Hamlet
Leaving Certificate English
Sample Answer – Claudius
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1 Hamlet – Leaving Certificate Sample Answer – Claudius – English.
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Table of Contents
2011: .................................................................................................................................................. 5
(ii) Claudius can be seen as both a heartless villain and a character with some redeeming qualities
in the play, Hamlet............................................................................................................................. 5
Discuss both aspects of this statement, supporting your answer with suitable reference to the
text. .................................................................................................................................................... 5
4 Hamlet – Leaving Certificate Sample Answer – Claudius – English.
2011:
(ii) Claudius can be seen as both a heartless villain and a character with
some redeeming qualities in the play, Hamlet.
Discuss both aspects of this statement, supporting your answer with
suitable reference to the text.
Claudius is both a heartless villain and a character with some redeeming qualities, but these
qualities do not redeem him of the foul crimes he has committed. We know he is not
entirely heartless as he is troubled by his conscience, and his qualities as a skilled diplomat
and leader are acknowledged and frequently admired, but it is his blend of heartlessness
and redemptive qualities that makes him a fascinating and complex villain. Overall,
however, Claudius’ heartless actions cannot be redeemed by his leadership skills or his
qualities.
Not long before the play’s opening, Claudius murders his brother, King Hamlet, in the most
heartless and dishonourable manner: ‘Murder most foul, as in the best it is,/But this most
foul, strange and unnatural’. And his act is so vile and heartless that even the grieving
Hamlet finds it difficult to believe The Ghost, his own deceased father. Claudius’ sin has ‘the
primal, eldest curse upon it’. Not only has he murdered his brother and his king, he has
murdered God’s representative on earth, killing him in the most devious, underhand
manner, while Old Hamlet is sleeping and at his most vulnerable.
When we meet The Ghost, we learn that Old Hamlet’s body is degraded and disfigured by
Claudius’ ‘leperous distilment’; and that he was sent to his death without confession, thus
damning his soul for all eternity and dooming him to spend the afterlife in ghostly form,
stalking his namesake son to see his revenge. By the time this revelation occurs during the
play, Claudius is already married to Gertrude, once Old Hamlet’s ‘most seeming virtuous
queen’, an additional instance, if one were needed, of Claudius’ heartlessness.
Naturally, Shakespeare’s audience is repulsed by the image presented to them of ‘that
incestuous… adulterate beast’. However, Claudius’ next appearance on stage does succeed
in challenging this impression. As King, he holds court as and manages his affairs with
diplomatic skill. He recognises that Fortinbras represents a threat to Denmark and he is keen
to avert war. Therefore, Claudius quickly despatches his ambassadors, Cornelius and
Voltemand, to Norway to appeal to Fortinbras’ uncle to restrain his war-mongering nephew.
Whereas Old Hamlet is renowned as a warrior who led Denmark's forces to victory against
Norway and defeated King Fortinbras in hand-to-hand combat, Claudius adopts a more
pacifist approach to foreign diplomatic relations. While he is morally reprehensible, he
seems to be politically astute and capable. These qualities do not redeem Claudius against
the backdrop of his regicidal and incestuous actions, but they have to be acknowledged. It
can be argued that, as a politician, Claudius has skills, but skills are not to be confused with
5 Hamlet – Leaving Certificate Sample Answer – Claudius – English.
moral or personal qualities. However these skills do give us pause for thought as we see that
there is some complexity and depth to our ‘smiling, damned villain’.
Arguably, Claudius’s conscience poses the greatest challenge to our conception of him as a
heartless villain. As the play progresses, Claudius’ private admission of guilt in an aside
points to his troubled mind: ‘How smart a last that speech doth give my conscience!/…O
heavy burden!’ This may elicit some sympathy from audience members who may well
shudder at the thought of Claudius’s burden of guilt; no right-minded individual would want
to carry the burden of Claudius’s conscience.
However, Claudius is nowhere near being the average, reasonably right-minded individual.
Yes, he is troubled by what he has done, but Claudius is not troubled enough to do anything
about it, as is particularly evident in the prayer scene, where he tries to pray but discovers
that he cannot repent: ‘O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven,/It hath the primal eldest
curse upon’t/A brother’s murder! Pray can I not…’
And yet despite his struggle with his blackened conscience, Claudius is determined to hold
onto his crown and his queen: ‘May one be pardon’d and retain the offence?’ This scene is
also ironic in that it redeems Claudius from meeting his fate in the face of Hamlet avenging
his father’s death until the play’s conclusion. When Hamlet witnesses Claudius bowed in
prayer, he assumes that, because Claudius is praying to God, if murders Claudius at that
moment, Claudius will go straight to heaven, unlike his own tortured father. Claudius’ failed
attempt at repentance inadvertently saves his life.
Claudius’ prayer-based reflections reveal that he is not entirely heartless. His utterances
highlight that does in fact have a conscience that troubles him, and he may never be at
peace. However, even after this epiphany, Claudius cannot summon from within himself any
redeeming qualities that might help him to make amends for what he has done. Instead, he
concludes that his prayers will never reach heaven and moves on all too quickly.
Later, Claudius’ treatment of Hamlet, following the players’ performance of The Mousetrap,
shows that he is a skilled, intuitive ruler. He sees Hamlet as a threat that must be removed
and convinces and manipulates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to act on his behalf with ease:
‘How dangerous it is that man goes loose!’ Simultaneously, as a shrewd politician, Claudius
considers the political consequences of being seen to harm Hamlet: ‘Yet must we not put
the strong law on him:/He’s loved of the distracted multitude,/Who like not in their
judgement, but their eyes…’ He must be admired for his political foresight and his ability to
make an astute decision under pressure.
However, Claudius’ heartless nature is stronger here than any qualities he demonstrates. He
attempts to send his wife’s beloved son to his death without a thought for the grief
Hamlet’s death will bring her. Similarly, he manipulates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into
aiding the murder of their lifelong friend. His entire attitude towards the problem posed to
6 Hamlet – Leaving Certificate Sample Answer – Claudius – English.
him by Hamlet’s existence reveals a ruthless, unstoppable nature: ‘Diseases desperate
grown/By desperate appliance are relieved…’
Furthermore, when Claudius’ plan backfires and Hamlet returns from England, he wastes no
time and seeks to profit from Laertes’s thirst for revenge. Here, while Claudius continues to
be a skilled manipulator, his cunning nature could hardly be deemed a quality, especially
when Claudius takes advantage of Laertes’s grief and converts it into a motive for murder.
Before the sword fight, he also attempts to take advantage of Hamlet’s honest nature: ‘…he
being remiss,/Most generous, and free from all contriving,/Will not peruse the foils.’ Once
again, we see that Claudius is underhand and heartless in dealing with his enemy. Some may
admire Claudius’ intelligence as he leaves nothing to chance by poisoning both the foils and
the wine, but his intelligence is not a quality when it is used for the most devious and
destructive ends. Claudius’ feeble, half-hearted attempt to stop Gertrude from drinking the
wine implies that he genuinely cares for her but this is not much of a gesture, and it is a case
of too little too late.
In conclusion, during the course of Hamlet, Claudius demonstrates political skill and
leadership qualities, and a struggle with his conscience is an affirmation that he is not
entirely heartless. However, Claudius is a ruthless, wicked character whose evil deeds lead
to needless deaths and the breakdown of the state of Denmark. None of his meagre, selfserving qualities can redeem him of these sins.
7 Hamlet – Leaving Certificate Sample Answer – Claudius – English.
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8 Hamlet – Leaving Certificate Sample Answer – Claudius – English.
9 Hamlet – Leaving Certificate Sample Answer – Claudius – English.