Ethical Characters In William Shakespeare's Hamlet

In life, people possess many different character traits. Some traits are good, while others are corrupt and lean towards unethical. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the readers find many characters with diverse traits. Some characters were kind, considerate, and devoted to helping others, however, others were rude, dishonest, and wicked. People with bad character traits tend to use others to benefit themselves. King Claudius is one of the characters in Hamlet that possesses bad qualities of a person. After reading Hamlet, the readers find that Claudius murdered his brother, married his brother’s wife, and planned two ways to kill his new stepson, Hamlet. In Act 1, Scene 2 of Hamlet, King Claudius reveals many unethical aspects of his character through his first two speeches. Claudius was deceitful to the people of Denmark, unsympathetic towards Hamlet’s unending grief, and manipulative in order to stop opposition against himself. The first way in which King Claudius illustrates one of his unethical aspects is through his deceitfulness to the people of Denmark in the opening lines of his first speech in Act I. Claudius begins his speech by addressing the issue of his brother’s death. “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death/ the memory be green…” (1.2. 1-2) is the introduction of Claudius’s speech to the council and the people of Denmark. The phrase “the memory be green” lets the readers know that the death of King Hamlet was …show more content…
The first way Claudius uses manipulation is to beg Hamlet to stay in Denmark and not return to school in Wittenburg. Claudius felt that it would not look good if Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, left the country soon after the death of his father. He wanted to keep Hamlet and the people calm and get them to continue with their normal everyday life. Claudius, at the end of his speech to Hamlet,