Yuliya Grebneva

Eng. 203-01
Professor Riley
March 8, 2013
The Tragedy of Claudius the Murderer
Usually, if not always, in Shakespeares Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Hamlet is the one who
is seen as a tragic hero. Shakespeare also helps us to understand who the tragic hero is his name is
always in the name of the play. But if we think about it, there are a lot of tragic heroes in Hamlet.
All main characters are tragic heroes,; they all have their tragic flaws,; they all balance between
good and evil, they all have pride in themselves; they all have nemesis the fortune that cannot be
reversed, and in the end we are usually left with the feeling of pity or fear after facing their end.
Claudius is one of those tragic heroes. One moment we hate him, another moment he seems to be
not that bad.
When we start reading Hamlet, we do not know much about Claudius. We just know that he
is a new King of Denmark, a brother of the old King Hamlet who is married to his wife. In the Act 1
Claudius is very nice and polite to Prince Hamlet: Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, / And

Comment [Y1]: English Dept = discourse

community. We have our lingo :D
Although I am defining the word for the audience
familiar with it, it is helpful for a reader outside of
this discourse community (Harris).
Comment [Y2]: This looks like my thesis
statement. Thesis tied in with the heading.
I think I knew what I was going to write about, so
my thesis came to life, then paragraphs.
I do think that at the end of my work on the essay, I
realigned it again, subconsciously.
Critical thinking part of the Framework
interpretation of the character.
Comment [Y3]: Topic sentence.

let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. (1. 2. 68-69). Maybe Claudius really tries to become a
father figure for Hamlet;, maybe he really wishes the best for him, but we think that Claudius sounds
like a poisonous snake that wants to remove attention, put the victim to sleep and numb its feelings,
and then strike. Claudius is very polite, and, nice, and kind to everyone around him, so we think of
him as a good person. When he appears in the Act 1, he acts like the owner of his kingdom. Nothing
shows his incompetence; the King appeared in the best light possible. Nobody expects the King to
be a dirty murderer and Claudius knows it. How it is possible that Gods ambassador, His right
hand, could kill someone? Claudius knows that there are expectations for him, and he wants to
present himself in a best way possible. Claudius tells us in the beginning of Scene 2 that we should
remember the dead but focus on the world of the living:

Comment [Y4]: Rhetorical question.

Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death

The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him
Together with remembrance of ourselves. (1. 2. 201-207).
There is definitely truth in Claudiuss words. The dead do not care whether we bring flowers

Comment [Y5]: Frameworks flexibility

conventions depend on discipline and context. MLA
shows how to include a block quote and cite it. Also,
ties in with formalism (described by Fulkerson).

to their graves, whether we mourn frequently. Some religious philosophies would argue that this is
exactly what happens the dead want to be remembered, but Christians would not support it. But
regardless of to all this niceness and reasonable philosophy of Claudiuss, we definitely become
stunned by the fact of him marrying his dead brothers wife Gertrude. Thats where we become
suspicious of all Claudiuss power and possession of the throne of Denmark and the Old Kings

Comment [Y6]: The they say/ I say format.

Engagement part of the Framework making
connections between my ideas, some religious
philosophies and Christiaity.
Comment [Y7]: The word become appears in
two consecutive sentences, making their structure
super similar. Lexical repetitions, Sommers.

wife.
We understand why Hamlet is so much against his uncle. When Old King Hamlet reveals
himself to his son and tells that Claudius is the one who killed him, the Old King says, Revenge his
foul and most unnatural murther (1. 5. 761), young Hamlet becomes a weapon for the revenge:

Comment [Y8]: Audience awareness my

audience is my professor, plus classmates
potentially, so we all really understand why.
Scholars like Sommers, Flower&Hayes emphasize
the importance of considering the audience.
The Framework discusses rhetorical knowledge,
which includes the audience.

Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep
to my revenge. (1. 5. 765-767). The appearance of the ghost of the Old King Hamlet made the
relationship between Claudius and Hamlet even worse. Claudius, full of ambition and self-

Formatted: Highlight

confidence, welcomes everyone at the celebration of life, and it makes Hamlet sick.
There are a lot of problems caused by Claudiuss huge ambition. This is his tragic flaw
ambition that became a weapon that worked against King Claudius. The main thing is that his
situation becomes more and more dangerous. If in the beginning only Hamlet knows what

Comment [Y9]: Same transitioning technique as

before, so far.
Formatted: Highlight

happened, later on he tells his friend Horatio, and then gradually Hamlet convinces his mother of
Claudius murdering the Old King. Claudius decides to murder Hamlet. One murder certainly leads
to another because there will always be a witness to murder or someone very curious and also smart
to understand that there is something wrong with the whole story. Claudius understands that if he
does not clean up his way, he is going to be trapped and punished; he will lose everything he gained
by committing such heinous crime as the murder of the King who is also a brother. That is why
Claudius sends Hamlet away and orders to kill him because the nephew brings too much
disturbance. Claudius could save his soul by simply repenting, confessing his sins and bearing the
punishment but he does not want to lose his kingdom, which is not supposed to be his by law, he
wants to live, even if his sin is his ticket to hell. To kill the King was like to encroach on God, which
was a very serious crime. Claudius understands that his situation is very dangerous. He understands

Comment [Y10]: Formalist stuff (Fulkerson). I

mix Present and Past Tenses, which I could have
avoided. I was told to try and stick to one type of
tense.
Formatted: Highlight

that there is a chance of Gertrude finding out about what he has done, and if the Queen is not much

Formatted: Highlight

of a threat yet, young Hamlet (who is about 30 years old) is suspicious. Claudius has no idea that
Hamlet thinks about revenge.
The problem with Claudius is that we do not know much about his feelings. He is portrayed
through Hamlets emotions and descriptions. Hamlet is the only one who evaluates Claudius;

Comment [Y11]: Topic sentence, but no

transition from paragraph to paragraph. (Missing
part of good academic writing list that we
developed in class).

Hamlet is the only one who sees evil in him. We get an impression that the New King is the image
of evil, the image of heartless murderer. We do not see much of his nasty nature ourselves though.
Everything we get to know about him is because Hamlet talks about it, and we draw conclusions
from his speeches and observations. Yes, we witness Claudiuss command to kill his nephew
Hamlet, and we also see his reaction when he sees his nephews play. Even if we can draw many
conclusions from it, that is pretty much all.
King Claudius balances between being kind and being cruel and awful. We do not know if
he tries to become a father figure for Hamlet sincerely. It seems to be that he really is trying by

Comment [Y12]: Making meaning (Flower

and Hayes).
I emphasize that we as readers draw out own
conclusions =thus make meanings for ourselves
based on what we heard about the character &
saw him do.
Metacognition is also involved: Ive done thinking as
I read, as I wrote, and thought about my own
thinking when describing my thought (Framework).
Comment [Y13]: Yeah, proofreading & editing
(see Sommers Revision Strategies).
Nancy Sommers would be like,
-Did you have a peer look at it? Did you read it from
end to beginning?
--I really dont remember mam. >_<

saying We pray you throw to earth / This unprevailing woe, and think of us / As of a father
(1. 2.309-311). Claudius says that maybe one day Hamlet will accept him as his own father. Maybe
it would have happened if wedding was not so soon two or three months after the Old Kings
funeral, and also if Hamlet did not know the truth about his fathers death. We do not know with

Comment [Y14]: Audience awareness +

responsibility (Framework).
I paraphrase the quote to primarily demonstrate my
own understanding to Dr. Riley but also, Im sure, on
the back of my mind I wanted to make sure that
whoever else my reader may be, they will be able to
get it.

certainty but what we do know is that Claudius gets rejected by Hamlet at all times.
This is sad that Claudius is rejected by everyone. He is rejected by the most important people

Comment [Y15]: Transition & topic sentence

(good academic writing).

in his kingdom his family. He certainly did not want this type of ending. We do not know if
Claudius originally wanted to kill Hamlet. He probably came to this conclusion after he saw Hamlet
being all mysterious and sneaky about the murder. Hamlet has become a threat, as it has been said.
Perhaps, Claudius thought that it would be a good security act to remove Hamlet from the country
and from this world Gertrudes death is completely accidental though. Claudius told her not to
drink the wine with a poisonous pearl Gertrude, do not drink. (5. 2. 3942). But the Queen does
not listen, and drinks, with the words, I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me. (5. 2. 3943).
Claudius understands that there is nothing he can do to stop her quietly, unless he is not afraid to
lose everything. So he does not stop her. He knows that it is too late after she drank that poisonous
wine. Then, as we know, Hamlet gets hurt by Laertes with a sword covered with venom, and later
on Prince Hamlet sees his mother who warns him about poisoned wine No, no! the drink, the drink!
O my dear Hamlet! / The drink, the drink! I am poison'd. (5. 2. 3965-3966). Then she dies. Laertes
admits to Hamlet that he (Hamlet) was poisoned because the King and he, Laertes, decided so, and
now he, Laertes, is punished:
The foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me. Lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again. Thy mother's poison'd.
I can no more. The King, the King's to blame. (5. 2. 3976-3977).

Comment [Y16]: I think this small edition

introduces the quote better in terms of syntax
(process writing, Nancy Sommers , Williams).
Process: I came back to this essay a couple years
later & as if looked at it with a different set of
eyeballs :D
Williams would have said that yeah, it does look
better this way but people still can understand what
you meant.
Sommers & Revision Strategies: come back to
your writing. Dont try to d it all at once.

Claudius dies from his nephews sword Hamlet, furious, kills him. As tragic hero, Claudius dies,
and his idea of getting power by hurting others dies together with him.
And what is left? We are left with four dead bodies of the Queen, Laertes, Hamlet, and
Claudius. We left with fear and terror as much as the witnesses of this scene in the castle. We do not

Comment [Y17]: I like this transition here.

Previous paragraph was about death; the new
about what remains.

know what is going to happen later with the whole kingdom. Everything is terrible. But is there
anything good in Claudiuss tragedy? Well, we witness the judgment on the Earth and do not know
what kind of judgment it is going to be in Heaven and hell. Claudius was supposed to die it was
his destiny, his fate that he could not be reversed but only postponed reverse but only postpone.
Claudius tried to postpone it but in the end he paid the full price. He died without confessing his
sins, he died a murderer and who knows knew where his soul is was going to be.

Comment [Y18]: Awkward wording that I didnt

catch when editing. We might have had a peer
review & got some feedback (Sommers, Across
the Drafts) but this sentence might have not been
there yet. If a different set of eyeballs looked at this
sentence, something might have been said about it.
Comment [Y19]: Again, mixing tenses here in
one sentence.
Formalist stuff (Fulkerson). I mix Present and Past
Tenses, which I could have avoided. I was told to try
and stick to one type of tense. Also, Williams
Grammar and Writing as a non-native speaker
of English, I dont have grammar like native speakers
do.

Work Cited
William Shakespeare. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Literature: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Janet E.
Gardner, et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins,

2006. 733-776. Print.

2006. 733-776. Print.

Comment [Y20]: One of good academic writing

requirements met. :D