Two Possible Motives For Claudius Killing King Hamlet (His Father)

When King Hamlet passes away everyone seemed to want to just forget about him and act like he never existed, including Queen Gertrude. That would explain why Hamlet really wants to get revenge on Claudius so bad. He wants his father to still have some sort of legacy and not just be thrown away like a piece of trash. Since Claudius became king he just shows his true self more and more which makes Hamlet angrier and his sense for revenge stronger.

  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.

quick to spot areas which can help him and to exploit them. He is a

'Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder,' says the ghost of Hamlet. The fact that his own uncle could kill his father leaves Hamlet dumbfounded and confused. Although Hamlet knows something is wrong in Denmark, he begins to question everything that the ghost has told him. When something is needed to be done, Hamlet is to busy

From the beginning of his and his mother’s conversation Hamlet was very angry and on edge with her for being with his father’s murderer. Hamlet somehow knew someone was eavesdropping on their conversation as he had been spied on previously. He suddenly decides to act out of fury thinking how angry he was at Claudius and kills who’s behind the curtain, thinking it was Claudius. Hamlet realizes after that he killed the wrong man, it had been Polonius that he killed but he didn’t care much saying that Polonius was a fool. Hamlet sees the ghost again after and the ghost tells Hamlet he still must carry out his revenge for his father because he had failed .

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s many tragedies. Common themes in these works by Shakespeare are murder and deceit. Hamlet is full of each. The protagonist of the play, Prince Hamlet, is a young man whose father was murdered two months before the beginning of the story. Early on in the play Hamlet is approached by the ghost of his father. He explains to Hamlet that his brother, Claudius, murdered him. Before he returns to purgatory, he asks that Hamlet take revenge on Claudius, who, since the murder has taken the Crown of Denmark and taken Hamlet’s mother as a wife. Hamlet then makes a vow that he will avenge his father, but as the play progresses Hamlet passes up multiple opportunities to kill Claudius. This begs the question, Why does

In the book of Hamlet there were many opportunities to take his revenge but Hamlet found reasons not to. He always found ways to procrastinate until the end of the book. It came to a point where he was a danger to everyone around him. If he would have killed Claudius the first chance he got many lives could have been spared. Hamlet has proved throughout the story he had difficulty taking his revenge by killing King Claudius.

The Ghost of Hamlet's father is a foil for Hamlet. The ghost is introduced so to reveal information that is not blatantly revealed to us yet. The king gives us some explanation of why Hamlet wants revenge. The king tells us of his death and introduces the fact that it was a murder and tells that the murder was committed by his brother. Through the conversation with the ghost he gains more fuel for the anger he has about his mother’s marriage. In the discussion with Hamlet and the

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

After the death of King Hamlet, Claudius marries Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude. Claudius marries Queen Gertrude for the “betterment” of the country. Claudius stated, “I am still possessed of those effects for which I did the murder: my crown, my own ambition, and my queen." (3.3) “My words rise upward, but my thoughts remain below. Words without sincerity never reach heaven. (3.3 101-102). Claudius’s motive was to become king, to become important and powerful. Hamlet was the next in line for King after his father’s death and Claudius did not want that. Hamlet is disturbed that his mother married his uncle and doesn’t mourn her husband’s death. Hamlet sees the overall picture unlike his mother. At first, Queen Gertrude doesn’t see anything wrong with marrying her brother in-law. Claudius murdered King Hamlet by pouring poison in his ear while he was sleeping. Claudius’s actions give Hamlet a reason for his

The beginning of the play sets the stage for everything to unfold. Hamlet is weak in the mind due to his father’s unnatural death. In Act 1, Hamlet speaks to the Ghost and learns how his father died. Without Hamlet interaction with the Ghost, he would not have created a desire for revenging his father’s death. Now knowing that Claudius killed his father in order to take his place as king, it only makes sense that Hamlet desires the truth to be revealed as to what happened to his father.

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

Claudius is only acting out what Hamlet secretly wants to do, take his father’s place as his mother’s lover. This would explain why Hamlet puts off the revenge instead of carrying it out immediately after seeing his father’s ghost. It would also provide a reason for Hamlet’s later insanity.

One reason Hamlet is not going through with killing Claudius is that Claudius is praying. Hamlet believes that since Claudius is praying, he will go to heaven. Hamlet wants him to go to hell instead. According to Hamlet, allowing Claudius to go to heaven is not revenge for his father's death. Hamlet says,

Claudius claims it was a natural death the king experienced and it was supposed to happen the way it did. Claudius is a deceiving character because he shows little remorse or grief from the death. It wasn’t a natural death at all; he was poisoned from his own brother. People had a strong belief