Sympathy for Claudius
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, King Claudius is undoubtedly evil and immoral in the eyes of Prince Hamlet. King Claudius managed to kill his own brother in order to marry his late brother’s wife, and take the throne. Though the murder and marriage was evil, haste, and unjust, Claudius has limited success in making readers/audiences feel sympathy towards him when he began showing his remorse and guilt. Claudius has a complex personality; and although he committed some corrupt actions, he did show grief and regret, and because of this, he is not “all evil”. Early in the play, the recent King Claudius gives a speech addressing both the late King Hamlet, and his own marriage to the former King’s wife, Gertrude. To open this…show more content… 66.). He continues to speak to and question Hamlet pleasantly, but it is quite bothersome to Hamlet. Claudius tries to comfort Hamlet by saying that everyone dies, and it’s just a matter of time: “But you must know your father lost a father,/That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound/ In filial obligation for some term/ To do obsequious sorrow” (I.II. 89-92). In the lines of Claudius’ speech to Hamlet there is an outline of a wish of Claudius’ that Hamlet will never fulfill. “We pray you, throw to earth/ This unprevailing woe, and think of us/ As of a father. For let the world take note,/You are the most immediate to our throne…” (II.II. 106-109). Claudius is trying to be pleasant towards Hamlet, and take him as his own son, but Hamlet reacts rudely and out of hostility because he knows that this is the man that killed his father. Claudius’ comments throughout this scene show his ignorance regarding the feelings that his stepson has towards Claudius regarding the murder of his father and the hasty remarriage to his