Compare And Contrast Claudius And Mr Harvey

Claudius and Mr. Harvey are alike in many ways, although they differ in some aspects as well. They are both the villain of a novel or play, even though they differ in their reasoning for committing their crimes. Mr. Harvey, from The Lovely Bones and Claudius from Hamlet both commit a murder, although Mr. Harvey reflects a more impulsive drive for him to do it while Claudius does it for specific items, like power and a woman. But they both show that the villain archetype is not always the evil-laughing, cape-wearing mastermind who knows exactly what he wants. Both characters don't quite rest in the villain stereotype, due to the misplaced remorse of Claudius and the blurry personality changes of Mr. Harvey. But they are also broadening the spectrums

Villains today are typically shown wearing dark colors, large capes, mean eyes, and maybe a pointy-nose. The villain has their evil cackle that suggests that they know what they are doing is evil, but they love doing the evil things. For the most part, they are never regretful of their actions. Take Gargamel, from the movie The Smurfs. Gargamel is the evil wizard and enemy of the smurfs, whose main goal is to destroy them. He wears a dark cape, has a pointy nose, and an evil laugh. Throughout the movie, he never changes his views on his actions or questions his reasoning for attempting, what we would call murder. In the end he is defeated by the hero of the movie, while still coming back in follow-up movies to attempt his goal again and again. This archetype is not quite the villain archetype presented through Claudius of the novel

Both characters are villains in their own ways. Mr. Harvey does commit many murders, leading us to give him the title “serial killer,” but he is not the cape-wearing, evil-laughing villain that we are trained to see in childhood cartoons. Mr. Harvey can't hold himself in, although he attempts to. Although Susie does not state this, we can draw the conclusion that Mr. Harvey attempts to stop himself when he is about to commit a murder. His urges drive him mad and when he has the “not still dreams” of girls and women, his urge pushes him over the edge and he gives in (Sebold 96). Claudius’ character differs in the way that he is not a serial killer, but he does murder the king for his royal throne and got many prizes for it. But he later confesses to having grief over his actions and longs to ask for forgiveness, although he does not want to give up his throne and his queen. Most villain stereotypes are not depicted to grieve for their actions or attempt to prevent themselves from being the villain, but they are still seen, and depicted as the villain