King Claudius: A Villain or Victim? Essay

This is because he has everything now that Old King Hamlet once had but is now dead, the thrown and the Queen. There are positive aspects of Claudius such as he is a good public speaker and has smooth negotiations with other people. He is very much a diplomat and he thinks of himself a very powerful man 'To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras, who, impotent and bed-rid.' From the start of Act 2 we see Claudius as being clever when associating with two of Hamlet's friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find out the cause of Hamlet's disturbed behaviour. He is courteous to them and full of flattery for himself.

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

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

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,

Fortinbras is threatening Denmark with vicious attack; the throne is stolen from its rightful owner; incest is being committed on the throne, and Denmark is being viewed as an appallingly weak monarchy. As the disturbance of the Great Chain of Being begins, it only shows signs of getting worse. The fact that Old Hamlet and Claudius are royal opposites does not help anything either. Old Hamlet is known as “a ‘majestical’ king and a great soldier”, and Claudius is known as “a smiling, creeping, serpent” (Wilson 58,44), while Old Hamlet’s “wisdom and human understanding” is contrasted with the depravities of Claudius, “murderer and usurper” (States 94,98). These profound divergences between Old Hamlet and Claudius are certainly dooming for Denmark’s Great Chain as they induce calamity.

In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, various characters manipulate others in order to gain power and fulfill their personal desires. The character who portrays the most immense manipulation is King Claudius, the brother of the late King Hamlet. Thus far, Claudius advertises himself as a sensible, honorable man who lives to serve the greater good, yet his manipulation exposes his dubious intentions, leaving him with an unfortunate fate.

Hamlet is as much a story of emotional conflict, paranoia, and self-doubt as it is one of revenge and tragedy. The protagonist, Prince Hamlet of Denmark, is instructed by his slain father’s ghost to enact vengeance upon his uncle Claudius, whose treacherous murder of Hamlet’s father gave way to his rise to power. Overcome by anguish and obligation to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet ultimately commits a number of killings throughout the story. However, we are not to view the character Hamlet as a sick individual, but rather one who has been victimized by his own circumstances.

Within the play there are two main families that are focused on; the ‘new’ royal family of Claudius, Gertrude and Hamlet, and Polonius’s family consisting of himself, his son Laertes and daughter Ophelia. This second family clearly shows that they love and support each other, seen when Polonius is giving his blessing to his children. When addressing Laertes, he gives a long winded speech on how he ought to conduct himself to live a good life, giving ‘...thy thoughts no tongue…Neither a borrower nor a lender be…to thine own self be true.’ Polonius does not want his son whom he loves, to give in to the temptations of the world outside. When dealing with Ophelia, Polonius loves her enough to try to steer her away from Hamlet’s ‘brokers’ vows and ‘tenders of his affection’ which may (and could be argued, ultimately do) cause her woe. In turn Ophelia and Laertes show their respect and love for Polonius by accepting his words and swearing to take them to heart. The royal family however, is portrayed in stark opposition to this family. Instead of familial love holding them together, betrayal and revenge destroys the relationships and lives of Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius. Gertrude betrays Hamlet by guiltlessly abandon her family for ‘incestuous sheets’, marrying her brother-in-law and seemingly not caring as to the effect it has on her son or late husband. As established before, Hamlet and Claudius have a relationship bound together by the desire to kill the other. This eventually culminates in the death of both families, demonstrating the destructive nature of the royal family which is contrasted by the other family, and how this destruction can extend into other’s

One of the qualities required of an efficient leader is the ability to compromise his/her wants/needs with that of the governed; Claudius’s ability to compromise illuminates his leadership skills. Also, Claudius, as a perceptive man, recognizes the immorality of his marriage to Queen Gertrude, so he reasons to the people of Demark: “our sometime sister; now our queen /Th’imperial jointress to this warlike state…Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone/ with this affair along. For all, our thanks” (I. ii. 8-9, 15-16). Claudius clarifies that his marriage to Queen Gertrude was that of political reasoning, clearing all thoughts that his marriage to Queen Gertrude was a result of lust. Claudius, also, does not fail to indicate that his marriage to Queen Gertrude was approved by the people, thus he would not have married Queen Gertrude without the consent of his people. Again, Claudius illustrates his good leadership skill by being selfless – he cares about the opinion of his people, and if they were to show disapproval of his marriage to Queen Gertrude, he would have abdicated his marriage. With the case of young Fortinbras,

In the beginning of the play, Claudius is portrayed as a cunning character who murders his own brother and marries his sister-in-law to attain the power of the crown, a power that he manages to craftily convince the people of Denmark belongs to him. It is not often that a softer side of Claudius is exposed to the audience, and when it is his views on religion and his own conduct come to light. This occurs during Claudius’ sole soliloquy, right after Hamlet has used the Mousetrap play to reveal to Claudius his knowledge of King Hamlet’s murder. Claudius considers the morality of his actions their religious implications when he admits that “[his] offense is rank, it smells to the heavens” (3.3.36). He identifies that his actions have been dishonest, and notices that his sins will most likely be noticed by God. He wants to repent for his actions, but doesn’t know if it is possible, wondering if “there (is) not rain enough in the sweet heavens / To wash (his hand covered in his brothers’ blood) white as snow” (3.3.45-6). He has to beg his body, “bow, stubborn knees, and, heart with strings of steel, / Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe” (3.3.70-1). Although he is begging his body to change, his subconscious is preventing him from bending his knees and softening his heart, therefore preventing him from acting on

In Act IV of Shakespeare's play titled Hamlet, King Claudius is shown to be extremely manipulative as he deceives numerous different characters throughout the play. Firstly, Claudius manipulates Gertrude by tricking her into thinking that he actually cares about Hamlet and his well-being. In the beginning of act IV, Claudius states, “His liberty is full of threats to all—To you yourself, to us, to everyone. Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answered? It will be laid to us, whose providence. Should have kept short, restrained and out of haunt, This mad young man. But so much was our love, We would not understand what was most fit, But, like the owner of a foul disease, To keep it from divulging, let it feed. Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?” (IV. i. 12-21). Claudius proclaims that he will be held responsible for Hamlet’s actions. Despite the obviousness and the pathetically over-exaggerated speech, Gertrude falls for this and agrees to send Hamlet away to England for Hamlet’s own “protection”. Claudius does this because he wants Hamlet to be “accidentally” killed by the prince of England so that Hamlet is no longer a threat to Claudius. However, Gertrude obviously has no idea about any of this. This shows that Gertrude is pretty clueless when it comes to situations like this whereas Claudius is actually quite intelligent as he is able to trick Gertrude easily. Additionally, he manipulates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern by making them spy on Hamlet and lure him

Unlike Hamlet though, Claudius thinks about his actions because he wants to make sure he makes a decision that will be the best for him. He knows if he just kills Hamlet the people of the kingdom will turn on him because of the love they all share for Hamlet. He sends in Rozencrantz and Guildenstern to find out what is wrong with Hamlet so that Claudius can decide what to do from there. His decision to send Rozencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on and talk to Hamlet is illustrated when he says, “So by your companies/To draw him on pleasures, and to gather/So much as from occasion you may glean/[Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus]/That opened lies within our remedy” (II.II.14-18). Claudius and Hamlet are both extremely sly and cunning and posses similarities with their ability to act, but this could merely be because of the education they both have which has brought them common sense and the ability to think before acting. One major difference of their ability to act is when Hamlet acts on impulse and kills Claudius’ advisor Polonius. Hamlet unlike Claudius has so much anger built up inside of him because of his father’s death and it kept building and building until he finally let it out when talking to his mother about Claudius. He heard a noise from behind a curtain which was Polonius’, and without thinking Hamlet stabs him releasing some of his pent up aggression. Hamlet shows the anger he has within when he says, “A bloody deed-almost as

   The legendary drama, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare is a play illustrating the theme of virtue vs. villainy. The 17th century tragedy is plagued with treachery and deceit as it opens with the news of a foul murder in the kingdom of Denmark. Prince Hamlet, by word of his late father's ghost, is informed that his uncle Claudius is to blame for his father's sudden demise. Prince Hamlet's mission is to uncover the secrets surrounding the murder and to avenge his father's death. Thus, the insidious web of disease and corruption is formed. The relationship between disease leading to the greater corruption of Denmark plays a significant role in the lives of the principle players.

     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.

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,