The placement of a King is earned, not taken out of a selfish desire. King Claudius, brother of former King Hamlet, Uncle/Step father of son Hamlet, is a disgusting description of a King. He is truly one of a kind, but not a good king of flavor. King Claudius is fake and manipulative, anything but a king, matter of fact he is a failure of a “king”. To show the aspects of Claudius is to prove how he is. This critical analysis will describe why King Claudius is a bad version of a king, the kind of man he truly is, and why he deserves to be abolished of the “King’s” position. Furthermore, in detail, it will be thoroughly discussed the negative aspects of Claudius and what kind of “King” he really is.
First of all, the monarch King Claudius
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He is great at turning things around on other people and making them look like the bad guy while he remains the good guy. Claudius is constantly trying to get rid of son Hamlet because he does not want the truth of what really happened to King Hamlet out to the public. He does not want to be frowned upon by “his” people. To him, he is all that is king and all that is true. If the people find out the truth he will not only lose his life, but as well as his ambition, queen, and crown. King Claudius tried removing Hamlet’s life by sending him to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to get a letter to Norway supposably saying it is allowed for their army to go through Claudius’ kingdom as long as no harm is done, when in reality, it really says to kill the sender of the letter, son Hamlet. However, Claudius’ plan did not work and Hamlet is on his way back to the Kingdom to grow the guts to get rid of the selfish so called “King”. He is a pig. To gain supremacy, he married the queen, Gertrude, who is the mother of son Hamlet, former wife of King Hamlet. Gertrude was accepting to this because she is almost as nearly selfish to hold the air of being queen. Before the death of Polonius, son Hamlet and mother Gertrude were in the particular room Polonius was killed in. He was bashing her on the disgusting marriage to his uncle/step-father Claudius and how she can even have the heart …show more content…
The Queen never knew of what Claudius had done to her former husband, King Hamlet. If she had known maybe things would have been different and Claudius would have been booted from monarch and the person who deserved it, son Hamlet, would of recieved the higher placement. Also everyone in the Kingdom sought Claudius as a good king by following his duties as ruler. However, they did not know about what had truly happened either. For instance, Ophelia died by drowning. Everyone thought that son Hamlet had something to do with the death of her from his outrageous crazy acts, Claudius especially. This is all just a way to get everyone on Claudius’ good side and make him look true. People did believe in him but not in the right way, the people were only being continuously lied to. Once the kingdom finds out the truth of what King Claudius has done, things will definitely change. Another way people were taking Claudius’ side is by Laertes being so upset with son Hamlet from the death of Polonius, Laertes’ father. However, if Laertes had known the truth of why son Hamlet had killed him in the first place it is almost certain that Laertes would have upsettingly understood. Although, it did not occur that way, King Claudius made it seem as if Hamlet was insane and inhumane so that Laertes would take his side and end up killing son Hamlet for the death of his father in a sword fight. King Claudius is a devious,
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...
Hamlet is a normal person which brillant ideas. He waited so long to kill Claudius because he wanted people to be able to know the story of really happened and did not want to seem like a bad guy. Hamlet’s soliloquy, “To be or not to be” (Act 3,Scene 1 Line 64) also means should he live to do as his father or or die to betray him. Hamlet knew everything that was going on in the kingdom but wanted to act as if he did not to get even further in and have more information. He did this because he wanted to think a more brilliant plan to kill Claudius and anyone else that was dealing with it, that is how he killed
Claudius’s chief concerns about Hamlet are that his life would have been in danger; his safety. Claudius is concerned that Hamlet would have killed him instead of Polonius, if he was there at that time. He was scared when he heard the news of Hamlet killing Polonius thinking it was him behind the tapestry. With relief and fear, Claudius tells Gertrude, “O heavy deed! It had been so with us, had we been there” (4.1.13-14). Claudius is relieved that he was not murdered by Hamlet. This contributed to character development because this shows us that Hamlet is ready to take revenge, since in the beginning he was confused and afraid, but now has taken the steps to take revenge. Character development can be seen in Claudius too because now we know that Claudius is afraid of the consequences, he will be receiving for the crime he has done.
After all of this, he knew that even if someone did suspect him of a murder, he would have to play it cool no matter what. Killing the king was incredibly wrong, but I must give Claudius credit because he had to put much effort and thought into his situation.... ... middle of paper ... ... Claudius would have to be a worthy adversary if Hamlet felt that he deserved to suffer also in the afterlife.
... 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 false fencing competition and foolishly pushing the poisoned wine without considering the suspiciousness of the action. In his short-sighted and rash decision making, Claudius shows that he allows his inflated sense of regality and self-worth to cloud his judgment.
Hamlet’s dogged attempts at convincing himself and those around him of Claudius’ evil, end up being Claudius’ best moments. The audience doesn’t have just one view of Claudius; the other characters favorable ideas of Claudius as king and person lets them see the humanity, good and bad, in Claudius. An allegory for the human soul, Claudius is many things: a father, a brother, a husband, and a king. He, like anyone else, has to play the role to the best of his ability, but is still very human and susceptible to the evils of human emotion ranging from concern to jealousy, all of which could have easily fueled his decisions. Page 1 of 6 Works Cited Hamlet, Shakespeare.
Claudius is seen in Hamlets eyes as a horrible person because he convicted murder and incest. Claudius had killed the king of Denmark, Old Hamlet, to obtain the position of the throne. He had been jealous of Old Hamlet’s wife Gertrude and wanted to marry her for her power. Although, such an act would be called incest and considered unnatural he did not care, all he had cared about was the power that he would be stealing from Hamlet and Old Hamlet, Gertrude’s son and husband (R). When Hamlet had talked to his f...
Claudius is the king of Denmark, who is a very powerful and assertive man. He is the type of person that will do anything to get what he wants and everything in his power to stay king. He will do what it takes to get his way, even if that means betraying the person he is supposed to be committed to and love, his wife Gertrude. Gertrude is the mother of Hamlet, who she deeply cares for and loves. She is convinced that Claudius does as well. In order for Claudius to stay as king he must keep Gertrude happy and pleased. He accomplishes this by pretending to love Hamlet in front of Gertrude when in reality he wants to kill Hamlet. Claudius faces the truth that his secret got out and Hamlet knows he killed King Hamlet. Not wanting to ruin his reputation and of course stay king he plans to have Hamlet killed. He lets Gertrude believe...
... the only way to honour his father Polonius is by killing Hamlet. In addition, as Claudius reads the letter from Hamlet to Laertes he says “'Tis Hamlet’s character. “Naked” And in a postscript here, he says “alone.” Can you advise me?” (IV, VII, 52-53). This shows that Claudius takes advantage of Hamlet’s return alone as an opportunity for Laertes to kill him. Through Claudius’s actions the readers observe how he deceives Laertes into killing Hamlet for his own benefit without getting blood on his hands. Furthermore, Claudius’ desperation to kill Hamlet leads to him losing sight of what is important, which is being the king of Denmark, what he originally wanted, instead the lies he told and the manipulation he spread is now taking over. To conclude, it is evident through the play that the words and actions of Claudius have only lead to the spread of deception.
Claudius is justly punished for the murder of king Hamlet. The punishment fits the crime because his brother's son killed him. King Hamlet killed by the brother killed by the king's son. He was murdered. It was pay back, "what goes around comes around" "an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth" What these two quotes are mainly saying is that you get what you give. Claudius took his brothers life therefore his life was taken away. Not only did Claudius kill his brother to marry his wife and take over his throne, but he caused the deaths of the queen, king Hamlet, Polonius and Ophelia.
Claudius begins his speech with an acknowledgement of Hamlet’s death and his own marriage to Gertrude. Claudius claims that the “green” memory of his “dear brother’s death” “befitted” Denmark to contract into “one brow of woe” (1.2). Despite Claudius’ affectionate reference to Hamlet, his hypocrisy is transparent. The colour imagery reveals the freshness of Hamlet’s death. The metaphor used suggests the kingdom is expected to unite and share the grief over its loss but the diction in “befitted” hints Claudius disapproval of expected mourning rites, causing the audience to doubt his sincerity. Furthermore, Claudius adds that “discretion fought with nature” causing him to think of Hamlet together with a “remembrance of [himself]” (1.2). The metaphorical conflict between “discretion” and “nature” contrasts Claudius’ hasty marriage to the expected mourning after Hamlet’s death. Moreover, in Claudius’ statement, the dependen...
Delving into the character of King Claudius in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, we find a character who is not totally evil but rather a blend of morally good and bad elements. Let’s explore the various dimensions of this many-sided character.
Hamlet is a scholar, speaker, actor, and prince. For some reason, Hamlet is not able to avenge his father's death without considerable delay. There is one major flaw in Hamlet's character which causes him to postpone the murder of Claudius. I believe that this flaw is Hamlet's idealism. While his idealism is a good trait, in this case, Hamlet's environment and his...
Claudius caused all kinds of trouble and unneeded deaths to the Kingdom of Denmark. Sometimes jealousy can take over the willpower of a person and turn them into a monster. Once they decide they want to be forgiving and regret what they have done its way too late to turn back. Murder of a King is one thing, but murder of your own brother is the worst. By not killing King Hamlet, and just being the person he was created to be would have saved him and his kingdom a lot of death and hurt.
Claudius, using his wits, convinced Laertes that Hamlet should be killed, “To show yourself your father’s son in deed/ More than in words? / To cut his throat I’ the church!” (Hamlet 4.7 125-127). Claudius learns that Hamlet is still alive he thought of a master plan to use Laertes to kill Hamlet. Claudius has already turned Laertes against Hamlet by saying that he murdered his father in cold blood and has gone unpunished because the queen and all the kingdom is in love with him. Laertes who is fueled by misguided anger is prepared to do whatever it takes to get his revenge against Hamlet. Laertes simply suggests that he kill Hamlet in cold blood, but Claudius uses his superior intelligence to come up with a truly dark and evil plan to kill Hamlet. Intelligence is mostly thought of as an admirable quality but a select few choose to use it for the wrong reasons. It can sometimes lead people to think they are above the law and can simply get away with whatever terrible crime the commit (Nyborg 344-345). This was the case with Claudius he thought that he had planned the murder carefully and meticulously enough that no one would ever ask questions. Even once Hamlet knew his evil secret Claudius did not give up he came up with plan after plan to kill Hamlet. Claudius, in his mind, had thought that he had earned everything he had acquired. He may have