Something is rotten in Denmark……….
When
you think of the character of Claudius, King of Denmark, you are filled with
thoughts of a deceitful man, power hungry and cunning. His distrustful nature
is predominate throughout the entire play, whether he is assassinating the true
king, having Hamlet spied on, or just talking to the lords and ladies of the
court. To consider him as a flawed human you must first be able to see him as
anything other than a monster.
In the beginning of the play when
he is addressing the court he seems to be justifying his actions, marring his
dead brother’s wife, by stating how it benefits the country of Denmark. His
remarks in act I scene ii in line 19
when he says, “Or thinking by our late brother’s death our state to be
disjointed and out of frame,” which is his way of justifying why he has taken
his late brother’s wife. To me this entire speech was thought out and prepared,
sort of premeditated.
We see this to be the case in Act I
scene v when the ghost of Hamlet sr. is describing his murder to young Hamlet.
In line 45 the ghost tells Hamlet, “So to seduce; won to his shameless lust the
will of my most seeming-virtuous queen;” describing the fact that Claudius had
every intent to take the queen for his own, and his plans to murder the king
had been put into play long before the actual act of murder. Then in line 61
when he describes the actual murder to Hamlet by stating, “Upon my secure hour
thy uncle stole with juice of hebona in a vial,” demonstrating that the murder
took special planning. First he had to get the extract from the henbane, and
then he had to watch the King’s habits, maybe even for weeks, to find the best
time to strike.
Later in the play Claudius sends
Polonius to spy on Hamlet, and then he even employs Hamlets own friends to spy.
None of these actions say that Claudius is anything but a self-serving monster.
In act IV scene vii Claudius conspires to get Laertes to kill Hamlet for him
when he tells Laertes that Hamlet has killed his father. Feeding into the grief
with anger and hatred the king tells him in line 122 when he asks, “Hamlet
comes back, what would you undertake to show yourself in deed your father’s son
more than in words?” egging Laertes on in his grief to prove his love for his
father as to kill Hamlet.
All through the play we see King
Claudius plotting and planning to murder, undermined, and deceive all of
Denmark.
We wrote some of the same points. Yes, Claudius does deceive all of Denmark, not just his family. I agree about the killing of the former King. That Claudius spent a lot of time planning the defeat of his own brother. He doesn’t care who he has to kill to stay on top. He continues to strike everyone in his path, including his own wife. Although he did not mean to kill her, it seemed as though he didn’t mind. He tries to play off her death as though she just fainted. He really does not care about any one but himself.
ReplyDeleteHey John, I agree that Claudius is an evil man who cares only for himself. It was not until Act 3, Scene 3 that we see how Claudius appears to show any type of remorse for what he has done. When he says, “May one be pardon'd and retain the offence” (3.3.56) really demonstrated his selfishness to me. I also agree with your thoughts of premeditation on Claudius’ behalf. After all, you do not just sneak up and poison a king. The way he incites Laertes was amazing. He clearly planned this. In the end, he gets more than he bargained for. Overall, I could not agree more with your thoughts of him being a monster. Thanks for the insight.
ReplyDeleteJonathan, I really like your how you explain to us that we have to look at Claudius' actions to determine that he is a monster. I agree with this statement because there is some premeditaion of how he is going to kill Hamlet's father and of course the act of killing his father. In my opinion those actions are what makes him evil. You did a great job explaining in detail how Claudius skillfully planned out King Hamlet Sr.'s death. You are indeed right that he would have to learn the King's habits and more importantly he stole poison which implys that he had motive. It isn't like he killed him in the heat of the moment. Good job!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I like the point that you made about Claudius' scheming nature. I have a few things that I'd like to mention to strengthen your points. Claudius' always seems to have an intent behind everything that he does. Not only this, but also this intent seems to be premeditated long before he will openly admit it. There does seem to be some remorse behind this man's selfish and ambitious disposition, but throughout the play he desperately tries to justify his actions to those around him and to himself. He does not like to admit that he does evil things and because of his willful attempt at ignoring the consequences of his actions, I would agree with you that he is an evil man.
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