Inaugural Speech In Hamlet

In act 1 scene 2 of “Hamlet” the character Hamlet speaks his first soliloquy which reveals his innermost thoughts and feelings to the audience. In this soliloquy Hamlet’s unstable state of mind is evident as well as his feelings of despair about his father’s death and his disgust of his mother’s remarriage to his uncle Claudius. Hamlet’s hatred for his uncle is shown through harsh comparisons between Claudius and his late father. This soliloquy takes place after Claudius has begun his reign as king and has addressed the court for the first time but before Hamlet hears about the apparition that Horatio and the guards have seen. Hamlet’s character and personality are shown in this soliloquy through the use of classical imagery, diction and

When Shakespeare introduces Claudius and Hamlet in his play Hamlet Shakespeare uses diction, syntax, and imagery to distinctly characterize them to the audience. Using long, complex sentences and stately diction reinforces the image of Claudius as a cold, rehearsed politician to the audience, while Hamlet’s sputtering sentences, diction, allusions, and imagery reflect his passionate nature. By having Hamlet’s soliloquy follow Claudius’ monologue Shakespeare solidifies their characters by contrasting these literary elements.

It is in Act one scene two that we are first introduced to the character of Claudius. The impression made by him is that of a powerful and controlled man who is respected by most. His mannerisms of speech are graceful and are nothing less than the words of a king, 'to bear our heats with grief, and our whole kingdom.' Claudius is presented to us by

Shakespeare's drama Hamlet has become a central piece of literature of Western culture. It is the story of a prince named Hamlet, who lost his father. Soon after that he has to confront multiple obstacles and devises a series of situations to defend the new king's royalty. Furthermore, he had to prove that King Claudius, who was the prince's uncle, had killed Hamlet's father. This story has remained among the most popular and the most controversial plays around the world. It generates controversy for all the doubts that this play leaves with the readers. One of the most questioning situations in the play is the delay of Hamlet in avenging Claudius' for his father's death. As a reader this

Throughout history, literature has been able to captivate and enchant audiences of all backgrounds. Words have an undeniable ability to sway a crowd’s emotions and truly affect them. William Shakespeare, one of the most revered writers of all time, had such skills. His plays are timeless pieces of art considered the foundations of the English literature. Shakespeare’s most dramatic and infamous tragedy, Hamlet, has earned its place as a cornerstone. In the play, Shakespeare poetically writes speeches that show the true colours of the characters, whether good or devious. The main antagonist, Claudius, shows his treachery to the Elizabethan audience, through his speech to his wife Gertrude. Claudius’ conversation with Gertrude in Act 4,

WIth this initial first line, he satirically assaults Claudius’ claim the prince is both his cousin and his child. One may conclude that Hamlet’s mind and witticism, which partitions him from Claudius and Gertrude, add to the acrimony of him and the imperial couple. In this paper I would address and investigate the humorous parts of the protagonist, while analyzing the different witty figures, and also remark on the perplexing relationship between the play’s comic and genuine components, the novel blend of happiness and seriousness.

In the play Hamlet, Claudius is known as the villain of the play. He is the lead antagonist who is characterized as a cunning, incestuous, and vile, usurper. Many readers and critics of the play do not dispute this perception, especially after reading how Claudius became the King of Denmark; He steals the throne by poisoning his brother, the previous king, and quickly marrying Queen Gertrude his widowed sister in law (1.5.42, 60-74). The general reading of Claudius’s character paints him to be a corrupt, cowardly politician, in addition to being Hamlet’s (the protagonist) foe. This portrait engages first-time readers to judge Claudius immediately and although this perspective of his personality is proven to be true, it is limited. Claudius

     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.

This current situation of Hamlet brings forth pressures from society and himself leading him to hallucinations and crime to alleviate pain. Hamlet’s jealousy over Claudius causes Hamlet to desire victory out of a nonexistent conflict,

Claudius shows two faces; one of the grieving brother in mourning for his dead king and then as if the earth isn’t cold on his brother’s grave, he acts calm and professional as King himself showing almost no sadness at all up to entrance of Hamlet in the scene. To move that quickly in emotion, sets the passage and the context as a strongly passionate scene for conflict to come later on. Returning to Claudius, his motion to marry Gertrude and its here we can identify some scheming in the out and open; “Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,

To begin, the playwright uses Claudius to convey his message that what appears to be true is not always what it seems. In the beginning of the play, Claudius appears to be mourning and sad about King Hamlet's passing when he says: “ Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death/ The memory be green, and that it us befitted/ To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom” (1.2.1-3).

Claudius manipulates his speech through the use of flattery, condescension and empathy in order to persuade Hamlet to take his side and exploit him for his own purposes. Claudius first creates a false sense of compassion and unity with Hamlet, declaring that “Our whole kingdom [is] contracted in one brow of woe” (1.2.3 - 4), thus claiming to mourn the king’s death as deeply as Hamlet and uniting the two in a common passion. He further creates an illusion of equality by consistently using the “royal we” throughout his monologue, in particular when discussing marrying Gertrude: “Our sometimes sister, now our queen...have we...taken to wife” (1.2.8 - 14). Through this use of “we”, he implicates everyone in this kingdom as a part of this action and deflects potential criticism, as Hamlet and other people view this action as inappropriate and dishonorable. Because he wishes to further draw attention away from the king’s death, he encourages Hamlet to resolve his mourning period. He first patronizes Hamlet through the use of repetition so as to reinforce his new authority as king. Claudius reminds him, “You must know your father lost a father, that father lost, lost his” (1.2.93 - 94). He later scolds Hamlet’s extended mourning as “unmanly grief” (1.2.98) so as to emasculate and shame Hamlet’s actions. He then changes subject by urging Hamlet to

William Shakespeare’s dramatic presentation of disillusionment within Hamlet, to a great measure presents the notion that the quality of a leader is derived from one’s possession of integrity. Hamlet’s disillusionment which emerges from the discovery of Claudius’ regicide and the usurpation of his father’s divine position, produces a plethora of human dilemmas, such as the moral struggle between renaissance and medieval ideologies, the paralysing effect of uncertainty and the defining nature of mortality. Thus by exploring the universal complexity of human condition and its ability withhold integrity, Shakespeare connects to audiences of various historical contexts.

In the book of Hamlet, William Shakespeare introduces the character King Claudius in act one scene two. The character makes an impression of a powerful man who commands respect from every individual. Shakespeare portrays Claudius’ role as the most crucial and intriguing person. In the play, Claudius is the most mysterious, the most controversial and the most discussed character as many people look at him only to see a villain. As the play starts, Claudius is the King of Denmark, who has inherited Gertrude, and the uncle to prince Hamlet. As with the rest of supporting characters in the play, Claudius is underdeveloped to his complete potential (Mabillard,n.p). His major role that he plays in Hamlet is to spawn Hamlet’s anger and confusion

The stage is awash with the aftermath of a fateful battle. A lifeless king rests amid the corpses of his family and followers, slain for his sins. His nephew, Hamlet, has just taken the life of the man who stole King Hamlet’s crown and passes on with the confidence that he has just liberated his nation, Denmark, from an oppressive ruler. Unfortunately, what Hamlet fails to grasp is the amount of incalculable sacrifices that guided him to be able to tear away Claudius’ crown. In actuality, the lack of animosity in Claudius’ character as well as the sheer destruction that resulted from Hamlet’s journey to avenge his father acts as evidence to the poignant truth: Hamlet was responsible for his country’s decay and cannot be considered the