Evolution of Claudius
- Created by: NHow02
- Created on: 14-03-19 11:41
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- Claudius
- Good King
- Presented as a good King at the beginning of the play by using 'our' pronouns
- 'draw', 'gather' + 'glean' (Act 2, Scene 2)
- Represents Elizabethan surveillance state
- Wilson Knight: 'he is a good and gentle king, enmeshed by the chain of casualty'
- Incest
- 'Hyperion to satyr' (Act 1, Scene 2)
- Associates previous king with a sun god (heavenly imagery)
- Satyrs are mythical creatures with insatiable incestuous appetites
- Satyrs have connotations of the Devil, as he is likened to a goat
- 'Thy cicatrice looks raw and red'
- Alliterations shows violence
- Scar/ deformity seen as sign of Devil/sin
- 'Hyperion to satyr' (Act 1, Scene 2)
- Guilt
- 'frighted by false fire' (Act 3, Scene 2)
- Alliteration creates a repellent effect (Hamlet sees his sins)
- Has hellish connotations (Claudius fears for his soul)
- Hamlet was able to smoke him out
- 'there is no shuffling, there the action lies' (Act 3, Scene 3)
- 'shuffling' is clumsy (mortal)
- Suggests Hamlet retains some goodness because he questions
- Samuel Johnson: we must pause before we 'can form any rational scheme of action'
- 'shuffling' is clumsy (mortal)
- 'I am guiltless of your father's death' (Act 4, Scene 5)
- 'frighted by false fire' (Act 3, Scene 2)
- Religion
- 'bow, stubborn knees' (Act 3, Scene 3)
- His words are a facade because he fears Hell
- Command 'bow' suggests he's incapable of genuinely good behavior
- 'My words fly up, my thoughts remain below' (Act 3, Scene 3)
- Trying to act good in the eyes of God (Catholic Indulgences)
- 'my offence is rank, it smells to heaven' (Act 3, Scene 3)
- He admits that he has contributed to the 'rotten' state of Denmark
- Idea of miasma, which was believed to spread disease
- 'bow, stubborn knees' (Act 3, Scene 3)
- Bad Father
- 'your father lost a father' (Act 1, Scene 2)
- Repetition emphasis his insensitivity
- Cycle of life, just like the cycle of corruption
- 'your father lost a father' (Act 1, Scene 2)
- Revenge
- 'Revenge should have no bounds' (Act 4, Scene 7)
- Hypocritical
- 'Where th'offence is, let the great axe fall' (Act 4, Scene 5
- Ironic - secured his own death sentence
- Richard Altick: Claudius' 'evil has corrupted the whole kingdom of Denmark'
- 'Revenge should have no bounds' (Act 4, Scene 7)
- Good King
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