Shakespeare's Hamlet Essays: Does Claudius Repent? Hamlet essays

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Hamlet - Does Claudius Repent? When you are a brother to a king, you have a rich life and you might say that you could be happy, but you will always be second best - you will never be the king so you will never get to have the queen. The only way this could ever happen was if your brother was to have an untimely death. Would you be willing to kill your brother, your own flesh and blood? If you did kill your brother would you be able to live with the consiquences and could you live with your guilt if you felt any? king Claudius killed is brother becasue he no longer wanted to be jsut the king's brother, and he no longer wanted to be second best. He wanted to have the one the only queen. No atter whom he married she would never be the queen. king claudius knows what he did was wrong but his heart wasn't in the right lace. He still worried about keping his riches and getting into heaven. If he ere truly remorsfull he would e willing to give up everything it it means dying for what he did. If it sommon knowledge that if you are the younger brother you will not get to be the king. you will have a comfortable rich life and all yor needs will be htaken care of, but you will be the other one, tnot the one that gets all the attention. you probably would get sick of this, and Claudius does. he wants the real queen. Claudius wants the crown, and claudius wants the recognition. he says this in act three scene three, "i am still possessed of those effects for which i did murder, my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen (pg. 165)." he admits that he wanted what his brothe had. He wanted to so bad that he killed him for it, and now2he has all that he had ever desired. But he starts to think about if what he did was really worth killing his own brother. When you commit a murder there is always a doubt over weather the murderer feels remorse, because if they did wouldn't they think twice about what they were doing. WEll in Claudius's case i think he feels bad because he knows what he did was wrong. especially when he says, "O. My offence is rank, it smells to heaven; it hath the primal eldest curse upon it a brothers murder (pg. 165)." Claudius knows that what he did was wrong and he feels bad to some extent but he never says it. He only says what he did was wrong and he probably will be punnished for it. he doesn't tell how he plans to redeem himself. he merely is ackhowledging that what he has doen is morally wrong. most people would be very sorry if they killed their brother, but Claudius jsut feels like he should be remorsfull. he doesn't actually feel bad about what he did. "May one be pardoned and retain the offence...help, angels!q Maye assay bow bow, stubvborn knees, and heart with strings of steel ut soft as sinew of newborn babe (pg. 165)." He says straight out that he can't pay because he does not feel really remorsefull, and that h3e still wants to keep the things that he has gained by killing the king. The truth is that he will never feel truly good about what he has done until he repents and that would mean he would have to give up all he gained, and if he isn't ready to do that then he will not be able to pray. Claudius kills his brother for his power, his wife and his money. The king shows that he knows what he did was wrong and that he committed a sin. What he didn't understand is that he couldn't jsut repent and get into heaven for feeling bad. Also, the only reason he was thinking about praying was that he wanted to go to heaven. Claudius didn't feel bad he jsut had a sense of morality.

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