CHARACTER QUOTES: Claudius

Question 1

He has the . . .

Answer 1

He has the persuasiveness and physical courage of a ruler, but is morally empty.

• Schofield (Claudius’ Morality)

Question 2

He loved . . .

Answer 2

He loved Gertrude deeply and genuinely.

• Dawson (Claudius’ love for Gertrude)

Question 3

The cunning and . . .

Answer 3

The cunning and lecherousness of Claudius’ evil has corrupted the whole kingdom of Denmark.

• Richard D. Altick

Question 4

Clearly . . .

Answer 4

Clearly the antagonist.

• Carla Stockton

Question 5

Claudius, as he appears . . .

Answer 5

Claudius, as he appears in the play, is not a criminal . . . He is . . . a good and gentle King, enmeshed by the chain of causality linking him with his crime.

• Wilson Knight (Claudius’ Criminality)

Question 6

Claudius is a . . .

Answer 6

Claudius is a good and gentle King.

• G Wilson Knight

Question 7

Machiavellian . . .

Answer 7

Machiavellian schemer.

Question 8

Claudius is as obsessed . . .

Answer 8

Claudius is as obsessed by Gertrude as the two Hamlets are and although he clearly loves her - he shares the Hamlets’ conception of her as an object.

• Smith (Claudius’ relationship with Gertrude)

Question 9

The revelation that . . .

Answer 9

The revelation that Claudius is a usurper and guilty of fratricide confirms that he is the principal source of the rottenness which pervades Denmark.

• Alan Gardiner

Question 10

What is rotten about the . . .

Answer 10

What is rotten about the ‘state’ of his kingship is his [Claudius] lack of inner goodness as a man. He is a usurper, not of young Hamlet’s title to the crown but of old Hamlet’s life, crown and queen.

• Andrew Gurr

Question 11

In the denouement of Hamlet . . .

Answer 11

In the denouement of Hamlet the irony is profound. Claudius, who has arranged the whole performance in order to destroy Hamlet, is himself destroyed and destroys his Queen.

• Helen Gardner 1959