Claudius is the villain in the story of Hamlet. He kills the old Hamlet, and he married his wife, Gertrude, so he is able to get the throne. Even though he might truly love Gertrude , this is still one of his plans to be the king of Denmark. However, when he discovers that the young Hamlet recognizes Claudius steals the throne from him, he considers a lot of methods to get rid of the young Hamlet. Therefore, he is able to secure his throne. However, he dies at the end because he miscalculates what things will happen in the future.
Claudius is a person who is full of tricks, and he is extremely manipulative. Also, he is the person who catches “opportunities”precisely to fulfill his own desires.. For example, he uses death of Polonius to send Hamlet away, so he is able to use other people’s hand to kill Hamlet. Moreover, He tricks Laertes that Hamlet is responsible for his sister’s death. In other words, Claudius manipulates Laertes’s thinking, so Laertes is going to have revenge for his sister. If he is not full of tricks, he will not be able think of using other’s hands to finish his dirty works.
In the end, Claudius dies because of the poison he makes. This is the most ironic part of this story because he calculates everything, but the future doesn’t process the way he predicts. For example, he expects the King of England will finish Hamlet, but the pirates ruin his plans. Furthermore, he expects Laertes to kill Hamlet by using the poison he makes, but he is killed by his own poison. The moral of the story is that do not plot against other people because future cannot be predicted. And also, the plot you planed, it might be your own grave.
Claudius is really full of tricks. In this way he reminds me of many politicians. Political figures, as well as Claudius, are known for being skilled at manipulating people. Politicians are often great orators, and Claudius also makes use of language. In fact, his speech is compared to poison being poured in the ear.
Claudius made a major strategic alliance by marrying Gertrude. We can discuss if weather or not he marries her because he loves her, but at the end of the day, killing Hamlet’s father and taking his wife resulted in him being king. Politicians are not unfamiliar with doing something bad in order to serve personal interests either…
I like the fact that you draw a conclusion about the moral of the story. Clearly, plotting against others does not work in the long run. When we apply this idea to politicians however, it is not as obvious. Corruption always existed, and I am not arguing that it should have disappeared by now. My point is that our system is often unable to punish influential people who manipulate and deceive the mass to reach personal goals.
I believe the upcoming presidential elections illustrates americans’ disappointment regarding politics. Many voters support Trump as he offers an image of a president who does what he says (and definitely who says what he does). His true honesty is another topic, but the simple fact that he seems less corrupted and fake gives him an edge because people are tired of constantly associating government with corruption.