Portrait of Hamlet, King Claudius - Essay Example

Hamlet, King Claudius King Claudius is the antagonist of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a personality he makes use of in order to attain power. He is both intelligent and well spoken and these two traits harmonize the reason for his being scheming and treacherous in nature (Bloom 45). King Claudius possesses conscience that makes him such a complex villain. It is through his scheming that his rise to power appears to have been carefully planned and executed. Claudius desires to attain power, which what he wanted, are so strong that one might conclude that he possesses superhuman powers (Shakespeare and Willard 40). He has the much-needed conniving personality, making him the most interesting and very decisive man in the play Hamlet (Shakespeare, et al 105). The most striking realization is that no matter what had to be done; Claudius just could not blink away from his pursuit to acquire his goal. For instance, he turns out to be a sadistic human being, something that takes a lot of will and selfishness to accomplish such feet. Along with his ferocious nature, Claudius’ ability to deceive people with his charm drives his ego into attaining the Kingdom of Denmark. King Claudius befits the description of uneasy lies the head that wears the crown (Shakespeare 1.5.49-53). It is an outright observation that he gets the kingship through sibling-cide and quasi-incest. Calculative murder places him on the throne. There are overt dastard deeds from Claudius like the killing the Old King Hamlet through pouring poison in the latter’s ear as he slept serenely in his garden. He goes further to marry his dead brother’s wife Gertrude, thus placing himself as the instantaneous uncle and stepfather to Hamlet (Bloom 124). At this point, he is the evil stepfather, as murdering the previous King, Hamlet’s father is just a cold-blooded act for one to execute in order to clear his way to power. Before becoming the incumbent king, Claudius appears to be so evil, something that clouds his conscience, such that he is practically a cartoon villain (Shakespeare and Willard 55). The question that arises is the kind of man that Claudius had become such that he would murder his blood brother only to usurp the throne. As this is not enough, there is a plot to have his brother’s nephew killed. Claudius knew pretty well that unless he does away with the former King Hamlet; his chances of becoming the King of Denmark were wiry (Shakespeare and B Davies 50). Killing Old Hamlet thus creates the vacuum of power that catapults him into being the King of Denmark. Brothers killing brother sounds pretty a familiar thing as one can easily equate Claudius acts to Biblical Allusion (Shakespeare, et al 330). In this respect, Claudius’ mannerism may be aligned with biblical Cain; whose ascend to fame was through committing his first murder upon his own brother, Abel. Coincidentally, Claudius seems to admit his offense by saying that it is a rank and smells to heaven since the murder (a brother’s murder) had the primal eldest curse in it (Shakespeare 3.3.36-38). Therefore, one would ascertain that the serpent that stung Hamlet’s father as the crown on its head, a proposition that is adapted by the Ghost of Old Hamlet. Such a presentation again points to the biblical story of the Fall. By executing his own brother, Claudius attains the power he yearned for, and this makes him a distillation of the most basic, fundamental evil Shakespeare has ever exposed (Bloom 65). Claudius is thus the inventive murderer, the Serpent, who got the Old Hamlet and his nephew kicked out of the Kingship lineage. King Claudius acquires power because of his Machiavellian tactics into ascending into the throne. He is so good at kingcraft, a meticulous learner of one Niccolo Machiavelli’s Prince that provides a personality- help guide for sovereigns aiming to usurp power and maintain (Shakespeare, et al 342). One of the outstanding personalities that Claudius understands is that one does not require being nice in order to rule as a successful leader or King. It is a Machiavelli’s theory and Claudius is not interested in doing the right thing in order to be the King. For instance, King Claudius tenacity roams around being charismatic, manipulative, inventive, and willful. His controversial demureness, as it might appear in Hamlet, wins him the Kingship hence a super popular character in Shakespeare’s era. It appears interesting and again hurting since the characteristics that make Claudius a bad man are the same traits that make him a successful King (Shakespeare and B Davies 77). Claudius has no trepidations about manipulating Old Hamlet’s acquaintances, Gertrude and Hamlet as this makes him unapologetically selfish. The incumbent King of Denmark is highly hypocritical. After the death of Old Hamlet, he feigns to be an affectionate stepfather to young Hamlet yet he sends him later on a voyage to meet with his death (Bloom 92). The conscious of a human being does not come in the line of duty to hinder Claudius pursuit of power. Claudius does not allow it either, especially when he knowingly allows Gertrude to drink wine that he knows was poisoned (Shakespeare and Willard 122). In this instance, Claudius would rather see his brother’s wife, whom he is in love with, Gertrude, die rather than put his plans on a crossroad. He desired his position as a King. For Claudius to go behind Gertrude and murder her husband is a despicable and unlawful scheming to seize power. For instance, even when Hamlet walks in and finds Claudius praying, one could comprehend that Claudius was partially sorry since it had to be his brother yet he is not sorry for orchestrating the act (Shakespeare, et al 124). The scheme of rising to power comes even earlier since Claudius could flirt with Old Hamlet’s wife before killing the King. The love of her brother’s love may be sincere, but the bigger picture comes out that Claudius married Gertrude so that she might assist her in winning the throne away from Hamlet after the Kings death. Moreover, remains the adulterate beast, making good of his witchcraft of his wit, and a traitorous gift to influence power on his side (Shakespeare 1.5.49-53). As he works well with his plot to rise in power, Claudius remains a major antagonist, shrewd and lustful as compared to his male counterpart. For example, his strikingly intelligent speech to make his court and country proud while addressing people during his brother’s death as well as the potential conflict with Norway portrays how easy it was for him to persuade power on his side. He cons his people through his luring and charming talk, as he knows the change of leadership might result into civil unrest. His maneuvers help create allegiances and this qualms possible rebellion as he prepares to become a king (Shakespeare and Willard 81). His well-worded speech juxtaposes the civilian’s loss of their King with the new beginning he would bring as a king. Such operations help Claudius bring in a sense of national solidarity as he projects that the whole kingdom would be contracted in one brow of woe (Shakespeare 1.2.3-4). The truth is that Claudius craved to be a king hence he had to unleash all his arsenals to obtain it. Claudius seems to operate on the blessing cum a gift to manipulate people into doing what he wants them to. For instance, Polonius keeps doing his bidding all the time as well as former confidants of Hamlet, Guildenstern, and Rosencrantz, whom Claudius turns into potential murderous (Shakespeare, et al 76). It does not matter whether his actions hurt the people around him, Claudius is not concerned about it, and he dies to be the King. It is thus not a surprise to see Claudius on his knees, praying since his deceitful deeds keep on tormenting him (Shakespeare and B Davies 64). He has lived a life of crime and cunning nature, yet he had his conscious, intact that the things he had executed to be a king were unfathomable. Works cited Bloom, Harold. Hamlet. New York: Chelsea House, 2007. Print. Shakespeare, William et al. Hamlet. Paris: Simon and Schuster, 2004. Print. Shakespeare, William, and B Davies. Hamlet. London: Collins, 2001. Print. Shakespeare, William, and Willard Farnham. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Baltimore, Md: Penguin Books, 2001. Print. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Champaign, Ill: Project Gutenberg, 2005. Internet resource. Read More