Download Describe The State Of Mind Of King Claudius1362 At the beginning

Describe The State Of Mind Of King Claudius1362
At the beginning of Act III scene I on page l35, Claudius is anxious to discover the reason
of why Hamlet “puts on this confusion grating so harshly all his days of quiet with
turbulent and dangerous lunacy.” Claudius is still putting up an act and the tone he uses
is one of a concerned parent. The King continues this act and accepts Hamlet’s invitation
to see a performance of a play, telling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to “Give him a
further edge, and drive his purpose into these delights.” In other words Claudius is
telling encourage his enthusiasm, and direct his interest toward these amusements. This
façade of fatherly love is cracked in Claudius’s small aside on page l37, lines 50-55 which
first reveals to us the reason of Claudius’s fearfulness, it is also proves that Hamlet’s
Ghost was right, and Claudius truly did kill Hamlet’s father. The reason for this aside is
Polonius’s comment on how people makes displays of devotion and pious acts in order
to sweetly disguise the devil himself. To which Claudius responds, in his aside, “O, ’tis
true! How smart a lash that speech doth give my consciences! The harlot’s cheek,
beautified with plastering art, is not more ugly to the thing that helps it than is my deed
to my painted world: O heavy burden!” This is a very vivid description of a harlot’s face,
which has a lot of make-up on her. Makeup is used in poetry to symbolize masks hiding
a person’s true intention, and their true intentions. This aside is not only the only
speech that shows that Claudius did kill his brother, it also show’s us that Claudius feels
guilty about guilty about killing his brother, saying that all this deceit is a heavy burden.
At the end of this scene Claudius suspects that Hamlet is only playing the lunatic, stating
that his emotions weren’t that of a man in love, and it was not like madness. “O’er which
his melancholy sits on brood,” meaning that Claudius believes that the cause of Hamlet’s
melancholy mood is because there is something brooding in his soul. Claudius then
begins to make plans to send Hamlet to England.
In Act III scene II Claudius doesn’t speak much, however his actions speak a multitude to
Hamlet. Hamlet’s performance of the mousetrap greatly upsets Claudius who gets up
and leaves when the murder of the King is performed. Not only does Hamlet have his
proof that Claudius is guilty, Claudius now realizes that Hamlet knows that he killed his
own brother.
In Act III scene III Claudius now feels threatened by Hamlet and has begun to take
action against Hamlet. While speaking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Claudius’s
tone and choice of words changes dramatically, instead of describing Hamlet’s lunacy
as being a transformation, he says lines such as letting his “madness range.” Claudius
uses this in a context that seems to suggests that Hamlet is nothing more than an
animal, “I like him not; nor stands it safe with us to let his madness range.” Claudius is
also showing signs of feeling threatened with the quote “The terms of our estate may
not endure hazard so near us as doth hourly grow hourly grow out of his brow,” where
he clearly states that he as king can not tolerate the danger form the threats and plots
that he knows Hamlet is brewing. However when the king is alone we see through his
soliloquy on page 181, which uses Imagery and allusions, that Claudius is tortured by
his guilt wants to repent.
“O my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; it hath the primal eldest cures upon’t a
brothers murder.” Claudius uses olfactory imagery using the word rank to mean foul, a
smell so foul that it reaches to the heavens. The primal eldest curse is an allusion to the
bible, in which Cain murders his brother Abel, quite like the way Claudius murdered his
own brother.
To further show his guilt Claudius continues, saying that his “Inclination be as sharp as
will, my stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,” Claudius admits to being guilty in this
line, saying how even though he wants to pray he cannot saying that his guilt is stronger
than his intent. Claudius then continues saying that “like a man to double bound, I stand
in pause where I shall first begin.” So even though he wants to pray, he also wants to get
rid of Hamlet and doesn’t know from which he wants to start. “Double business bound”
means two things. Now Claudius uses a visual image, “what if this cursed hand were
than itself with brother’s blood.” Shakespeare also uses something along these lines in
his play Macbeth. The blood on Claudius’s hand symbolizes guilt. Bloody hands in
Shakespearean texts generally signify tainted souls, quite like Claudius who is trying to
seek redemption, which is seen in the next line “is there not rain enough in the sweet
heavens to wash it white as snow?” in which Claudius uses more imagery to express his
point. White in Shakespearean times is used to signify cleanliness. Claudius then asks
himself if he can truly be forgiven for his actions even though “I am still possessed of
those effects for which I did the murder?” He then asks another question, “May one be
pardoned and retain the offence?” So basically what he is asking is if he can keep the
rewards of committing fratricide even though he is sorry, which does not seem very
sincere which Claudius himself points out later. Claudius then uses another hand image,
“Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice, and oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
buys out the law: but 'tis not so above.” A hand covered with gold, in the corrupt ways
of the world, can be used to bribe officers of the law; however you cannot do that in
Heaven.
Claudius continues to give how he feels about heaven, saying that in heaven “There is no
shuffling, there the action lies in his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd.” in heaven
there are no tricks, and you are forced to expose your sins. Bird imagery is what
Claudius uses next to describe his soul, “o limed soul, that struggling to be free art more
engaged.” Claudius soul is like a bird caught in lime, the more he struggles to be free of
his sins the more entangled his soul becomes in his web of deceit. Claudius then calls
out to Angels, make him kneel down in prayer and make his heart which has strings of
steel (which uses both tactile and visual imagery), be as soft as the sinews of a new born
babe.
In this soliloquy we see that Claudius is cursing his deeds, and wonders if he can be
forgiven even though he still has everything he gained from killing his brother.
Claudius also knows that heavenly justice is different from the earthly kind which tends
to be corrupt and unjust, and he wonders what chance he as being forgiven. He hopes
that praying will ease his conscience. At the end of the scene Claudius makes the
comment on how “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: words without
thoughts never to heaven go.” By saying this Claudius has just admitted to having
insincere words, and thinking of only earthly riches.
Through out Act three, Claudius’s state of mind seems to change depending on the
situation, in scene 1 though Claudius seems a bit anxious to understand why Hamlet is
acting “mad” he manages to put on a calm mask that hides his intentions. However
after scene 2, Claudius lets that mask crack and we are finally let in to see what he is
thinking, and we see that he feels tormented by the guilt that he feels over killing his
brother, and wants to repent. However Claudius cannot truly repent without giving up
the spoils he received from killing his brother, and he does not want to do that, and
continues with his plot to send Hamlet to England to be assassinated