It has been said that in Act 4, scene 5 we see the best of Claudius, and in Act 4, scene7 we see the worst of him. What do you think?

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Sean Ponzini                                                                                12 Ward

Hamlet Essay


It has been said that in Act 4, scene 5 we see the best of Claudius, and in Act 4, scene7 we see the worst of him. What do you think?

I think in Act 4,scene 5 we do see the best of Claudius as a king. In this scene Claudius goes from being regretful at the way he treated his close friend’s funeral and the guilt and grief he bares after all of the recent misfortunes “O this is the poison of deep grief, it springs all from her father’s death..” to standing strong in the face of danger. Claudius at first is worried that, to the returning and angry Laertes it will seem as though Claudius killed his father, especially when Laertes marches towards the king with followers that wish to see him appointed as king and Claudius killed. Laertes challenges Claudius about his fathers death, as Gertrude tries her best to calm him because she fears for the kings safety. But Claudius tells her to release Laertes and bravely stands in front of him to reply to Laertes questions about his fathers death. Claudius shows no fear although it would be incredibly easy for Laertes to kill him in his anger, Claudius uses his status as king and the belief in ‘the divine right of kings’ which means that as a king god protects him, to settle Laertes and take control of the situation. Claudius only informs Laertes that it was not him who murdered Polonius after he has calmed down then informs him that if he continues to act in the way he is it will be his friends who are harmed as well as his enemies “..you will draw both friend and foe, Winner and loser?..”. By this time Claudius has enforced himself as in control by acting in an authoritative and noble way. For all of Claudius’ hard work at this point Ophelia enters which threatens to send Laertes into another angry fit, and although Laertes does become distressed and angry at the sight of what has happened to his beloved sister Claudius managers to remain in control of him and learns that the sight of Laertes mentally ill sister would drive him to revenge more than and persuasion that the king could possibly try. The king uses Laertes detracting condition as the sight of his sisters sickness drives him more and more to despair and grief  to go and talk with the king. Claudius comes across as being incredibly confident that he was not the one who murdered Polonius by telling Laertes that his friends may be the judge of who was responsible for the kings death. If they decide it was Claudius he will offer full satisfaction to Laertes, but if they decide it was someone else he will help Laertes in finding and exacting vengeance on the person responsible.

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                                        In this scene I think we see the best example of Claudius being able to cope with the pressures of being a king as well as taking control of a situation, two parts in particular do this. Firstly Claudius taking advantage of the facts he knows about Polonius’ death as well as being brave enough to withhold it back from Laertes until he was in the driving seat. It would have been far easier to tell him as soon as he barged in but he shows strength and dignity. The second time is when Ophelia enters this could effectively undo ...

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