Compare And Contrast Claudius And Boy Sasson

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The Comparison of Claudius and Boy Staunton
Nandaraye Choi Literature has always conveyed emotions over characters within a story, and these feelings are what makes them an iconic piece of art. The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a classic piece that portrays the extremities of love, betrayal, and revenge that happen within the royal family of Denmark. Another classic piece, the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, revolves around a retired school teacher who retells his life through a memoir to the Headmaster. Comparatively, both pieces of literature have antagonists that illustrate a backstabbing persona, an overconfident mentality, and a manipulative personality. These are elements that guide nemesis upon the antagonists. The characters Claudius …show more content…

Boy is very confident with his image, and tries modelling after the
Prince of Wales. Subsequently, it makes him more careless with the way he approaches people, and ends up turning himself into a narcissistic monster in the process. At the end of the novel, Boy acts rashly when Dunstan and Magnus
Eisengrim (Paul Dempster) bring up the snowball incident that led to Mary
Dempster’s madness. He believes that he should be recognized as someone better than who he was before, which made Magnus upset. Towards the end of the novel,
Magnus takes revenge on Boy for his mother’s insanity by drowning him in a lake with his car, as implied in the book. Nonetheless, both Claudius and Boy portray arrogant personalities that cause them to do selfish acts, leading to their ultimate demises.

Lastly, manipulation is a tool commonly used by the antagonists in Hamlet and Fifth Business in order for them to get what they wanted. In Hamlet, Claudius convinces Laertes into joining him in his plan to kill Hamlet. With his manipulative words, Claudius says to him, “…what would you undertake, / To show yourself in deed your father’s son / More than in words?” (4.7.124-26)¹. Claudius knew that Laertes has a strong love for

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