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Saturday, March 23, 2019

The Character of Claudius in Shakespeares Hamlet :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

The Character of Claudius in settlement It is easy to overlook roughly of Claudius villainy. He may not rant and rave, nor pluck out eye on stage or hands, or tongues, nor does he conspire with acute rationality interchangeable Edmund or Iago in Othello, nor bake little children in a pie. But as the murderer, usurper, and incestuous step-father, Claudius is one of Shakespe bes greatest villains. His distinguishing features are hypocrisy and subterfuge. He is clever in a worldly sense, a flattering strategist, good at manipulating his courtiers, at double-speak. His fawning address to Hamlet in I.2 (Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet ...) shows him to be a master of persuasiveness. He encourages Polonius to practise subterfuge his favourite weapon is poison. This resort hotel to poison, initially against his own brother, nauseously poured into the ear of the sleeping king, is repugnant and in the utmost act, poison is used both on Laertes sword and in the shape of wine that is to be offered to Hamlet. But from the start, his very words are like a drug, aimed at deflecting Hamlet away from his grief. In a wider sense, the affirm itself is poisoned by Claudius. He uses Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as his tools he employs spies and underhand methods. He tries to subscribe to Hamlet disappear by sending him to England (where his madness is less likely to reap attention) in the company of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern rather than by any shape of law or a direct challenge. Polonius is a good modeling of the usurpers pernicious influence a faithful retainer of the old sort, much given to spouting words of wisdom (to thine own self be true .. I.3.78), so far stooping to all manner of intrigue against his own son (II.1), his young woman and Hamlet. Yet even Claudius is not so wicked as not to be pricked by pangs of conscience. He does at least know what he has done (O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven III.3 .36). Shakespeare actually shows him kneeling down and praying in this scene, hoping for favor and wondering if he can repent and still retain the personal effects for which he committed the murder My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen (III.3.55) - a enquire many villains have periodically asked themselves. Claudius is wise enough to recognise that this cannot

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