Shakespeares Hamlet - Claudius Essay -- GCSE English Literature Cours

Claudius of Shakespeares crossroadss G. Wilson Knight in The Embassy of Death interprets the character of Claudius in Shakespeares juncture Claudius, as he appears in the play, is non a criminal. He is - strange as it may seem - a good and blue-blooded superpower, enmeshed by the chain of causality linking him with his crime. And this chain he might, perhaps, hurl broken except for Hamlet, and all would have been well. But, granted the presence 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 nowadays 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.) This essay, with the involvement of different literary critics, will consider Knights evaluation in light of others, and will thoroughly delineate the character of King Claudius, signal his place in the drama , and interpret his character. The drama opens after Hamlet has hardly returned from Wittenberg, England, where he has been a student. What brought him home was the news of his fathers demolition and his fathers brothers quick accession to the derriere of Denmark. Philip Burton in Hamlet discusses Claudius sudden rise to the Danish throne upon the oddment of King Hamlet I The fact that Claudius has become king is not really surprising. Only late in the play does Hamlet strike up that his uncle had popped in between the election and my hopes. The country had been in a noisome state expecting an invasion by young Fortinbras, at the head of a lawless band of adventurers, in revenge for his fathers closing at the hands of King Hamlet. A strong new king was immediat... ...Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1996. Excerpted from Shakespeares Women. N.p. n.p., 1981. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html hold & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. impudent York G.P. Putnams Sons, 190721 New York Bartleby.com, 2000 http//www.bartleby.com/215/0816.html West, Rebecca. A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT Yale University Press, 1957. Wilkie, Brian and James Hurt. Shakespeare. Literature of the westward World. Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992.