Hamlet – English Coursework - Hamlet refers to Claudius as a “Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindles villain!” How far do you share his view?

would have to be a very convincing liar and be good at deceiving. Claudius then invites in a mad Ophelia to deceive Laertes, and to make him believe Hamlet is the culprit. Claudius’ manipulation of Hamlet’s feelings is apparent early on in the play showing his true self to be a sly, cunning and extremely clever man. All these qualities are shown in his opening speech as he addresses the court; Claudius speaks about the issue of his brother’s death, “our dear brother’s death, the memory be green” then, in a few sentences, moves on t the subject of his marriage, “Therefore our sometimes sister, now our queen” Claudius addresses his authority by referring to his wife as Queen letting all know that he is King. This is a very efficient and to the point statement showing Claudius’ intelligence, a characteristic common in the best and most evil villains. Claudius changes the subject “For all, our thanks” again it is simple and with minimum fuss. Claudius moves on to the next subject; a possible attack from a neighbouring country. He makes light of the situation by belittling the opposition; “Young Fortinbras, Holding a weak supposal of our worth” he calls the King young, immediately bringing to mind the thought of a child, not a very intimidating opponent. He also says ‘our’; gently letting the court he is the new King. “So much for him” these are the final words on the subject. Claudius has covered the death of his brother, his marriage with his former sister and a possible invasion and left the court laughing, smiling and joking. He is extremely clever to have done all this without arousing any suspicion and win over the court days after the death of the former King. Claudius ability to manipulate is obvious. Claudius’ talent for influencing and manipulating people continues throughout he play, showing a theme common in many villains. In Star Wars, The Emperor is a villain who desires power and is truly evil. Claudius desires power and kills his brother to have it. The Emperor shares the ability to manipulate others, instead of killing a foe he would try to influence them to join him. However the greatest evil quality that The Emperor and Claudius have in common is their emotionless reaction to the suffering they cause to others. When Claudius drives Ophelia mad through ignoring her and abusing her he is then comfortable to use her to manipulate Laertes. The Emperor shows no concern when he destroys a planet and it’s population. Claudius also puts people down, an already depressed Hamlet is one of his targets. “’Tis sweet and commendable” Claudius ignores how Hamlet is feeling about the death of his father. Saying someone’s mourning is ‘commendable’ is insulting. He continues to put Hamlet down by again ignoring how Hamlet feels and telling him to cheer up, “’Tis fault to heaven, A fault against the dead, a fault to nature” Claudius continues to repeat the word fault making Hamlet feel his mourning is wrong.         Claudius has good qualities in him that are unusual in villains. He makes an attempt to repent “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent” but he feels he cannot be forgiven because his sin is too great. Villains like Iago form Othello and Ming the Merciless both show no conscience at all. Claudius is also spiritual in the way that he understands God and knows what sin is. Spirituality isn’t something a truly evil villain has. Claudius shows caring and feels affection for Gertrude “She is so conjunctive to my life and soul” an incredible thing to say about someone, he shows a love for Gertrude. “O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven” Claudius knows that the things he has done are absolutely awful. He uses a disgusting word to describe his actions, the word rank. A villain of real evil wouldn’t have such a conscience. This shows Claudius not to be evil at his core. Claudius does not fully repent. Because he knows that he doesn’t really mean his apology, “Words without thoughts never to heaven go”          Claudius is not an evil character. He does disgraceful things and harms people but he does not gain pleasure from hurting people, something truly evil. He does the evil acts because of the results, in his case power. Claudius’ deliberate ignorance of emotion and ability to manipulate shows him to be disgusting and harmful. Claudius is a treacherous, lecherous, kindles villain but not remorseless. Although he did not repent because of his greed he tried to and it is because of this he is not an evil person. Claudius is however an awful person who deserves no sympathy. Hamlet’s opinion of Claudius isn’t far from the truth.