King Claudius Evil Vs Evil Essay

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Javier Acosta Dr. Rutledge English 2521 Is King Claudius an immoral monster whoʼs every intention is to do evil? To answer this, the definition of someone bound on evil and someone who is a moral weakling would have to be very clearly defined as different audiences have different conceptions of each. Readers of Shakespeare have various examples on which to judge immoral monsters, such as Aaron the moor from Titus Adronicus who claims “If one good deed in all my life I did, I do repent it from my very soul” (V.iii.189-190) When Claudius is placed next to someone like him, we have to judge with different scales. Not to say that the kings crimes are not evil, for they surely are, but to say his attitude after the crimes have been committed are that of a man who wants to repent but can not seem to bring himself to do so. A man whoʼs twisted conscious haunts him by placing him in a state of paranoia, confusion, and weakness. He wants to ease his conscious, but can not seem to take the action to do so. There is a battle within him and while he does lose, there is a sense that deep inside he wishes he had the strength to win. In the entrance of Claudius, we have a king who seems to be competent in caring for the kingdom. This raises the first question of his moral motives. Would a king whoʼs character is that…show more content…
Pray can I not, Though inclination be as sharp as will. My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,” (III.iii.36-40). Claudius opens his soliloquy in a way that almost makes the reader feel sorry for him. A confession of his own immoral behavior to God that stems from a deep conviction. This is proof that Claudius is in a battle within himself. There is a desire within him to do what is right and to justify his actions before heaven but he can not bring himself to do it. His moral man within is just too weak. As opposed to simply just doing the evil, there are weak attempts to do good that end up being the greatest factor in his

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