Claudius Flashcards
(16 cards)
Why is the turnover of power to a new king significant to the Elizabethan audience
When the play was published in 1603, queen elizabeths reign had just ended > there was a lot of fear and paranoia in society surrounding who would replace her as she had no heir
How can Claudius be seen to be persuasive and manipulative in his speech in act 1 scene 2
“Our hearts in grief” “one brow of woe” > repeated use of collective pronouns in an attempt to bring himself close to his audience while also maintaining distance in his authority and power
Oxymoronic lang: “delight and dole” “mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage” > appearance vs reality as he pretends to appear sympathetic of his brothers death yet is only concerned with his gain in power
Why is Claudius’ kingship seen to be controversial
- bible states in marriage “two become one flesh” > his relationship w Gertrude can is incestuous as be is technically carrying his brother
- hamlet: “incestuous sheets”
- Claudius: “our sometimes sister, now our queen”
In what ways does Claudius criticise hamlets grief in act 1 scene 2 (4 quotes)
“It’s unmanly grief”
“An understanding simple and unschooled”
“Take it too heart” > criticises his sensitivity as being un masculine
“It’s a fault to heaven” > accuses him of blasphemy, uses anaphoric repetition
What does critic Altich suggest “Claudius’s evil” has done
… corrupted the whole of Denmark”
Critic Schofield suggests Claudius is “morally…
… empty”
Critic Mallibard suggests Claudius “is not a monster…
… he is morally weak”
How doe sold king hamlet describe Claudius when talking about his murder
“A serpent stung me” > metaphor, biblical representation of the devil/ evil, poison = effeminate weapon (masking cowardice)
“Rankly abused” > rotten motif
“The serpent that did sting thy fathers life / now wears his crown”
“Incestuous, that adulterate beast”
“Witchcraft of his wits… that have the power to seduce” > alliteration > disgust, appearance vs reality, under the surface corruption
Hamlet soliloquises about Claudius: “villain, villain, smiling …
“One may smile, and smile…
“… damned villain
“… and be a villain; at least I am sure it may be so in Denmark” > villainy, corruption and false appearances habitual in Denmark
Explore the aside from 3,1 from Claudius: “the harlots cheek, beauties with plastering art, is not more ugly than the thing that helps it”
Uses a metaphor to reflect on his own guilt and hypocrisy > the makeup a prostitute wears is equally as ugly as what is being concealed: covering up evil deeds is equally as bad as the deed itself
How does Claudius reveal his guilt to the audience in 3,1 before it it seen through his reaction of the play
“How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience … O heavy burthen!”
> polonius’s speech about maintain good appearance sin order to hide your evil deeds has made him feel guilty
Explore the quote from Claudius’s 3,3 soliloquy: “my offence is rank,it smells to heaven; it hath the primal eldest curse upon’t, A brothers murder”
- rotten/ disease motif > sensory personification of his evil deeds and moral decay
- biblical allusion to the story of Abel & Cain - cain murders his brother out of jealousy and god puts a curse on him - first record of murder and curse on humanity > parallel to hamlet & Claudius
Finish + analyse the quote from Claudius’s 3,3 soliloquy: “this cursed hand were thicker than urself with brother’s blood, is there not…
… rain enough in the sweetest heavens to wash it white as snow”
>blood on hands metaphor characteristic Shakespearean representation of guilt
- colour imagery “white” > seeking repentance and forgiveness to clean his conscience and make it to heaven
Why does hamlet decide to delay killing Claudius in act 3,3 and how to different films interpret this
“And so he goes to heaven … this is hire and salary not revenge” > killing him while he is praying would be a reward not revenge through financial symbolism
- ironic as Claudius is talking abt the lack of sincerity in his prayers so it is debatable if hamlet were to kill him wheatger or not he would go to heaven
Branagh: Claudius in confession box, hamlet in priests side imagines putting a dagger through the gaps into his ear (symbolic of corruption & concealment of truth - C put poison in OKH’s ear)
- RSC: Claudius on his knees praying hamlet comes up behind him w a dagger
Analyse Claudius closing words of his soliloquy in 3,3 “my words fly up, my thoughts remain below. / words without thought never to heaven go”
- rhyming couplet > taking in verse > highlights his hypocrisy and lack of sincerity in his words as they are calculated rather than freely expressing his remorse (would be written in prose like hamlets soliloquies)
- he understands true repentance would require him to give up “my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen” > knows his pleading words are useless as his actions don’t reflect them (turned of thought vs action)
How does Claudius show that he fears and feel threatened by hamlets “liberty” in 4,1
“Like the owner of a foul disease, to keep it from divulging, let it feed / even in the pith of life”
- Claudius concerned by hamlets new found appetite for violence as he feels threatened
- decease motif > hamlet “infected” by corruption if Elsinore
