The Character of Claudius in HamletAs a supporting character in Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, Claudius is not developed to his full potential. His main role in the play is to initiate Hamlet's confusion and anger, as well as his subsequent search for truth and the meaning of life. But Claudius is certainly not a static character. Although Claudius' qualities are not as in-depth as Hamlet's, the treacherous King of Denmark is a well-rounded character. When we first see Claude, he appears to us to be an intelligent and capable ruler. He gives a speech to make his court and country proud, addressing his brother's death and the potential conflict with Norway. Claudius knows that a change in government could spark civil unrest, and he fears possible illegal allegiances and rebellion. His speech juxtaposes the loss of the people with the new beginning he will be responsible for, and he uses the death of Hamlet's father to create a feeling of national solidarity, "the whole kingdom / being contracted in one front of woe" (I.ii.3-4). Claude has assumed the role of the main mourner and the people can unite behind collective suffering. He can now concentrate on his royal duties and he takes immediate and decisive action by sending Cornelius and Voltimand to appease the Norwegian king. He also skillfully responds to Laertes' request to leave for France. "On the whole, then, there appears a king who is well qualified for his office...there continually appears on the scene a man who is totally different from the descriptions, and this in turn gives Hamlet's words their true value ." (Lokse, Outrageous Fortune, 79). But Claudius, in private, is a very different person. The Ghost describes him as "this incestuous, adulterated beast" (...... middle of paper ...... to indulge his human desires. He is not a monster; he is morally weak, content to exchange his humanity and his soul for a few precious goods, as the great critic Harley Granville-Barker observes: “we have in Claudius the makings of the central character of a tragedy” (Granville-Barker, Prefaces to. Shakespeare.3., 269).BibliographyBradley, AC Shakespearean Tragedy (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1966).Burnett, Mark, ed. New Essays on Hamlet (New York: AMS Press, 1994). Evans Lloyd Gareth (London: Oxford University Press, 1967). Granville-Barker, Henry. Prefaces to Shakespeare.3 (New York, Hill and Wang, 1970).Loske, Outrageous Fortune (Oslo: Oslo University Press, 1960).Muir, Kenneth. Shakespeare and the Tragic Pattern, Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol.XLIV (London: Oxford University Press, 1958).