Claudius of Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- Essays on Shakespeare Hamlet

Claudius of juncture A close second in nobleness to the protagonist in Shakespeares Hamlet is the incredible King Claudius. His superior qualities render him a worthy antagonist capable of a plummeting downfall at the climax. G. Wilson Knight in The Embassy of Death interprets the character of Claudius Claudius, as he appears in the play, is not a criminal. He is - strange as it may seem - a good and gentle king, enmeshed by the chain of causality linking him with his crime. And this chain he might, perhaps, have broken except for Hamlet, and all would have been well. But, granted the figurehead of Hamlet - which Claudius at first genuinely desired, persuading him not to return to Wittenberg as he wished - and granted the fact of his original crime which cannot now be altered, Claudius cannot now be blamed for his later actions. They are forced on him. As King, he could scarcely be expected to do otherwise. (n. pag.) The drama opens after Hamlet has just returned from Witten berg, England, where he has been a student. What brought him home was the news of his fathers death and his uncles accession to the throne of Denmark. Philip Burton in Hamlet discusses Claudius sudden scrape up to the Danish throne upon the death of King Hamlet I A strong new king was immediately needed the election of Claudius, particularly in the absence of Hamlet, was inevitable. What is more, it was immediately justified, because Claudius manages to dispel the threat of invasion by appealing to the King of Norway to curb his nephew, Fortinbras the ambitious young soldier was the more ready to revoke the projected invasion because the object of his revenge, Hamlets father, was now dead, and in ret... .../ham1-col.htm Faucit, Helena (Lady Martin). On Some of Shakespeares Female Characters. 6th ed. London William Blackwood and Sons, 1899. Jorgensen, capital of Minnesota A. Hamlet. William Shakespeare the Tragedies. Boston Twayne Publ., 1985. N. pag. http//www.freehomepages.co m/hamlet/other/jorg-hamlet.html Knight, G. Wilson. The Embassy of Death. The Wheel of Fire. London Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1954. p. 38-39. http//server1.hypermart.net/hamlet/wheefire.html N. pag. Mack, Maynard. The World of Hamlet. Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1996. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.