Essay/Term paper: Hamlet: power vs happiness

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Hamlet

Hamlet: Power vs Happiness


Claudius what are your motives for killing the king, marrying his wife
and taking on the role of father to his young son?
Claudius is introduced in act I, ii. In this scene he has an important
speech. In this speech he talks about the death of the king, his marriage to the
queen and the foreign problems of the state. He utilizes many transitions and
tends to empiseze the foreign affairs of the state. I don't know what to make of
this, it could mean various things. It could mean that Claudius is making a grab
for power shown in his concentration on the foreign polices trying to distract
from his lust for power, along with his marriage to the queen giving the change
in leadership a smoother and more acceptable feel. He also down plays the death
of the formal king so that he can redirect the peoples' attention to his plans
and the problems of the state. But I could mean something else I'm not sure.
Later on in this scene Claudius talks to Hamlet, Hamlet is very depressed,
Claudius gives hamlet some comforting and fatherly advice here trying to get him
out of his deep depression. But what is his true motivation here is he trying to
get hamlet as a backer for his new rain, so he is just lying and manipulating
hamlet, or dose he have true and deep feelings for Hamlet and is just trying to
help hamlet and was no self-interest in it. I feel right now that it a bit of
both I think he cares about hamlet but would also like him to support his rise
to power.
Next we come to act II, ii, hamlet has made many strange comments and
actions lately, many people think he is going, or has gone insane. Claudius
finds two of Hamlets good friends to spy on him and try to find out what wrong
with him. At this point we know that Hamlet knows that Claudius killed his
father but we don't know whether Claudius knows that hamlet knows or even if he
suspects, this cast a strange light on this scene. First if Claudius suspects
hamlet knows that he killed his father then we might assume that Claudius is
sending these spy to find out for sure if he knows, but if he dose not suspect
hamlet then this might be another show of Claudius's affection towards Hamlet.
So the same question keeps coming up dose Claudius like Hamlet or is he just
using him? At this point it to hard to tell so we must delve deeper in to the
story and there is still the mater of the queen. Claudius is marred to the queen
but dose he love here, and was there an affair before their marriage? In this
scene there is an interesting couple of lines that the queen says, "I doubt it
is no other but the main His father's death and our o'erhasty marriage." in
reference to the possible causes of Hamlets strange attitude recently, but what
caught my eye was that she admits that there marriage was over hasty, something
in which Hamlet accused her of very early on, this gives me reason to believe
that she was having an affair with Claudius before the death of the king, or at
least that she was overly accepting of his advances. But this raises a different
question, did she know of the killing maybe even help plan it? I don't know yet
but I would like to think that she is a good wife and didn't help with the
killing of her husband, but ...
After a couple more unsuccessful tries to figure out what Hamlet is
thinking, also fairly uninlighting, Claudius is caught in a clever trap set by
Hamlet to prove to Hamlet that Claudius killed his father. This is bad news for
Claudius but is good for my quest for knowledge. We see in this scene Claudius
reacts very deeply when he is reminded of the deed that he committed, which is
shown by the line "Give me some light. Away!" right in the middle of a play.
Then admittedly he goes to the church to repent his sins and ask for forgiven
for his crimes with the passage "Thanks, dear my lord. .... Be soft as sinews
of the newborn babe. All may be well." this bring a whole new light on to the
question, it give significance evidence that he is deeply remorseful about his
crimes. At this point I think that he is not after power solely but maybe he was
joules of his brother great success and let his emotions get out of control and
in this fit he forfill his fantasy to be his brother. It goes well with his
desire to be a father to Hamlet, a husband to the queen, and the king. the queen
must also be finding comfort in Claudius taking over, it probably help her coup
with the pain of losing her husband
Now the table turns Claudius has wanted to love and be the father of
Hamlet, but he sees that that is no longer possible with hamlet need for revenge
Claudius must kill him so that he may continue to live at least part of his
dream. In act IV, vii Claudius plots with Laertes to kill hamlet. At this point
it is as if Claudius has accepted what he must due and no longer shoes any love
or sypanthy towards Hamlet and instead plan his treacherous death.
Last scene is also a very reveling scene two lines in particular
"Gertrude, do not drink.", "[aside] it is poisoned cup; it is too late.". These
revel to me much about his character, they show that he was truly in love, or at
least desired to be with, her. and by saying do not drink out loud he was almost
admitting his guilt to trying to kill Hamlet all to save the queen, this is
powerful and says to me that he did have a heart and I would figure that he just
lost control of himself in the pursuit of his dream which was to be all that his
brother had been.