Claudius: The Villain Who Knows He Is One
First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
Claudius murdered his brother, married his brother's wife, and took his brother's throne, and he is fully aware of what he has done. That self-knowledge is what separates him from simpler villains. In Act 3, Scene 3, alone in the chapel, he tries to pray and cannot. 'My words fly up, my thoughts remain below,' he says. The crime will not wash off.
He is also a skilled politician. His opening speech in Act 1, Scene 2 is a masterpiece of careful language: grief and celebration folded together, the court smoothly redirected. He keeps Laertes happy, dispatches Rosencrantz and Guildenstern efficiently, and comes very close to getting away with everything.
The tragedy of Claudius is not that he is simply evil. It is that he is intelligent enough to understand the weight of what he did and too weak to give it up.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”
Claudius — Act 3, Scene 3
“O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; it hath the primal eldest curse upon't.”
Claudius — Act 3, Scene 3
Themes
Other Characters in Hamlet
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