with incest and marrying the King’s wife. Although to others Claudius is seen as a serpent, he knows that he has done wrong. In his one and only soliloquy of the whole play he is praying and says:

In Hamlet, the characters offer a distinct parallel to certain aspects of the fall of man. Most prominently, Claudius can be closely associated with the serpent in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3:3 of the Bible, the serpent tempts Eve to bite the forbidden apple. In a similar fashion, Claudius is tempted by the evil of his own greed and jealousy. Eve's temptation results in the murder of Paradise while Claudius' temptation results in the murder of his own brother, the king, and the paradise of Elsinore. Claudius, the "...serpent that did sting [Hamlet's] father's life" (I.ii, 39), parallels directly to the biblical 'sting' of the serpent.

When Hamlet seeks revenge, he begins the inter­generational strife, but Claudius takes a less than direct method of fighting back. Rather than confront Hamlet with either words or weapons, Claudius attempts to turn Hamlet’s piers against the prince. In so doing, Claudius seems to believe that change the war from an inter­ generational one to a intra­generational one which involves only the young would leave him inculpable and safe in the throne. His methods are extraordinary, but Hamlet’s familiarity with his own generation protects him from this generational treason until the final moments of his life. After killing the elder Hamlet, Claudius attempts to restore order in his generation, and hopes to prevent conflict between him and the young.

Claudius attempts to prove Hamlet is immature and effeminate by pointing out his “unmanly grief” (94). He continues to defame Hamlet by mentioning he has “a heart unfortified” (95) and “a mind impatient” (96). Claudius’s direct claim to Hamlet’s weakness proves that he is insecure and in need of self-empowerment. It is clear that Claudius intends to degrade Hamlet when he claims he has an “understanding simple and unschooled” (97). While Claudius claims Hamlet’s grief proves a lack of intelligence, he later claims that “going back to school in Wittenberg,/ It is most retrograde to [Claudius’s and Gertrude’s] desire” (113-114).

He asks if “[he] [can] be pardon'd and retain th' offense” (Shakespeare 3.3.57) and not be sinned for murdering his brother, so he could become the king of Denmark. Claudius wants to be able to forget that he misbehaved and stop thinking about death and murder throughout the story. Even if he is accused of killing his brother, Claudius may still be thinking about executing Hamlet as he tries to in the story (Zeffirelli). Shakespeare has made Claudius’ character to be a wife-stealing and crown-stealing guy who only cares about ruling Denmark and being with pretty women. Claudius’ actions affected many people throughout the whole story

(III.iv.57-60) In contrast to “a mildewed ear / blasting his wholesome brother” (III.iv.65-66) comparing King Hamlet to Claudius.

In act 2, scene 2 ,line 551, his soliloquy shows the struggle he is working with internally. He is sickened by the queen and Claudius and complains about how he hasn’t done anything about it. His only plan is to wait and let God judge the incest between them. He continues contemplating aimlessly over how he is going to kill Claudius and get revenge. In the end he waits and observes Claudius in order to get more proof.

     Claudius’ lies are effective enough to persistently deceive to play’s antagonist, Hamlet. Despite Hamlet’s disgust with Claudius for marrying Gertrude, and his view of Claudius as “a king of shreds and patches” (III.iv.104), Hamlet suspicion of Claudius as a murderer is preliminarily nonexistent. The appearance of a spirit claiming to be Hamlet’s dead father first alerts Hamlet to the actions of “that incestuous, that adulterate beast, /With witchcraft of his with, with traitorous gifts” (I.v.42-3). And yet still, Hamlet remains hesitant to believe that Claudius was the murderer, searching for complementary evidence. The play that Hamlet enacts -- designed to “catch the conscience of the king” (II.ii.562) --succeeds in revealing Claudius’ guilt, but does not provoke instant action on Hamlet’s part. So effective is Claudius’ manipulation of the royal circle that he manages to almost permanently stay the revelation of his guilt, and if it weren’t for supernatural intervention against an injustice, he may never have been exposed.

Once Hamlet is sure of Claudius’ guilt, it is Hamlet’s belief in his religion that leads him to inaction. In Hamlet’s mind, it is now his rightful duty to avenge his father’s murder. At the end of Act 3 Scene 3, Hamlet has a perfect opportunity to kill Claudius, when he sees the King kneeling in prayer. Hamlet enters the King's private chapel with a sword in hand, ready to kill Claudius. As Hamlet enters he observes, "now he is a-praying, and now I’ll do 't"(3.3.77-78). But, Claudius is agonizing over his actions. He has committed

In the movie, Act 3 Scene 3 consisted of Hamlet eavesdropping into Claudius’ confession. Hamlet wants to kill Claudius at this moment but he decides not to. The thoughts going through Hamlet’s mind if shown in this quote: “To take him in the purging of his soul When he is fit and season'd for his passage? No.” This is basically Hamlet thinking to himself that if Claudius is confessing his sins right now, then he is seen as holy and in riddance of all his wrongs. Hamlet’s new plan is that he cannot attack now but only when Claudius is seen of doing something guilty. This is basically saying that since Claudius is confessing, his sins will be removed. Hamlet because of this doesn’t want to kill Claudius because he essentially wants Claudius to have the worse afterlife for what he did. Hamlet instead decides to

I enjoyed this moral critique, and, assuming Shakespeare intended for his audience to make the connection, gives me a better understanding of the playwright's own morality. Looking at the play through this moralistic perspective, Claudius’s actions would be defined as immoral: he violates a general moral principle by killing his brother and then again by taking what belonged to the King and made it his without permission. The murdered king does reappear, however, as a a ghost.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most popular dramas in world literature, as it examines the passionate, but toxic ambitions of King Claudius. He murders his own brother, King Hamlet, to overtake the throne, power, and wife. As a result of King Claudius’ fratricide, he inherits the “primal eldest curse” of Cain and Abel, and the dispersion of his venom ends the lives of several major characters. Including, of course, Prince Hamlet, who gets drawn into a deep depression over his father’s death, who later visits him as an apparition. This essay will analyze Shakespeare’s symbolic use of poison, embodied by King Claudius and the unintended consequences of his wicked acts.