An Analysis Of Shakespeare's Hamlet: A Smile From A Villain

A Smile From a Villain Hamlet, created from the mind of William Shakespeare in his honourable play Hamlet, illustrates the ideal image of a tragic hero. He is known to be loyal, brave and noble. But as every piece of literature has shown, a hero is made from a villain. The archetypal villain is often portrayed to be driven to fulfill their desire of success by any means possible, self-centered, and evil. In the realm of Hamlet, Claudius clearly demonstrates all aspects of the archetypal villain during his reign as king of Denmark. Claudius is ambitious and determined towards any action that strengthens his power. Not only are certain actions he commits outrageous, but Claudius’ response to these actions further illustrates his connection to the archetypal villain. In the craft of his nephew/son’s madness, Claudius recognizes that “madness in great ones must not unwatched go” (3.2.203), but later on realizes that “[Hamlet] goes loose” (4.3.2) when he slaughters Polonius. Yet he cannot put the same consequences on Hamlet as he would for any other member of society, for he is “loved of the distracted multitude” (4.3.3-5) who do not judge by their own opinion, but judge by how their eyes absorb attractiveness. Society 's love for Hamlet forces Claudius to tackle this disadvantage of not being able to treat his son as an equal to this …show more content…
He displays a lust for power and satisfies his lust through actions that are wicked and selfish.As the tragic hero (Hamlet) and the archatypal villian (Claudius) clash to create both their farewells from the world of William Shakepeare’s Hamlet, the audience is left with a feeling that can only be described as closure. Closure due to the reader knowing that the villain is absolutely paying for the sins of his wrong doing that allowed for him to adopt the reputation of the classic archetypal