Claudius as Evil in 'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare

King Claudius

  • Nov 21, 2004
  • 1042 Words
The abstract concept of evil has vastly transformed throughout human history, ranging for the supernatural and mystical to the very humans amongst whom we live. In modern times, evil has become an entirely ambiguous term. Who is evil? What is evil? Men like Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein have been garnered with the term evil' for their atrocities against fellow humans. Now it seems evil has a solely human significance; when a person violates the individual rights of others on a massive scale, he/she is evil. In Shakespeare's time  the Elizabethan era  evil had a similar, but somewhat altered connotation in the human mind. Evil was an entity that violated the English Christian monarchial tradition. Therefore, a man such as Claudius, from Shakespeare's play Hamlet, a cold-blooded murderer and a ruthless manipulator, who uses "rank" deeds to usurp the thrown is in direct violation with the Elizabethan societal norms, and hence he is an evil character.

In the Elizabethan era, the royal crown was viewed as divinely touched and hence any action against the crown was an action against God. Claudius dismisses God's right to control the crown by committing a "murder most foul" (I.v.27), yet he concedes that "there's such divinity doth hedge a king" (IV.v.121). Claudius admits that God influences the monarchy and yet he chooses to violate the divine monarchial progression. Hamlet recognizes Claudius' evil nature beyond simply the murder of his father; Hamlet sees that Claudius is corrupting all of Denmark. Claudius' reign is compared to "an unweeded garden/That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature/Possess it merely" (I.ii.135-7), his influence causing the destruction of a previously beautiful environment. Claudius' infectious evil must be eliminated, and Hamlet feels he is the only man who can do anything; he pulls out all the stops and in the end accomplishes his goal.

King Hamlet's "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.v.25) tops Claudius' list of...
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