Shakespeare has written many plays, such as Hamlet and Macbeth, which are famously known worldwide. In his plays, Shakespeare regularly writes with a strong influence of Marxism. Many works can be read and applied to Marxism. One of these works is Hamlet, one of the plays written by Shakespeare. In the play, there are acts of subterfuge, manipulation, and revolution to overcome power and the realization of the ideological faults of the political structure.
In the beginning of the play, the readers learn the importance and the impact that the political structure and power have on each character. The King, Claudius, is only able to receive his power by killing his own brother. It is thorough the murder of his brother that he is able to gain the title of the king and his wife. The love for power is greater than the love for family. Gertrude, now the wife of Claudius, is also falling for power over love. She is choosing to marry the brother of her dead husband because of her fear of being alone and to remain a high rank in the royal family. These characters continue to show fear over losing power instead of family.
Marxism does not show just the family of royal power but how other characters react in their presence. The character who displayed the most obedience and interference with the daily lives of the royal family was Polonius. Polonius has two children. Polonius cares more for the status or reputation that his children is displaying than just loving them. Laertes, his son, is returning to school in Paris: Polonius is giving him advice on how to behave while attending school but is also sending a spy on Laertes to make sure that he acts proper while away from the family. Polonius is informing his son that his reput...
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...ass. In the end, Hamlet faults as he decides to make Fortinbras the new king because he is restarting the new royal family. In the Marxism point of view, there should be no higher rankings or royal family. Hamlet continues the cycle instead of stoping it. The deaths of the many characters did not change the ending of the story but instead it is doomed to repeat itself.
In this play, the characters decide to repeat the cycle and continue to let the faults of the political system and structure run Denmark. It uses Marxism continuously throughout the play to emphasize the rulings and flaws of the higher power. By voting Fortinbras as the new king, the rest of the story is not coming to a change and that the only thing that has changed are the name of the royal family.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Harold Jenkins. London: Methuen, 1982. Print.
First of all, we will deal with the main plot of John Updike’s Gertrude and Claudius. The King of Denmark marries his daughter to Horwendil the Jute, although this marriage is not a question of love but a question of politics. Horwendil becomes King, when her father dies. She bears him a son, Amleth/Hamlet. She tries to love her husband and her son, but at forty-seven, Gertrude is seduced into a passionate affair by the King 's brother, Feng/Claudius. The King discovers the affair and confronts Claudius conspires with Corambus/Polonius to murder the King. After killing him, Claudius and Gertrude marry. Claudius wants Hamlet at Elsinore, but Gertrude thinks him a danger to her husband. Claudius prevails. The story ends, as Hamlet agrees to remain at the castle.
The play would not have nearly had the same effect if he did not reveal his underlying thoughts on society through the idea of the bourgeoisie. With all of this being said, Shakespeare utilizes the strategic combination of the literary Marxist devices of the superstructure, religion, and rugged individualism throughout his piece of work Hamlet to help portray the writers true underlying views of the patriarchy and its hand in aiding in the downfall of Denmark depicted throughout the entirety of the
In Hamlet, The new king Claudius is able to gain respect from the kingdom. He even steals the love of Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. The old king’s councilor, Polonius, becomes Claudius’s councilor and his best friend. He helps Claudius keep an eye on Hamlet and tries to keep him from finding out anything about his father’s death. Polonius believes that if he helps Claudius that he can make life better for himself and for his daughter and son. But in the end, his actions get him slayed, drive his daughter to insanity, and eventually set...
When looking at the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, through a Marxist critical lens, there are many Marxist themes that apply. In Hamlet, there is a big difference between the monarchy and the peasants. Even in Hamlet’s time, the high class is treated in a better way than the low class. The royalty members’ poor decisions are easily overlooked or covered up, like Claudius covering up the murder of his brother. Hamlet is the only character that directly hates the monarchy and goes against it, making him more sympathetic to the lower classes.
In Hamlet, Shakespeare developed a character, an antagonist, which produces twists and turns throughout the play. Even though in the beginning of the play, Claudius seemed to be an intelligent man, who has excellent speaking skills that helped him take the leadership of his deceased brother’s kingdom, and marry his wife. But, combining both his intelligence and excellent speaking skills, shows Claudius’s true nature: an astute, lustful conspirator. Through the different settings and situations, Claudius’s character contributes to the overall understanding of the play through psychological, biblical and philosophical methods.
The book Hamlet focuses on Prince Hamlet who is depressed. He was told to go home to Denmark from his school in Germany to be present at his father 's funeral but was shocked to find his mother Gertrude already remarried to his Uncle Claudius, the dead king 's brother. To Hamlet, the marriage is "foul incest." Worse still, Claudius has had himself crowned King despite the fact that Hamlet was his father 's heir to the throne. Various major characters such as Ophelia, King Claudius, Polonius, Prince Hamlet, Laertes, Horatio, and Gertrude, Ghost of Hamlet’s father, Fortinbras, Yorick, Guildenstern, and Rosencrants featured in the book but in this essay, I would be critically analyzing just one major character, “King Claudius”. I would analyze
...ut his lifetime. With all the events occurring, Hamlet goes through so much stress, pain, and suffering from which started with the murder of his father. He has tried to understand his position in life, yet every step he takes, someone always steps in front of him, and it puts him in a worst situation from which he started. A young man like he should be out studying and having fun with his friends, but his two non family related friends betray him, and follow King Claudius' ruling. His mother who he once loves dearly and felt so close to also betrays him by ending her mourn so soon and remarrying to Claudius. Everyone in Denmark has a problem, and the "unweeded" garden is not being kept in good hands, for which bad things have come. The evil in everyone has come out, and Hamlet searched and searched for a reasoning in life, to only come out with one thing, nothing.
...the king. By killing the king, they put Denmark in better hands, and they save both of their lives. Also, Ophelia and Hamlet could get married and take the throne. Just by changing Laertes decision, the ending of Hamlet completely changes. Everyone is alive and healthy, except for King Claudius, and Denmark is not taken over by Fortinbras, an officer of a foreign country.
They are the highest in power in Denmark and everyone else in the country falls behind their ranking. Close to the Royal Family are Polonius and his children Laertes and Ophelia. Both of the families are fond of each other and have the highest social status in Denmark. Hamlet and Ophelia are in love, but because of the difference in their social status and power, they are forbidden to be with each other because they cannot marry.
It is here that one begins to see the theme of revenge and the idea that power can cause corruption. A family is supposed to be loyal and trusting of each other without any doubts; or so it was thought. Shakespeare uses Claudius’ betrayal of late King Hamlet to disprove the notion that family is always loyal. Claudius’ jealousy of his own brother and his desire to be the most powerful in Denmark corrupted him. It led him to betray his own family, a bond that is supposed to be unbreakable, and all the while feeling no guilt while acting as if he had not committed the crime. In addition to this, Claudius also takes late King Hamlet’s wife. Hamlet is enraged by the crime and adultery committed by his supposed family and feels he must seek justice for his father by taking out revenge on Claudius and therefore betraying him. Subsequently, the play becomes a slippery slope of events stemming from betrayal and revenge. The betrayal of one character became the revenge and betrayal of many others as seen when Horatio says, “… violent and unnatural acts, terrible accidents, casual murders, deaths caused by trickery and by threat, and finally murderous plans that backfired on their perpetrators,” showing that each act committed by the characters were returned back to them. This can be supported through the deaths of Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet as these were just a
The transition of royalty from King Hamlet to King Claudius seemed smooth, but the tension within the royal family created some complications. Almost all of Denmark gave their loyalty to a new king without any suspicion as to how the previous ruler died. Although Denmark’s citizens are unaware of the fratricide, this fickle faithfulness exemplifies the social and moral decay of Denmark. Most of Denmark’s subjects act upon their own selfish interests and lack any conviction. Shakespeare uses Polonius, formerly a loyal servant to King Hamlet, as a microcosm of Denmark’s oblivious and hypocritical society as a whole. The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court and the father of Laertes and Ophelia, Polonius has good intentions, but he tends to be somewhat conniving and underhanded. He frequently leaps to the wrong conclusions, and his speeches are comically pompous and long-winded. He is completely incapable of figuring out what Hamlet is up to. Looking to stay on Claudius’s favorable side, Polonius pleases the new king’s demands and even puts his own children’s reputation and lives in jeopardy. Because of his meddling in Prince Hamlet’s business, Polonius ends up dying on his own account.
Chronologically first, the death of Polonius triggers the events that lead to the deaths of both Ophelia and Laertes. From early on, Polonius is established as an untrusting and untrustworthy character. One of his very first actions is hiring a man to spy on his own son, “Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth”(31). Polonius tells Reynaldo to spread dishonorable rumors about Laertes in order to reveal his true behaivior. He is untrusting of his own son to obey the long list of advice he gave to him prior to his departure. This tendency to spy in order to ponder his suspicions is what ultimatley leads to Hamlet stabbing him to death. Due to the desire to confirm his false theory that Ophelia is the reason for Hamlet’s madness, Polonius chooses to spy on the Queen and her son,
[4, 1, 40] These idiosyncrasies are observed in the play when Claudius becomes concerned he will lose power as King and the likelihood Hamlet will murder him to avenge his father’s death. This is apparent when Gertrude informs Claudius that Hamlet is, “Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend which is mightier”. [4,1,6] With these thoughts daunting Claudius, he approaches Laertes in a Machiavellian manner to convince him to murder Hamlet, for he knows Laertes is angry, deranged and “Vows to the blackest devil” [4,5,131] after the death of his father. In doing so, Claudius has the intent to use Machiavellian powers over Laertes who is currently mentally unstable, with the objective being that Laertes will murder Hamlet to avenge his own father’s (Polonius) death. Claudius is able to successfully persuade Laertes in a manipulative speech, especially with his snide comment, “Not that I think you did not love your father, but that I know love is begun by time, and that I see a passage of proof.” [4,7,96] Claudius’ malicious comment indicates he is using his power over Laertes, so that the burden and repercussions do not rest on him, so that he may retain his authority as King. By utilizing his power over Laertes, Claudius is successful, as Hamlet is slain, however, as reflected in Claudius’
One main theme that arises in the Hamlet is the power struggle between Hamlet and Claudius. The main problem is between Hamlet and Claudius; they are in an ongoing battle throughout the play to see who will rise with the power of the throne. Claudius is the antagonist in the story and has multiple people under him that follow his every rule (Innes). He is a manipulative character who seeks revenge on Hamlet through other people he knows. On the other hand, Hamlet is the protagonist of the story, he is very unhappy after finding out the news of how his father had been killed (Innes). He is overtaken though by the ghost of his father, Old Hamlet, and is seen to become mad as a consequence. Although Hamlet seeks revenge against his new stepfather he procrastinates killing him. Hamlet has also considered killing himself beforehand because of the struggle of power between his stepfather and himself. In the last scene of the play the power struggle that had been between Hamlet and Claudius comes to a conclusion as Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius and Hamlet die. Throughout the play Laertes, Horatio and Gertrude choose a side to be on, either between Hamlet’s and Claudius’s who both are trying to obtain the utmost power.
The Shakespearean tragedy, Hamlet, entertains the title character's split between head and heart, and accordingly, the arduous struggle he must endure in order to reconcile the two. It is a difficult struggle that is generated by the necessity to unite the two internal counterparts of human consciousness, head (logic and reason) and heart (passions and emotions). From the very beginning of the play, Hamlet is split against himself in a state of entrapment, which is spawned by the unbearable situation with his family. Throughout much of the play, Hamlet attempts to rationally think his way through his situation. His emotions, however, are far too strong for him to adhere to reason alone. Accordingly, his attempts to logically resolve his situation are invariably thwarted by his inflamed emotions. In fact, it seems that Hamlet is simply unable to deal with his problems in a prudent manner until he comes to accept his own mortality. By doing this, however, he is able to think clearly and, therefore, choose the best path to take. Hamlet's escape from entrapment is most evident in the scene that he accepts the duel with Laertes. Precisely at this point in the play, Hamlet is completely free from his "psychological prison" and knows exactly what he is to do in order to calm his raging emotions and avoid succumbing to the elements of evil. For he must rise above evil if he wishes to go to heaven. But even in a corrupt and evil society, the mighty Hamlet remains virtuous. Therefore, by the end of the play, Hamlet achieves peace by uniting his head and heart, and ultimately triumphs in his death in that he is free from entrapment and goes to heaven.