The Murder Of Claudius In Shakespeare's Hamlet

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

One of the qualities of Shakespeare’s plays that have allowed them to remain interesting to many generations is that the motivations of his characters remain undistinguished allowing for much debate on whether or not to sympathize with, hate, or even love characters. In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark there is a multitude of characters in which their motivations and inner turmoils are not revealed to the audience, one of which is King Claudius. Claudius shows the audience two apparent sides of him, an effective ruler who values his queen, and the treacherous villain who killed his own brother to become king. Although there is much debate about which side represents Claudius most accurately his constant attempts to control Hamlet, his inability to make a prayer for forgiveness, and

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.

However, Hamlet cannot just kill in cold blood, he takes time to plan out every move and analyze the rights, wrongs, and consequences of every step he makes while seeking his revenge. Hamlet says in his soliloquy in 2.2.594-598: “This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murdered, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words And fall a-cursing like a very drab, A scullion!” This quote is proof that Hamlet cannot seem to grasp why he cannot bring himself to kill Claudius. Hamlet comes across as a decent man. Killing is not something he can do in cold blood.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

The dramatic importance of the play within a play was executed to display not only the evidence of Claudius being his brother’s murderer, but as well to portray Hamlet and his madness over the whole situation, “‘Whose blood and judgement are so well commeddled that they are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger to sound what stop she please.”(Act 3, Scene 2, 67-69) After seeing how Claudius is guilty Hamlet becomes more obvious about his hatred and intent towards Claudius, “Ah ha! Come, some music; come, the recorders. For if the king like not the comedy, why then, belike he likes it not, perdie.