Hamlet - Claudius

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(Act I, Sc. V, Lines 42-46)


Claudius not only wanted to be the king of Denmark, he also wanted the queen that came with it. In Act I Sc. II Lines 8-14, Claudius has just recently been crowned king and is addressing the court. He shows in his words how happy he is to be married to Gertrude, the Queen.


"herefore our sometime sister, now our queen,

The imperial jointress to this warlike state,

Have we, as ‘twere with a defeated joy,

With an auspicious, and dropping eye,

With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage,

In equal scale weighing delight and dole,

Taken to wife; ...."


The ambition of Claudius lays the foundation for the theme of revenge. Without his need to be king and his willingness to do anything for it, the play would be completely different. This evil trait is, in part, what in the end kills Claudius.


Claudius’ other evil trait, his scheming, also leads to his death. An example ...

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was when he and Laertes planned to kill Hamlet. Now, Claudius is aware that Hamlet knows about his crime and wishes him dead. Claudius, in a plan to save himself, has Laertes and Hamlet engage in a fencing match. Laertes has his sword poisoned in an effort to do Hamlet in once and for all.


"And for that purpose I’ll anoint my sword,

I bought an unction of a mountebank,

So mortal that, but a dip a knife in it,

Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,

Collected from all simples that have virtue

Under the moon, can save the thing from death

That is but scratched withal. I’ll touch my point With this

Contagion, ...

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