King Claudius
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Claudius is a fictional character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle to Hamlet. He is loosely based on the Jutish chieftain Feng who appears in Chronicon Lethrense and in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum.
[edit] Overview
Claudius is shown at the beginning of the play to be a capable monarch as he deals diplomatically with such issues as the military threat from Norway and Hamlet's depression. It is not until the appearance of King Hamlet's ghost that it is revealed that Claudius may have poisoned the old king in his sleep in order to usurp both his throne and his wife. During the play's progression he takes a turn for the worse by first resorting to spying, and, when that fails, murder to deal with Hamlet.
It is in Act III scene 3, when Claudius forestalls Hamlet's revenge by confessing his sins to God in his own private chapel, that the audience can be sure of his guilt. Despite his remorse, Claudius still seeks Hamlet's death in an effort to save both his throne and his life, as he believes the prince is now aware of his part in King Hamlet's death.
When Laertes seeks revenge for his father Polonius's death at Hamlet's hands, Claudius finally concocts a 'surefire' plan to deal with Hamlet once and for all. He arranges a fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes, but plots with Laertes to poison his foil and give Hamlet a poisoned drink. Claudius's plan fails; Queen Gertrude drinks from the poisoned chalice instead of Hamlet and dies, and Hamlet, after being struck by the poisoned sword, captures the same sword and strikes Laertes. As Norway's army, led by young Fortinbras, surrounds the castle, Hamlet finally extracts his revenge and slays Claudius using the very poison that had been intended for him.
[edit] Interpretation
It is certainly not difficult to label Claudius as evil by looking at some of his more unscrupulous actions, yet one must also look at the other side of Claudius when describing his character. He certainly felt remorse for his earlier actions as shown during his confession scene, and also shows genuine affection and concern for Hamlet for the first two Acts of the play. One can argue that his act of fratricide was as motivated by his love of Gertrude as It was by his love of power, and so label the murder an act of passion. However, it's when he feels theatened that his true nature reveals itself in his many elaborate plots to kill-off his nephew. He is unable to do the deed himself and concocts convoluted schemes for others to realize, thus showing his true devious and cowardly nature.
