Term Papers on Claudius The King?

Term Paper Title	Claudius The King?
# of Words	1687
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	6.75

Claudius the King?

12-16-98, Per. 1
Character Essay

     Evil is a powerful force. It causes people to become corrupt and to have the ability to corrupt others. If a corrupt leader runs a nation it will coincidentally become corrupt. This is evident in modern society and even fictionally based dramas. An exemplification of this would be William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In Hamlet, the most corrupt character is Claudius, the newly appointed king of Denmark. He took the throne on dishonest terms and had to keep playing out that dishonesty to keep himself in that throne. Claudius led to the corruption of all of Denmark. He was a skilled politician and a murderer, two very stereotypical corrupt figures. This corrupt king was also living a lie, which caused him to feel threatened by his son, who knew a little too much. Evil ruled Claudius’ life and caused him to be a corrupt person. Corruption is generally associated with power and politics, which is Claudius in a nutshell. This creates great politicians such as him.
     The political world is ruled by corruption. Almost all politicians either had to use corruption to get into office or to keep their office. This is the same situation with Claudius; he had to use corruption to achieve and hold his political position. He was a very good politician, though. He had most of the kingdom supporting him.
                                   Young Fortinbras,
                    Holding a wear supposal of our worth
                    Or our thinking by our late dear broth’s death
                    Our state to be disjointed and out of frame,
                    Colleaguéd with his dream of his advantage,
                    He hath not failed to pester us with message.....(I.ii.17-21)
In giving this little speech, Claudius got the kingdom to forget about the late king’s “death”. He persuaded the people to move on and band together with him against a common threat. This worked and the people blindly followed Claudius. He was such a good politician that he persuaded two of Hamlet’s good childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to betray Hamlet “’...Some little time, so by your companies / To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather / So much as from occasion you may glean...’” (II.ii.14-16). Claudius convinces them that it would be in Hamlet’s best interest if they would spy on him to “keep him out of trouble”. Claudius was trying to put on a façade that he cared for Hamlet, when in reality he saw him as a threat.
     As an eloquent politician, Claudius wore many different masks. His false words and image were so overwhelming that it got to the point where he was living a lie. For instance, Claudius was always inquiring about Hamlet’s wellbeing, when he really did not care about him. He saw Hamlet as a threat, but pretended to care in order to get closer to Hamlet in order to kill him, just like how he killed King Hamlet. Claudius was living a life of deceit. The “player queen” states the lie that Claudius is leading through her lines. She said “’...A second time I kill my husband dead / When second husband kisses me in bed.’” (III.ii.207-208). She not only links herself to the murder of her husband, but also her new husband. She alludes to the fact that it is her doing her late husband a grave injustice by having Claudius as her new husband. As a result of this deceitful life that Claudius lives, he is afraid of his “son”. Claudius is more worried about what Hamlet knows, and more importantly, what he would tell people. Hamlet “acts mad” in order to serve justice to his father and to avenge his murder. But Claudius knows that something is causing Hamlet’s madness and he is determined to find the reason for Hamlet’s insanity. “’..Her father and myself  /  sob bestow ourselves that seeing unseen, / We may of their encounter frankly judge...’” (III.i.35-37). Claudius and Polonius are going to spy on Hamlet to see why he has gone mad. The King, however, is not concerned for Hamlet’s wellbeing, but rather with what Hamlet can do to incriminate him. This statement is ironic because the diction such as “lawful” and “frankly judge” are opposite of their intention...

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