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The Murder Of Claudius In Shakespeare's Hamlet

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What sort of man would murder his brother, basically usurp the throne, and then plot to have his nephew killed? In the book of Hamlet, Claudius is the man that fits this statement perfectly. He is a villain of unredeemable character and a bad man. Claudius plays the devil’s advocate without a hitch. He kills his brother whom was also the king yet plays the role of a victim and acts like he doesn’t know why Hamlet is acting crazy. I make this accusation with complete confidence for several reasons. First, Claudius takes many steps to find out how much Hamlet knows about his murder, and he plays the part of a concerned uncle but also wants to kill Hamlet so his crime remains undetected. Second, he acts like he has a conscience but he reveals his true character through the numerous murders and still never confesses or gives up …show more content…

People refer to him as being mad. Claudius thinks Hamlet may be a danger to others with his “turbulent and dangerous lunacy” and says that “madness in great ones must not go unwatched.” (3.1.44) Claudius then watched Hamlet with Ophelia and was clever enough to realize that Hamlet wasn’t lovesick, or mad “Love? His affections do not that way tend, nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little, was not like madness. There’s something in his soul o’er which his melancholy sits on brood.” (3.1.42) It’s at this moment when Claudius first realized that Hamlets madness could be because of his possible knowledge of Claudius killing his father. From this point on Claudius keeps a close eye on Hamlet to try and find out what his intentions are while also scheming to get rid of him so that his murder isn’t exposed to the

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Claudius knows that Hamlet is still getting over his father's death which seems stubborn and “...‘tis unmanly grief: / it shows a will most incorrect to heaven; / a heart unfortified, a mind

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Hamlet Journal 1 In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet, appears to be insane, but his mistrust for his uncle and desire for revenge drives him “To put on an antic disposition on— / That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,” (I.v.181). He succeeds in convincing almost everyone around him that he is truly a mad man whose only cure is execution; however, he is enigmatic and ambiguous. By having an appearance of insanity and madness, Hamlet is able to use it to his advantage to achieve his own purpose of ridding his father’s murderer.

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Hamlet was also dealing with a lot of emotions that are hard to deal with not to mention control. Hamlet was all so feeling betrayal in all of his relationships as stated before. Hamlet’s mother moved on to Claudius so fast (less than two months) that Hamlet thought she didn’t love his father the way he thought while growing up or maybe she only married him to stay queen. Then Claudius tells Hamlet to move on and that mourning for this long is unmanly and he should move on because everybody dies. That just pushed Hamlet over the top and he decided to get

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It seems that Claudius was not happy with just taking his brothers throne, he also took his brother’s wife. Hamlet feels that the new king is full of greed and has taken over their lives. On top of his obsession with revenge Hamlet also appears to have sexual desire for his mother. The loss of his father along with his mother’s marriage to Claudius and his confusion to his feelings for his mother have set hamlet on a dangerous.

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He puts up an appearance of a hero to his people, for they think he has saved them by taking over the throne after their deceased king. However, it is Claudius who murdered their past king and his own brother, King Hamlet. “O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain! / My tables - meet it is I set it down / That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain” (1.5.106-108), pronounces Hamlet as his father’s ghost tells Hamlet that it was, indeed, Claudius who killed him.

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This is what causes Hamlet to compromise his love for Ophelia, as she is stunned and disrespected by his attitude. Similarly, Claudius wanted to gain power, and uses his ambitious attitude to murder his brother, quickly marry his widow, and take the throne himself. Despite their similar nature the two men are driven by different goals. Claudius works to gain and keep power, while Hamlet is working to seek revenge for his father. However, Claudius continues to rule in his power, and dwell in his wronged achievements allowing himself to pursue his

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1386 Words | 6 Pages

As Claudius repents, Hamlet feels as though it's the best time to kill him until he says: And so ’a goes to Heaven; And so am I revenged. That would be scanned. A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his son, do this same villain send To heaven (3.3.73-78) Essentially, Hamlet wanted to murder Claudius because he was the Old King’s murderer.

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This behavior caused disrespect and cruelness. While the king is sleeping like he is in heaven Claudius took that from him and sent him into purgatory. This made Hamlet feel even more angry against his uncle and wants to put him to an end. As a result,Hamlet wants to destroy Claudius for every wrong deed he did. Canales 3 Hamlet is severely motivated into killing for his actions.

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Hamlet attempts to seek comfort. Claudius is an unemotional, and coldhearted person. “’Tis unmanly grief; it shows a will most incorrect to heaven, a heart unfortified, a mind impatient, an understanding simple and unschool’d” (Ham. 1.2.94-97). Claudius doesn’t care about how Hamlet is feeling.

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There are many reasons for Hamlet to truly go mad including the death of his father, his mother’s remarriage and the relationship he holds with Ophelia, leading many away from the fact that he is “not

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Claudius had arranged an execution for Hamlet, to get rid of him permanently. Behind these acts of deception, we can see Claudius had wanted power, and would do anything to achieve it. This makes

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He has a doubt about what the ghost told him and instead of acting instantly to ravage his father’s murder, he starts to figure out about whether Claudius was guilty or not, as he says “I’ll have grounds more relative than this” (2.2.565) which shows that he is looking for enough evidence to kill Claudius. But Hamlet is a great

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However, Hamlet soon discovers that Claudius has been lying to him, and Claudius’ real motive is to kill Hamlet in order to exterminate all possible threats to his reign. Claudius’ role play affects the entire country of Denmark, and he convinces the people that he is the rightful king, when he is not, and has murdered his brother for the throne. Gertrude, too, takes on a role; throughout the play, she seems oblivious to her wrongdoings. She claims that she loves Claudius, and did not just marry him for political reasons.

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However, in the same speech he switches to the encouragement of his marriage to Gertrude to distract the royal court from speculating his right to the throne. Figuratively, he pours poison into others’ ears to reshape the appearance of an event to his advantage. He becomes a direct antagonist for Hamlet as he calculates how to switch the situation of Hamlet’s “madness” to find safety for himself. In the end, Claudius’s use of deception becomes too crafty for his own good when he plans for Hamlet’s death. Claudius starts off by calling Hamlet’s grief “sweet and commendable” (I.II.92), praising him for the “mourning duties to [his] father” (I.II.94).

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Hamlet is a very diverse character that goes through several different emotional stages throughout the novel. Some think that he is depressed because of his father’s death, and some think that his breakup with Ophelia has made him go mad. Though Hamlet does seem out of control at times, it is because he is keeping a secret about his father’s death. The average person does not usually deal with the death of their parent well, and knowing that it was intentional makes Hamlet even more emotionally unstable. From the beginning of the novel, Hamlet proves to be very melancholy, and upset with his life.

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