Hamlet and Claudius’ Power Struggle Essay

On William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, after the assassination of his father, Hamlet thinks he is living in a world full of corruption and deceit, where everything is falling apart and everyone is against him. An imminent, exaggerated, and passionate love for his mother is his main feature. Although others argue that Hamlet’s obsession to murder Claudius is strictly to claim revenge for his father’s death, it is Hamlet’s obsessive desire to possess his mother in an unhealthy and, perhaps incestuous, relationship. Hamlet also appears jealous of Claudius, his father-uncle, jealous of him for having Gertrude and for owning the crown. He lives a love-hate relationship with his mother. He is full of anger towards her, but at the same time he

Corruption and power have been inextricably linked for so long that many consider them to be one and the same, forever destined to accompany each other. Yet, corruption among the powerful has not been met with complacency in human history, rather the opposite instead. The Ancient Romans pioneered the first legal system with brutal punishments aimed to prevent ambitus, or political corruption. This strong desire to forcibly isolate corruption and power can be seen in China’s recent decision to declare severe cases of political corruption as worthy of the “death penalty”. Corruption even correlates with the development status of a country, which explains the common “African leadership is corrupt” rhetoric. Corruption and power may seem to be

After killing his brother, King Hamlet, Claudius later looks back at what he has done and is scared of the consequences, specifically the danger prince Hamlet poses. Although at the beginning of the play Claudius and Gertrude beg Hamlet to “remain in here in the cheer and comfort of [Claudius’s] eye in Denmark and “think of [Claudius] as of a father”, by the middle of the play, Claudius’s intentions turn to hatred, selfishness, and murder (1.2.111-112). Fear and a strong desire for power drive all of Claudius’s plans to dispose of Hamlet. He does everything he is capable of to retain his crown and keep Hamlet out of the way, as “even before Claudius learns of Hamlet's knowledge of the murder of his father, Claudius recognizes that the prince's madness threatens him”

The Ghost does not refer to Claudius as his name but by other words such as 'Ay that incestuous, that adulterate beast.' He is angry with Claudius because he lusted after his Queen and feelings, he thinks Claudius is inhuman. A lot of negative language is used in Act 1 by which Shakespeare gives us a sinister picture of Claudius. He comes across as selfish, calculating and greedy.

How far do you agree that Hamlet’s hesitation to kill Claudius in Act Three is underpinned by religious reasons? Of all the different motives Shakespeare presents for Hamlet’s lack of action, which seems to be the most important?

Beyond Claudius’ need for admiration, he also tends to disregard the feelings of people around him. This is shown in a similar way as his need for admiration, being that he kills his brother to gain power. Such a selfish action will obviously impact those around King Hamlet, but Claudius disregard that and simply does it for his own gain. He doesn’t think about how Hamlet’s death will affect Gertrude, young Hamlet, Polonius, or anyone else close to him. In the aftermath of this, instead of helping Hamlet through the hard time following his fathers sudden death, he tells Hamlet he’s not a man for mourning for such a long time. Staying on the topic of the death of a father, Claudius uses Polonius’ death to get Laertes to want to avenge his

Many external conflicts occur in this play. However, the main conflict is between Hamlet and Claudius. Hamlets anger towards Claudius is being driven by his intense emotions and anxiety in the event of losing his father. Hamlet believes Claudius has taken everything from him, and he is on a mission to get revenge. Claudius is being driven by two things, his naturally cynical and greedy nature, and his thirst for power. These are what drive him to great lengths to ensure Hamlet never gets his way. Hamlet on the other hand, is the exact opposite of Claudius in every other aspect except one. Hamlet, like Claudius possesses the ability to be cold and calculative. Both characters can

"Corruption is a tree, whose branches are Of an immeasurable length: they spread Ev'rywhere, and the dew that drops from thence Hath infected some chairs and stools of authority" (Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher). Corruption in Shakespeare's play Hamlet has infected Claudius, the brother of the old king Hamlet who kills him out of lust for power. In Shakespeare's play Hamlet, corruption had inevitably led to the downfall of Denmark. Hamlet describes the present state of Denmark as an "unweeded garden" (Act 1 Sc 2, line 135-137) where only nasty weeds grow in it. Hamlet cannot believe that Denmark has now deteriorated and have become such a scandalous place where the new king is like a drunkard and is involved in an incestuous

The dark and unspoken intrinsic desire for control and power lays within all of us and to obtain this, we find ourselves unjustly deceiving or degrading others. Hamlet begins in medias res, with the first words being “Who’s there?”. The use of the interrogative statement sets a scene that reflects the mild political and social uncertainty in Denmark. In an unsettling situation, Claudius has been revealed as an “adulterous beast” masked in murder who is desperate for power and control. He admits, “Of those effects for which I did murder- My crown, mine own ambition and my Queen” suggests he is only interested in the materialistic objects that offer him political power and control over the Kingdom. Furthermore, fearing that these will be taken away from him, he persuades his potential enemy

Hamlet undergoes many changes throughout the play in his personality and this is where Hamlet being both the protagonist/antagonist factor comes in. His revenge for his uncle Claudius is what make further understanding of the theme of the play (Untermacher). Claudius would be considered another antagonist of the play (Mabillard). His mind is set deep and far away from the physical world because he is gone mad that both helps him and creates difficulties for him in his time of need for revenge against his uncle, Claudius, and his mother. Hamlet tries his best to put off the revenge with his father’s death, which is his tragic

Laertes originally confronts Claudius because he suspects the King was involved in both his father and sister’s death. When he does this, Claudius shifts the blame on Hamlet, which leads the two of them to plot Hamlet’s death in order to avenge Laertes’ deceased family members.

The abstract concept of evil has vastly transformed throughout human history, ranging for the supernatural and mystical to the very humans amongst whom we live. In modern times, evil has become an entirely ambiguous term. Who is evil? What is evil? Men like Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein have been garnered with the term ‘evil’ for their atrocities against fellow humans. Now it seems evil has a solely human significance; when a person violates the individual rights of others on a massive scale, he/she is evil. In Shakespeare’s time – the Elizabethan era – evil had a similar, but somewhat altered connotation in the human mind. Evil was an entity that violated the English Christian

Claudius, the King and the Sinner, the Husband and the Brother, the Uncle and the Father, the Bold and the Fearful. King Claudius struggled with a constant state of confliction throughout the play, both physically and mentally. The confliction of Claudius is shown consistently for the whole duration of the play. The confliction of Claudius is shown by who he is to the public, who he is when no one is around, and who he is to his family.

The internal conflicts prevalent in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet are the reason why the play is viewed as a classic. Conflicts are imperative in tragic plays as conflicts are the stimulus for catastrophe in the end. The characters in Hamlet face inward conflicts that are equally important as their outward conflicts. Three characters who especially exhibit this are Hamlet, Claudius, and Ophelia. The conflicts that these characters face play a major role in their downfalls and, ultimately, their deaths. Through Claudius’ struggle to conceal the murder of King Hamlet, Ophelia’s guilt for Hamlet’s madness, and Hamlet’s inaction due to fear, Shakespeare conveys that each character faces a dilemma, in which there are no simple solutions.

The play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare is very dramatic, and involves many tragic events which result in the death of all the characters. It is therefore referred to as one of the most tragic play by Shakespeare. There are many tragic events such as the death of the pure and innocent Ophelia, and the murder of two loving fathers: King Hamlet and Polonius. As the play progresses, hatred becomes evident between many characters of the play, which not only affect the victim who is “Prince Hamlet” in this case, but also others surrounding him. The person responsible for these devastating outcomes is Claudius. Claudius can be seen as the one who is responsible for the tragedy of the play. Claudius’ murder of King Hamlet, his furious actions to