King Claudius serves as the primary antagonist in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In the play, Claudius is the recently-crowned King of Denmark after murdering his brother King Hamlet and taking the throne. Shortly after King Hamlet’s funeral, Claudius went on to married his brother’s widow. Throughout the play, Claudius’s only concerns are himself and maintaining power. Claudius will stop at nothing to preserve his authority whether it be spying or murdering allies and family members. Claudius is shown to have slight remorse for poisoning his brother, however, not enough to come clean or even wish he had not done so. He is a complicated character, but has definite – despite unusual – rules and ethics he lives by. King Claudius is brilliant …show more content…
The King addresses his court saying that the kingdom should, more or less, forget about his dead predecessor and calls specifically for his nephew Hamlet to end his “unmanly grief” (1.2.94). The way Claudius speaks in the beginning of the play cements his status as the villain; however, later in the text, his words are what exposes the true Claudius as a person weighed down by guilt and self-pity. In his first aside to the audience, Claudius finally shows his own guilt and admits the “heavy burthen” he must carry for slaying his own brother (3.1.53). However, Claudius is still the antagonist of the story for reasons explained later. Claudius has a lengthy soliloquy addressed to himself and to God where he explains that he is truly sorry for what he had to do to be king. In spite of this, Claudius does not wish his was not King of Denmark, he just wishes there was another way and, if he had the chance to do it again, he would most certainly repeat his actions. Furthermore, he cannot repent for his actions because, as he phrased it, “…I am still possess’d of those effects for which I did the murther: My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen” (3.3.53-55). Claudius’s words reflect his wickedness. He is the villain because he is deceitful and will not repent his sins and because of this, as he very well knows, Claudius will burn in
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Claudius’s soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 3, demonstrates that he is a very ambitious, selfish and sorrow individual with a sense of guilt. Claudius is very ambitious to where his lust for power often drives his actions. His desire for power will often lead to horrible consequences. For instance, it was revealed in Claudius’s soliloquy that he did in fact murder King Hamlet, his own brother. There are no limits to what Claudius will surpass in order to achieve what he wants since killing his own brother was not crossing over the line and he saw King Hamlet as nothing but a barrier standing in his way of gaining power. For example, Claudius expresses that “My guilt is stronger than my intentions. And like a person with two opposite things to do at once, I stand paralyzed and neglect them both”, meaning that
In the first three acts of the play Hamlet, King Claudius go through a subtle, but defined change in character. Claudius role in the play begins as the newly corrinated king of Denmark. The former king, King Hamlet, was poisoned by his brother, Claudius, while he was asleep. Claudius, however, made it known to everyone that the king died of a snakebite in the garden, and thus no one knew of the murder that had just taken place making his murder the perfect crime. The only problem that Claudius must deal with now is his conscience.
This, in turn, exploits Hamlet’s similar flaw of ego and furthers the conflict, but what’s more, it illustrates Claudius’ sheer audacity and lack of repentance. He continues to try to cover up the sin and appease Hamlet into complacency rather than confess and ask for forgiveness. In a mark of pure arrogance, Claudius tells Hamlet to “throw to earth / This unprevailing woe and think of us / As of a father”, conceitedly requesting that Hamlet merely forget the murder and replace his father with the murderer himself (I, ii, 110-112). Similarly, instead of directly confronting Hamlet about his mental condition, the king more or less hires Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on the prince, again cementing his smug mindset. The king does not believe he can be caught or, rather, that Hamlet is competent enough to figure out his plan and foil him. Claudius, too, thinks only of himself after Hamlet’s inadvertent killing of Polonius, pondering “how shall this bloody deed be answered? / It will be laid to us” instead of considering the ramifications of the murder with respect to Hamlet (4.1.17-18). The other two paper-thin traps the king hatches only reinforce his failure to see beyond the apparent; his attempt to deport Hamlet to England and have him killed reeks of treachery and, luckily, Hamlet realizes the king’s subterfuge, crushing the plot and flipping it back on him. Claudius remains steadfast in his efforts to remove Hamlet, going so far as to set up a
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.
Shakespeare's Presentation Of Claudius In Hamlet 'Hamlet' opens with the death of Old King Hamlet, Father of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The new king, Claudius, brother of the previous king has married Gertrude, the dead man's widow and has taken the throne. Shakespeare presents Claudius as the plays 'damned smiley villain' although he does allow him some redeeming features; leading an audience to view him as a complex and contradictory figure within the play. After Old King Hamlet dies Claudius is crowned king of Denmark and talks to the people as though he has sympathy and is saddened by his brother's death 'and that it is us befitted to bear out hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
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.
First impressions that are made about Claudius is that he is the evil character. Always plotting and scheming his way around the whole play just so he won’t receive consequences for his devious actions. His reasoning about his actions is that they will raise him in station or create better
This occurrence is a perfect example of one of Claudius' damaging actions as a king that reveals the instability of his rule and emits a sinister aura over his country. Conclusively, Claudius' decision to have England kill the next-in-line for the throne of Denmark reveals the corruption of the country, contributing to one of the play's over-arching themes of a diseased nation. Due to the failure of Claudius' first attempt at having Hamlet killed, a new scheme
Claudius Claudius is the new King of Denmark and an antagonist in the play. He is the main villain as he is responsible for the death of the past King. Although heartless and evil, Claudius is also smart, realistic and great king. When Polonius comments that people only pray when they’ve committed a sing, Claudius agrees, Oh, ’tis too true!How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!
Claudius facade is shattered when he killed his brother the king of denmark, marries the queen, and convinces Laertes to kill Hamlet.(Preview) To begin, Claudius first becomes evil when he killed his brother the king of denmark and marries his widowed wife D1: state position or reason). The king has a lavashe garden which he enjoys walks and napes in.
Claudius is ultimately revealed as the antagonist of Hamlet because he removed the good from his life, becoming the prime opposition of Hamlet. He is then faced with the king’s direction to avenge his father’s death by doing anything it takes to reveal the crimes of Claudius. Although not the chief antagonist, another opposition to Hamlet is his mother, whose crime is also revealed by the deceased king Hamlet. The king tells Hamlet how his wife betrayed him when he comments, “whose love was of that dignity that it went hand in hand even with the vow I made to her in marriage, and to decline upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor to those of mine” (I.vi.786-791). Queen Gertrude has also crushed Hamlet’s belief of his mother’s faithfulness by forgetting her vows and looking to Claudius’ gifts and love when she should be remembering king Hamlet. Both Claudius and Gertrude threw Hamlet’s integral foundations out the window, leaving Hamlet infuriated and ready to do what it takes to avenge his father’s death and accuse his opposing family of their crime against him.
King Claudius contradicts his remorse towards his brother while on the other hand he manipulates others and is willing to execute them to stay in power. This is clearly portrayed in the play where he married his deceased brother’s wife who was his sister-in-law. During his interaction with Hamlet who he considered to be his son but genetically his nephew,
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
quick to spot areas which can help him and to exploit them. He is a
Claudius is introduced before Hamlet, but the audience is already aware that the ghost of the old king has appeared with a message for his son. Claudius is a skilful diplomat: ingratiating, self-confident, and a good orator, he has persuaded the Danish court to accept him as king. The incestuous nature of the marriage is hinted at by Claudius himself, who calls Gertrude his "sometime sister, now [his] queen." He presents himself as someone of wisdom and good judgment: a fitting replacement for his "dear brother." The speech shows him to be Hamlet's cunning and worthy adversary.