Claudius AO5 Flashcards
(13 cards)
Russian Sumarokov’s 1748 production
focused on Hamlet as an embodiment of opposition to Claudius’ tyranny
Dr Johnson (1700’s)
‘Everything that happens to him gives him occasion to drink’
Romantic trend
Claudius is seen as a flawed human, driven by passion, ambition and love for Gertrude
psychoanalyst trend
Claudius is seen as a trigger for Hamlet’s mental anguish as he usurped his paternal figure and took his mother from him (Oedipal complex)
shows how Claudius is seen in a jealous light by Hamlet
RSC (1920) production
Claudius is a methodical villain
he doesn’t wear a crown or any sign of royalty
Peter Hall’s Hamlet (1994 production)
Michael Pennington’s Claudius and Polonius are seen as manipulative political players
Ron Daniels’ Hamlet (1984) production
Gertrude and Hamlet = representatives of the sensitive and Romantic old world of the previous court
vs the loutish, insensitive court of Brian Blessed’s bombastic Claudius
Adrian Noble’s Hamlet (1992 production)
Hamlet wore a black dress
whilst Claudius wore a white suit, smoked cigars and drunk champagne with Gertrude
Harold Bloom (modern 20th - 21st C)
‘an excellent diplomatist king’
‘we watch the villain struggle, rather manfully, to say and do the right thing, while the hero is spitefully intent on disruption’
Michael Davies (modern 20th-21st C)
‘Claudius’s verbal poise also reveals him to be something other than an innocent avuncular king’
Wilson Knight (modern, mid 20th C)
argues Claudius is an effective king, whilst Hamlet was
‘an element of evil’
Martin Scofield (modern - late 20th C)
‘Claudius is morally empty’
Rene Girard (modern, 20th-21st C)
believes Claudius resembles Hamlet in his inability to take prompt and healthy revenge on his enemies
