After marrying his brother's wife and becoming the current King of Denmark, Claudius attends his brother's funeral and hints at the fact that he has carried on an affair with his brother's wife. "Your better wisdom, which have freely gone with this affair along --for all our thanks" (1361). Claudius appears to be happy at his brother's demise and thus inherits his brother's throne, valor and wife
Adultery is the first sin that Claudius commits under the commandments of God.
Though Claudius justifies, and at times, denies the fact that he has killed his brother, he attempts to reassure Hamlet that he will inherit the throne of his father. "As of a father, let the world take note, you are the the most immediate to our throne" , stated the King (1363). Claudius displays remorse for his late brother by recognizing, in light of his sinful action, his brother's son will still become King.
Claudius is not purely evil because he is aware of his sins and seeks forgiveness through his belief in God and Christianity. "Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens, to wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy but to confront the visage of offence?" (1411). Claudius finally admits he murdered his brother and looks to God to wash away his sin.Shakespeare's Hamlet could have been renamed "The Tragedy of Claudius, King of Denmark" due to the fact that it was a story of lust, betrayal and enlightenment. Though Claudius was successful in marrying his brother's wife, unlike his brother, he never experienced true love. Through Hamlet's play, Claudius sees his mistakes, and is enlightened to his own demise. The tragedy of Claudius is parallel to the "mark of Cain"; protected from a premature death, yet death succumbs.
From the point of view of Claudius, Shakespeare biblically infers that brotherly betrayal and lust, yet not purely evil, amounts to sin, remorse and death.
Great post. I agree that Claudius is not pure evil, his need for power has caused him to lose his way. I really enjoyed the comparison you made between Claudius killing his brother, and in the bible where Cain kills his brother Abel. He seeks forgiveness in religion, and by confessing to his sin. There are several parts in the play where Claudius appears to want to change his ways, but I feel that his need for power always led him back to his sinful ways. In the end Claudius is killed by Hamlet, whose life he turned upside down when he murdered his father.
ReplyDeleteI like your post because of your comparison with bible characters and his actions for power. I post, same like you, that Claudius is not complete evil, his just a human being. Each of us has two sides one good and the other bad, but sometimes humans choose the bad side because it helps them to get what they want. I believe that Shakespeare plays are good example of human feelings. He through his plays show the viewers their human parts that they do not want to see because individuals scare themselves of their dark side. Or, they are incapable of seeing they own faults. I just do not agree about lust, because I believe that Claudius does not kill his brother because of that but for ambition. Individuals are use to desire power, and sometimes humans beings let their dark side rule their good feelings. I really enjoy your post. Good insights.
ReplyDeleteI liked reading your blog post, it was both informative and interesting. I can also say that I agree with your ideas on you own opinion of Claudius. I like how you didn't make him sound completely as just purely evil because I agree with you that yes indeed he was just a flawed character. We are all people and we each have a good side and a bad side. I think some of Claudius's actions were morally wrong and evil but just because some of the things he did in order to become King were very wrong does not give us the right to judge him solely as pure evil human being. I like how you even added the part in Hamlet where we see that Claudius was asking for forgiveness for his sins.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Claudius want purely evil but but disagree that he was simple just a flawed person. I felt that there was evil in himself that exposed those flaws. I also agree that he could not be all evil because he did ask for forgiveness for what he had done. So he did recognized that what he had done was wrong. I do disagree with renaming the story to emphasis Claudius. Simply due to the fact that he was the cause of his own tragedies while causing Hamlets. Also his pain started due to that fact that Hamlet was in pain, and as a result caused Claudius' pain. Anyways great post!
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