“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power,” is a quote by the famous author John Steinbeck. Steinbeck is saying that people become corrupt when they fear that their power will be taken away from them. The correlation between politics and power is that politics cannot exist without power; power must be given to someone. Characters throughout Hamlet take whatever actions they deem necessary to get power and take revenge, all of which relate to politics and the corruption within. The corrupt nature of the country and characters is seen best through Marcellus’ words; “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” (I.iv. 22). Politics directly relate to power and revenge because to be in control politically, …show more content…
Shakespeare portrays his characters in certain ways by highlighting their political motives, but these characters are portrayed differently in the film Hamlet. Politics are the underlying motive of most actions and characters in Hamlet, which all ties in together in the search for power and revenge and how these actions are portrayed differently in text and film. Politics are critical to the actions of Claudius, who believes that power is the biggest asset to him. This is why all of his actions in the text are motivated by the thirst for political power that he embodies through his actions. The first, and most significant, action that Claudius takes with the intent of acquiring power is killing his brother. The Ghost tells Hamlet of this action; “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life / Now wears his crown,” (I.v.24). By saying this, the Ghost is telling Hamlet that the person who wears the crown of Denmark is the brother of the dead king. By saying that the king’s killer wears the crown, shows that the sole motive of that action was to gain the power that belonged to the crown of Denmark. Claudius had a strong desire for power that he murdered his brother. The desire for power led him to a …show more content…
In speaking to the ghost of his father, Hamlet says, “And thy commandment all alone shall live / Within the book and volume of my brain, / … / Now to my word,” (I.v.26). Hamlet is voicing his allegiance to his father’s ghost and the command that he has given him to seek revenge. His need for vengeance motivates all of his actions throughout the text. Hamlet pretends to be going mad to distract the King from his act of revenge that he is plotting. Rosencrantz, sent by the king, speaks of Hamlet and his madness; “He does confess he feels himself distracted, / But from what cause he will by no means speak,” (III.i.51). Hamlet is doing this to distract the king, the queen, and Polonius from his plans that he is scheming. Since the moment that Hamlet learned of his father’s death, he has been constantly preparing for the actions that he is going to take. This act of revenge relates to the politics of Denmark because murdering the king, whether for revenge or not, will cause chaos throughout the nation, just as Claudius’s murder of his brother did. Hamlet does not care what happens to Claudius because he was born to make the murder of his father right by seeking revenge; “O cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right!” (I.v.28). Hamlet understands that he must make things right, so he has to seek revenge on the king. Hamlet knows that murdering the king will
Firstly, it was the appearance of the late King Hamlet that led to Hamlets need for revenge, more specifically Hamlets memory of his father. At the beginning of the play Hamlet was grieving for his dead father which clearly showed that he did not want to forget his father the way his mother, Gertrude and step-father Claudius did. As James P. Hammersmith stated “The ghost’s injunction to “remember me” resurfaced in Hamlet’s incessant queries about “how long” a man may be dead before he may be properly forgot. Two weeks? Two months? Two years”. This quote depicted how Hamlet is not yet ready to move on over his father’s death and is unaware of how long he should grieve for. Furthermore, when the apparition of King Hamlet appeared, he gave a task to Hamlet to avenge his death. Hamlet wouldn’t see the apparition of his father’s ghost again until Act 3 Scene 3. Nonetheless, he was holding on to the memory of his father as motivation to put on an antic disposition and test King Claudius’s guilt in order to finally end his life. Essentially, the memory of King Hamlet motivated Hamlet and provided 3 Acts worth of content for the play. When Hamlet questioned the ghost’s honesty he decided to test King Claudius’s guilt by altering the play, in the end it was his guilt, or the memory of what he had done, that allowed Hamlet to realise that the ghost of his
Power, in the wrong hands, can be very poisonous. Claudius’ avarice for power was a poison to every character in the play. His desire for his brothers thrown caused him to murder his own brother, and destroy an entire royal family: “I am still possess 'd of those effects for which I did the murder. My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.” Claudius admits that he committed this nefarious act because of his lust for the crown. Power also had a poisonous effect on Ophelia. Ophelia’s father, Polonius, used his power and influence over her to corrupt and distort her thinking. He even used his power to forbid her from seeing Hamlet. When Polonius was killed, Ophelia goes insane and commits suicide. She could not handle life without his constant and powerful influence over her. In both instances, poison is the master metaphor that Shakespeare uses to shape the
Shakespeare’s Hamlet indicates “There’s divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will” [5,2,10] given that “the devil hath power”. [2,2,188] These comments demonstrate that power is often in the hands of those who will abuse it and yet, the abuse of that power will not necessarily bring desired rewards. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that fate will treat the abuser kindly, and ‘divinity’ is in control of how the characters ends are shaped. This power abuse is demonstrated both through Claudius’ manipulation of Hamlet, Gertrude and Laertes in order to maintain his authority now that he is King; and, through Hamlet and Claudius’ use of their implicit power over women, which is an entitlement granted to them simply because they
Hamlet was frustrated with himself for contemplating when and how to exact revenge on Claudius, because he wasn’t sure of the ghost’s true intentions. There was the question of the ghost being a demon and only wanted to use Hamlet for evil. The speech reassured Hamlet that he couldn’t just sit around anymore, he had to do something. In fear of being damned to hell, Hamlet decided he would test the authenticity of what the ghost said. He concluded that he would use the powerful emotion of the players on Claudius. By watching a reenactment of the murder he committed, Claudius would be overwhelmed with emotion and show that he was
Once Hamlet has learned of his father’s death, he is faced with a difficult question: should he succumb to the social influence of avenging his father’s death? The Ghost tells Hamlet to “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1.5.31) upon which Hamlet swears to “remember” (1.5.118). Hamlet’s immediate response to this command of avenging his father’s death is reluctance. Hamlet displays his reluctance by deciding to test the validity of what the Ghost has told him by setting up a “play something like the murder of (his) father’s” (2.2.624) for Claudius. Hamlet will then “observe his looks” (2.2.625) and “if he do blench” (2.2.626) Hamlet will know that he must avenge his father’s death. In the course of Hamlet avenging his father’s death, he is very hesitant, “thinking too precisely on the event” (4.4.43). “Now might I do it…and he goes to heaven…No” (3.3.77-79) and Hamlet decides to kill Claudius while “he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed” (3.3.94-95). As seen here, Hamlet’s contradicting thought that Claudius “goes to heaven” (3.3.79) influences him to change his plans for revenge. Hamlet eventually realizes that he must avenge his father’s death and states “from this time forth my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth” (4.4.69). From this, Hamlet has succumbed to the social influence and has vowed to avenge his father’s death.
The characterisation of Claudius as the Machiavellian man is eminent in the quote, “the serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown”, which subverts the assertion that King Hamlet died through a snakebite. This is eminent through the biblical allusion to the devil disguised as a snake and the metonymy of the ‘crown’, which suggest that the king was actually murdered by his traitorous successor for the acquirement of political power and status. This is augmented by the symbolism of Claudius as the devil who “hath power to assume a pleasing shape” in terms of the Machiavellian notion that manipulating public perceptions of reality and politics is quintessential for the maintenance of power and authority. Claudius also represents the Machiavellian philosophy that “It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both”. This is evident in the quote, “By the sovereign power you have of us, put your dead pleasures more into command than to entreaty”. The simile ‘ command than to entreaty ‘ demonstrates how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s are legally and patriotically bound to the government of Denmark, which is manipulated by Claudius for his bidding through fear and cunning. Hence the negative characterisation of Claudius as the play’s antagonist is implicit of Shakespeare’s denouncement of the Machiavellian man due to its
In conclusion, by applying multiple view points to Hamlet, one kind find innumerable ways of interpreting the play. The Marxists satirize the ruling monarchy and show the debilitating uselessness of the cycle of royal families while deconstructionists show the incapability of language to make a concrete account of happenings. Not even the author of a work of literature can unquestionably prove that their own work has but one meaning, because that work will elicit multiple responses from people based upon their own ideology, beliefs, and experiences.
In Hamlet power becomes more important than family, which causes betrayal between two brothers. Claudius storms up this clever idea to gain the power he desperately carves, so he decides to poison his own brother. “Ghost: I find thee apt; and duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed that roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: ’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, a serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark is by a forged process of my death rankly abus’d: but know, thou noble youth, the serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown.” (DiYanni, 1565) King Hamlet ruled Denmark before getting poisoned in the ear by his brother Claudius, now Claudius wears his dead brother’s crown. Everyone gave respect to King Hamlet and Claudius envied all the attention his brother acquired. Claudius betrays King Hamlet by murdering him because he wanted to gain the power the king held in his hands and all the attention he engraved his heart to have. After his brother’s death he betrays King Hamlet yet again by marring his wife and that looks suspicious because Claudius and Queen Gertrude might have had a fling before King Hamlet’s death and that could be another reason Claudius murder his own brother. Claudius certainly does not believe in brotherly love since he betrays King Hamlet to get want he thinks he needs.
Near the beginning of the play, the ghost tells Hamlet the crime Claudius Committed. “Is by a forged process of my death rankly abus’d: buy know thou noble youth, the serpent that did string thy father’s life now wears his crown” (1.5.36-39). When Hamlet finds out that his uncle murdered his father, who stole his wife and his crown, he has an instant urge to get revenge for the murderer who committed this foul act; “ Haste me to know’t, that meditation or the thoughts of love/ may sweep to my revenge” (1.5.30-32). This justified Hamlet’s feelings. One would agree that his revenge is morally right, although murder is wrong. The seriousness of Claudius’ crime grows when one contemplates that all deaths throughout the play would not have happened if Claudius did not kill his brother.
He exhibits the theme appearance versus reality regularly throughout the play. Claudius operates like he is upset and blameless towards Hamlet for the death of King Hamlet, but actually he is afraid Hamlet know’s about the incident. He attempts to give Hamlet advice about not carrying his dad’s death on his back for so long because it can be harmful and unhealthy. He tries to convince Hamlet in a way by saying that one day he may be the new king of Denmark. After Hamlet explains his reasoning behind being grief, Claudius speaks out to him saying, “Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, / To give these mourning duties to your father. / But you must know your father lost a father, / … Of impious stubbornness (1.2.87-94). Claudius, the so called honourable king, makes it difficult for Hamlet to reveal the truth behind his fathers death. He does not want Hamlet to know the truth behind all of this which uncovers his genuine appearance. Claudius still acts as if he is devastated for the loss of Hamlet's father but actually is stressing because he still panics Hamlet may know he is to blame. When Claudius sends Hamlet and the twins, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, off to England to collect money that they owed Denmark, in reality Hamlet is sent off because he knows too much of the incident and shall be killed. After Hamlet leaves the room from a heated argument with
King Claudius, as the new ruler of Denmark is the man who sets the rules, and the one after whom the aristocratic society models. Since becoming king and marrying Hamlets mother Gertrude, Claudius becomes the person who is looked up at by the rest of the people, and the person whose actions show the society around him how to live their lifestyle and what's accepted and not accepted in his kingdom. Meanwhile Hamlet, who is still mourning for the death of his father, while the rest of the people celebrate the wedding and the coronation of Claudius, is left in the shadows. Hamlet doesn't join the festivities and celebration because in his eyes the quick marriage and coronation are inappropriate at the time of mourning of the death of his father. This is the first aspect the reader sees of Hamlet acting opposite to what the society is doing.
The story of Hamlet revolves around conflict. The emotions and decisions of the main character push the conflict as he influences other characters. Hamlet’s actions and the actions of the other characters, like King Claudius, drive the story from the beginning to its tragic conclusion.
“The serpent that did sting my father’s life / Now wears his crown.” (Hamlet 1.4.38-39). In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Claudius is an evil and cunning villain. Shortly after the king of Denmark dies rather suddenly his brother Claudius took over his position as king. Claudius married his wife and instantly gained access to all his wealth and power. There was no evidence to suggest that the king had died of anything other than natural causes except for what a ghost told his son Hamlet. The ghost of the king told Hamlet that he had been murdered and betrayed by his own brother Claudius, the one person that he trusted the most. Hamlet vowed to take his revenge on
Power: everyone desires to be in charge sometimes right? Well in Hamlet there are two individuals specifically who long to be the “head honcho.” Claudius kills his brother for goodness sake, and Hamlet just wants to make the people happy, and to seek revenge on Claudius. Hamlet just wants to be in control long enough to get rid of Claudius and everything else will fall into place. Hamlet and Claudius go back and forth throughout the play as to who will regain power in the end, they both will give up everything to get what they want: Hamlet wants revenge, and Claudius wants power, and in a way, they both succeed.
In addition to this internal struggle, Hamlet feels it is his duty to dethrone Claudius and become the King of Denmark. This revenge, he believes, would settle the score for his mother’s incestuous relationship and would reinstate his family’s honor. These thoughts are solidified in Act I, Scene 5, when his father’s ghost appears and informs Hamlet that is was Claudius who murdered him, and that Claudius deprived him “of life, of crown, and queen” (line 75). This information leads to Hamlet’s promise to kill Claudius, while not punishing his mother for their incestuous marriage. His statement, “thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain” (lines 102-103), demonstrates his adamant decision to let nothing stand in the way of his promise for revenge.