Yuliya Grebneva Eng. 203-01 Professor Riley March 8, 2013 The Tragedy of Claudius the Murderer Usually, if not always, in Shakespeare s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Hamlet is the one who is seen as a tragic hero. Shakespeare also helps us to understand who the tragic hero is his name is always in the name of the play. But if we think about it, there are a lot of tragic heroes in Hamlet. All main characters are tragic heroes,; they all have their tragic flaws,; they all balance between good and evil, they all have pride in themselves; they all have nemesis the fortune that cannot be reversed, and in the end we are usually left with the feeling of pity or fear after facing their end. Claudius is one of those tragic heroes. One moment we hate him, another moment he seems to be not that bad. When we start reading Hamlet, we do not know much about Claudius. We just know that he is a new King of Denmark, a brother of the old King Hamlet who is married to his wife. In the Act 1 Claudius is very nice and polite to Prince Hamlet: Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, / And Comment [Y1]: English Dept = discourse community. We have our lingo :D Although I am defining the word for the audience familiar with it, it is helpful for a reader outside of this discourse community (Harris). Comment [Y2]: This looks like my thesis statement. Thesis tied in with the heading. I think I knew what I was going to write about, so my thesis came to life, then paragraphs. I do think that at the end of my work on the essay, I realigned it again, subconsciously. Critical thinking part of the Framework interpretation of the character. Comment [Y3]: Topic sentence. let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. (1. 2. 68-69). Maybe Claudius really tries to become a father figure for Hamlet;, maybe he really wishes the best for him, but we think that Claudius sounds like a poisonous snake that wants to remove attention, put the victim to sleep and numb its feelings, and then strike. Claudius is very polite, and, nice, and kind to everyone around him, so we think of him as a good person. When he appears in the Act 1, he acts like the owner of his kingdom. Nothing shows his incompetence; the King appeared in the best light possible. Nobody expects the King to be a dirty murderer and Claudius knows it. How it is possible that God s ambassador, His right hand, could kill someone? Claudius knows that there are expectations for him, and he wants to Comment [Y4]: Rhetorical question. present himself in a best way possible. Claudius tells us in the beginning of Scene 2 that we should remember the dead but focus on the world of the living:
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe, Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature That we with wisest sorrow think on him Together with remembrance of ourselves. (1. 2. 201-207). There is definitely truth in Claudius s words. The dead do not care whether we bring flowers Comment [Y5]: Framework s flexibility conventions depend on discipline and context. MLA shows how to include a block quote and cite it. Also, ties in with formalism (described by Fulkerson). to their graves, whether we mourn frequently. Some religious philosophies would argue that this is exactly what happens the dead want to be remembered, but Christians would not support it. But regardless of to all this niceness and reasonable philosophy of Claudius s, we definitely become stunned by the fact of him marrying his dead brother s wife Gertrude. That s where we become suspicious of all Claudius s power and possession of the throne of Denmark and the Old King s Comment [Y6]: The they say/ I say format. Engagement part of the Framework making connections between my ideas, some religious philosophies and Christiaity. Comment [Y7]: The word become appears in two consecutive sentences, making their structure super similar. Lexical repetitions, Sommers. wife. We understand why Hamlet is so much against his uncle. When Old King Hamlet reveals himself to his son and tells that Claudius is the one who killed him, the Old King says, Revenge his foul and most unnatural murther (1. 5. 761), young Hamlet becomes a weapon for the revenge: Comment [Y8]: Audience awareness my audience is my professor, plus classmates potentially, so we all really understand why. Scholars like Sommers, Flower&Hayes emphasize the importance of considering the audience. The Framework discusses rhetorical knowledge, which includes the audience. Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge. (1. 5. 765-767). The appearance of the ghost of the Old King Hamlet made the relationship between Claudius and Hamlet even worse. Claudius, full of ambition and self- confidence, welcomes everyone at the celebration of life, and it makes Hamlet sick. There are a lot of problems caused by Claudius s huge ambition. This is his tragic flaw ambition that became a weapon that worked against King Claudius. The main thing is that his Comment [Y9]: Same transitioning technique as before, so far. situation becomes more and more dangerous. If in the beginning only Hamlet knows what
happened, later on he tells his friend Horatio, and then gradually Hamlet convinces his mother of Claudius murdering the Old King. Claudius decides to murder Hamlet. One murder certainly leads to another because there will always be a witness to murder or someone very curious and also smart to understand that there is something wrong with the whole story. Claudius understands that if he does not clean up his way, he is going to be trapped and punished; he will lose everything he gained by committing such heinous crime as the murder of the King who is also a brother. That is why Claudius sends Hamlet away and orders to kill him because the nephew brings too much disturbance. Claudius could save his soul by simply repenting, confessing his sins and bearing the punishment but he does not want to lose his kingdom, which is not supposed to be his by law, he wants to live, even if his sin is his ticket to hell. To kill the King was like to encroach on God, which was a very serious crime. Claudius understands that his situation is very dangerous. He understands that there is a chance of Gertrude finding out about what he has done, and if the Queen is not much Comment [Y10]: Formalist stuff (Fulkerson). I mix Present and Past Tenses, which I could have avoided. I was told to try and stick to one type of tense. of a threat yet, young Hamlet (who is about 30 years old) is suspicious. Claudius has no idea that Hamlet thinks about revenge. The problem with Claudius is that we do not know much about his feelings. He is portrayed through Hamlet s emotions and descriptions. Hamlet is the only one who evaluates Claudius; Comment [Y11]: Topic sentence, but no transition from paragraph to paragraph. (Missing part of good academic writing list that we developed in class). Hamlet is the only one who sees evil in him. We get an impression that the New King is the image of evil, the image of heartless murderer. We do not see much of his nasty nature ourselves though. Everything we get to know about him is because Hamlet talks about it, and we draw conclusions from his speeches and observations. Yes, we witness Claudius s command to kill his nephew Hamlet, and we also see his reaction when he sees his nephew s play. Even if we can draw many conclusions from it, that is pretty much all. King Claudius balances between being kind and being cruel and awful. We do not know if he tries to become a father figure for Hamlet sincerely. It seems to be that he really is trying by Comment [Y12]: Making meaning (Flower and Hayes). I emphasize that we as readers draw out own conclusions =thus make meanings for ourselves based on what we heard about the character & saw him do. Metacognition is also involved: I ve done thinking as I read, as I wrote, and thought about my own thinking when describing my thought (Framework). Comment [Y13]: Yeah, proofreading & editing (see Sommers Revision Strategies ). Nancy Sommers would be like, -Did you have a peer look at it? Did you read it from end to beginning? --I really don t remember m am. >_<
saying We pray you throw to earth / This unprevailing woe, and think of us / As of a father (1. 2.309-311). Claudius says that maybe one day Hamlet will accept him as his own father. Maybe it would have happened if wedding was not so soon two or three months after the Old King s funeral, and also if Hamlet did not know the truth about his father s death. We do not know with Comment [Y14]: Audience awareness + responsibility (Framework). I paraphrase the quote to primarily demonstrate my own understanding to Dr. Riley but also, I m sure, on the back of my mind I wanted to make sure that whoever else my reader may be, they will be able to get it. certainty but what we do know is that Claudius gets rejected by Hamlet at all times. This is sad that Claudius is rejected by everyone. He is rejected by the most important people in his kingdom his family. He certainly did not want this type of ending. We do not know if Comment [Y15]: Transition & topic sentence (good academic writing). Claudius originally wanted to kill Hamlet. He probably came to this conclusion after he saw Hamlet being all mysterious and sneaky about the murder. Hamlet has become a threat, as it has been said. Perhaps, Claudius thought that it would be a good security act to remove Hamlet from the country and from this world Gertrude s death is completely accidental though. Claudius told her not to drink the wine with a poisonous pearl Gertrude, do not drink. (5. 2. 3942). But the Queen does not listen, and drinks, with the words, I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me. (5. 2. 3943). Claudius understands that there is nothing he can do to stop her quietly, unless he is not afraid to lose everything. So he does not stop her. He knows that it is too late after she drank that poisonous wine. Then, as we know, Hamlet gets hurt by Laertes with a sword covered with venom, and later on Prince Hamlet sees his mother who warns him about poisoned wine No, no! the drink, the drink! Comment [Y16]: I think this small edition introduces the quote better in terms of syntax (process writing, Nancy Sommers, Williams). Process: I came back to this essay a couple years later & as if looked at it with a different set of eyeballs :D Williams would have said that yeah, it does look better this way but people still can understand what you meant. Sommers & Revision Strategies : come back to your writing. Don t try to d it all at once. O my dear Hamlet! / The drink, the drink! I am poison'd. (5. 2. 3965-3966). Then she dies. Laertes admits to Hamlet that he (Hamlet) was poisoned because the King and he, Laertes, decided so, and now he, Laertes, is punished: The foul practice Hath turn'd itself on me. Lo, here I lie, Never to rise again. Thy mother's poison'd. I can no more. The King, the King's to blame. (5. 2. 3976-3977).
Claudius dies from his nephew s sword Hamlet, furious, kills him. As tragic hero, Claudius dies, and his idea of getting power by hurting others dies together with him. And what is left? We are left with four dead bodies of the Queen, Laertes, Hamlet, and Claudius. We left with fear and terror as much as the witnesses of this scene in the castle. We do not Comment [Y17]: I like this transition here. Previous paragraph was about death; the new about what remains. know what is going to happen later with the whole kingdom. Everything is terrible. But is there anything good in Claudius s tragedy? Well, we witness the judgment on the Earth and do not know what kind of judgment it is going to be in Heaven and hell. Claudius was supposed to die it was his destiny, his fate that he could not be reversed but only postponed reverse but only postpone. Claudius tried to postpone it but in the end he paid the full price. He died without confessing his sins, he died a murderer and who knows knew where his soul is was going to be. Comment [Y18]: Awkward wording that I didn t catch when editing. We might have had a peer review & got some feedback (Sommers, Across the Drafts ) but this sentence might have not been there yet. If a different set of eyeballs looked at this sentence, something might have been said about it. Comment [Y19]: Again, mixing tenses here in one sentence. Formalist stuff (Fulkerson). I mix Present and Past Tenses, which I could have avoided. I was told to try and stick to one type of tense. Also, Williams Grammar and Writing as a non-native speaker of English, I don t have grammar like native speakers do.
Work Cited Comment [Y20]: One of good academic writing requirements met. :D William Shakespeare. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Literature: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Janet E. Gardner, et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin s, 2006. 733-776. Print. 2006. 733-776. Print.