Power Vs HappinessClaudius what are your motives for killing the king, marrying his wife and taking on therole of father to his young son?Claudius is introduced in act I, ii. In this scene he has an important speech.
In thisspeech he talks about the death of the king, his marriage to the queen and the foreign problemsof the state. He utilizes many transitions and tends to empiseze the foreign affairs of the state. Idon’t know what to make of this, it could mean various things. It could mean that Claudius ismaking a grab for power shown in his concentration on the foreign polices trying to distract fromhis lust for power, along with his marriage to the queen giving the change in leadership asmoother and more acceptable feel. He also down plays the death of the formal king so that hecan redirect the peoples’ attention to his plans and the problems of the state.
But I could meansomething else I’m not sure. Later on in this scene Claudius talks to Hamlet, Hamlet is verydepressed, Claudius gives hamlet some comforting and fatherly advice here trying to get him outof his deep depression. But what is his true motivation here is he trying to get hamlet as a backerfor his new rain, so he is just lying and manipulating hamlet, or dose he have true and deepfeelings for Hamlet and is just trying to help hamlet and was no self-interest in it. I feel right nowthat it a bit of both I think he cares about hamlet but would also like him to support his rise topower.
Next we come to act II, ii, hamlet has made many strange comments and actions lately,many people think he is going, or has gone insane. Claudius finds two of Hamlets good friendsto spy on him and try to find out what wrong with him. At this point we know that Hamlet knowsthat Claudius killed his father but we don’t know whether Claudius knows that hamlet knows oreven if he suspects, this cast a strange light on this scene. First if Claudius suspects hamletknows that he killed his father then we might assume that Claudius is sending these spy to findout for sure if he knows, but if he dose not suspect hamlet then this might be another show ofClaudius’s affection towards Hamlet. So the same question keeps coming up dose Claudius likeHamlet or is he just using him? At this point it to hard to tell so we must delve deeper in to thestory and there is still the mater of the queen.
Claudius is marred to the queen but dose he lovehere, and was there an affair before their marriage? In this scene there is an interesting coupleof lines that the queen says, “I doubt it is no other but the mainHis father’s death and ouro’erhasty marriage. ” in reference to the possible causes of Hamlets strange attitude recently, butwhat caught my eye was that she admits that there marriage was over hasty, something in whichHamlet accused her of very early on, this gives me reason to believe that she was having anaffair with Claudius before the death of the king, or at least that she was overly accepting of hisadvances. But this raises a different question, did she know of the killing maybe even help planit? I don’t know yet but I would like to think that she is a good wife and didn’t help with the killingof her husband, but . . .
After a couple more unsuccessful tries to figure out what Hamlet is thinking, also fairlyuninlighting, Claudius is caught in a clever trap set by Hamlet to prove to Hamlet that Claudiuskilled his father. This is bad news for Claudius but is good for my quest for knowledge. We see inthis scene Claudius reacts very deeply when he is reminded of the deed that he committed,which is shown by the line “Give me some light. Away!” right in the middle of a play.
Thenadmittedly he goes to the church to repent his sins and ask for forgiven for his crimes with thepassage “Thanks, dear my lord. . . .
. Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe. All may be well. ” thisbring a whole new light on to the question, it give significance evidence that he is deeplyremorseful about his crimes. At this point I think that he is not after power solely but maybe hewas joules of his brother great success and let his emotions get out of control and in this fit heforfill his fantasy to be his brother.
It goes well with his desire to be a father to Hamlet, a husbandto the queen, and the king. the queen must also be finding comfort in Claudius taking over, itprobably help her coup with the pain of losing her husbandNow the table turns Claudius has wanted to love and be the father of Hamlet, but hesees that that is no longer possible with hamlet need for revenge Claudius must kill him so thathe may continue to live at least part of his dream. In act IV, vii Claudius plots with Laertes to killhamlet. At this point it is as if Claudius has accepted what he must due and no longer shoes anylove or sypanthy towards Hamlet and instead plan his treacherous death. Last scene is also a very reveling scene two lines in particular “Gertrude, do not drink. “,”aside it is poisoned cup; it is too late.
“. These revel to me much about his character, they showthat he was truly in love, or at least desired to be with, her. and by saying do not drink out loudhe was almost admitting his guilt to trying to kill Hamlet all to save the queen, this is powerful andsays to me that he did have a heart and I would figure that he just lost control of himself in thepursuit of his dream which was to be all that his brother had been.Category: Shakespeare
