Claudius's Manipulative Nature

In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, King Claudius is an intelligent and well spoken person. These two traits when put together compliment his manipulative nature. His rise to power was carefully planned and executed without being caught, except by one person, Hamlet. Hamlet is not fond of Claudius, and he knows that Claudius really just wanted what Hamlet’s father had which included the title of a king and a wife. Claudius uses his power to carry out evil acts, all while seeming as if he were innocent. His manipulative nature caused the death of different characters including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Laertes, and finally, Gertrude. Claudius is a smart king who knows how to manipulate people to do things for him. When sending Hamlet to England,

Knowing Claudius killed his father, Hamlet wanted revenge on Claudius and ultimately Polonius had to take the fall for Claudius’ actions. Laertes wants instant revenge on Hamlet, which is exactly what Claudius wants. He sees Laertes as a way to accomplish his goal of killing Hamlet. He motivates Laertes to kill Hamlet by bringing up the love for his father, and indirectly questions Laertes’ love for his father which Laertes made obvious. “Not that I think you did not like your father, / but I know love is begun by time / and I see, in passages of proof, / time qualifies the spark and fire of it” (IV.vii.126-129). He asks Laertes what he would really do to show his father he loved him, but Claudius knows that he loves his father and would be willing to kill Hamlet for revenge. Claudius asks Laertes, “Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake / to show yourself indeed your father’s son / more than in words?” (IV.vii.141-143). Laertes simply responds that he wants “to cut his throat i’ th’ church” (IV.vii.144). This is exciting for Claudius because he feels like Laertes is going to do what Claudius wants him to. Claudius strongly encourages him to kill Hamlet and mentions that revenge has no bounds to reassure that Laertes would be doing a good thing by killing Hamlet. He wants Laertes to kill Hamlet as soon as possible because once Hamlet is no longer a threat, Claudius does not have to worry about him taking over his

One way he does this is by the manipulation of Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Claudius claims that the reason he married Gertrude was to keep stability in the kingdom, “Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, / th’ imperial jointress to this warlike state” (1,2, 8-9). Claudius is on the quest for power which was formerly held by his brother, and he views Gertrude as a way to achieve his goal. Gertrude foolishly believed that he loved her, but he was manipulating her the whole time. She ignores the injustice happening around her, and seems as if she is so desperate for love that she is willing to do whatever for Claudius, even if it means manipulating her own son. Claudius even forced Gertrude to spy on Hamlet and figure out if he has actually become mad. He tries to turn Hamlet’s mother against her own son, and succeeds in doing