Almost every tragedy has a villain, to provide the conflict which catapults the plot into its bitter end. William Shakespeare was a master at providing an audience with a keen insight into the human psyche through the actions and words of his heroes, and even more so, his villains. Perhaps the two most infamous villains in all of Shakespearian literature are the characters of Iago in Othello and Claudius in Hamlet. Both major characters in their respective plays, Claudius and Iago are driven by immoral ambitions. However, unlike many "evil villains" in literature, these two characters are far more complex than may be seen at first, and Shakespeare manages to give us a unique three-dimensional view into their wicked minds.
First of all, when reading Hamlet and Othello, Iago and Claudius are both portrayed as clever and conniving when speaking a soliloquy or otherwise thinking to themselves, but give off an amicable impression to the other characters around them. For example, in Othello, after convincing Roderigo that everything will work out and promising to help him win over Desdemona, Iago delivers his first soliloquy saying.
Thus do I ever make my fool my purse;.
For I mine own gained knowledge should profane.
If I would time expend with such snipe.
But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor .
The main difference between Claudius and Iago, which makes Iago far more evil than Claudius, is simply Claudius's guilt. Both men are able to perform terrible acts, such as Claudius's murder and adultery and Iago's manipulation of everyone surrounding him. They are also both able to present an outward show of poise and grace but Claudius feels guilty for the wrongdoings he has carried out while Iago does not feel the slightest bit of remorse for his actions. In fact, he constantly tries to convince the audience that he is righteous and is merely seeking revenge against the ones who wronged him - Cassio for being promoted above him and Othello for promoting Cassio.
After Iago's revenge was carried out; Othello became miserable, as Iago had wanted. ... Hamlet's anger increases as he sees his mother and Claudius together. Hamlet takes many steps to be sure that Claudius is in fact the killer. ... Claudius stops the play and that is when Hamlet is sure that he is the killer. ... Claudius killed many characters including Hamlets mother, Gertrude. ...
This inherent greed pushes Claudius to the very extreme limit of murdering his own brother simply to gain control of the throne, and the amount of greed and evil acts continue to occur throughout the play until Claudius's death. ... Hamlet, upon returning, sarcastically describes his feelings toward Claudius as "A little less than kin and more than kind." ... In this play, Claudius not only kills Hamlet's father, but also guilts Hamlet's girlfriend Ophelia into trying to drive Hamlet even deeper into madness. (Piphetti, gradesaver.com) Claudius's insurmountable greed was ...
However, despite the man's goodness and his many virtues he had the ability to peer into the darkest depths of human nature and create some of the most inherently evil characters (such as Iago), ever to be seen in drama or literature. ...
From the William Shakespeare play Hamlet; I would like to mention the character King Claudius. ... In an attempt to kill him, and ensure his reign as king, Claudius kills his wife in the process. ... In the end Claudius sacrificed his entire family to have a fleeting moment as king. ... This fueled the murderous plot that Iago would set motion. In the end the lives of many were ruined by Iago, as well was his own. ...
As did King Claudius in Hamlet, and the evil stepsisters in Cinderella. ... Iago had won, and Othello was doomed from thereafter. ... After this conversation with Iago, he is never the same. ... For Iago was truly the "green-eyed monster." ... Was Iago then his downfall? ...
King Hamlet's spirit appears and informs his son, Prince Hamlet, that his murderer was Claudius, and his death must be avenged,To ears of flesh and blood.... Aside from the deaths of other characters, Claudius is killed by Hamlet, thus proving that the supernatural events that brought forth in the beginning influenced the outcome of the play. ... Emilia, Iago's wife, steals the handkerchief from Desdemona and gives it to Iago, who is then left to construct more evil deeds in order to break up Othello's marriage and ruin his life. ... (Iago: I know not that: but such a handker...
Othello and Desdemona's reasons for marriage were highly irregular and therefore weak and unable to endure Iago's evil schemes. ... Othello told Iago, "My demerits may speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune as this that I have reached." ... Iago's insatiable and sadistic appetite for others" suffering was very abnormal and thus everything around him was destroyed before he faced his own demise. ... Contrasting Iago, who had no consciousness of good, Macbeth began with doubt in his ambitious plans. ... believed that Hamlet fell from heaven's grace.17 If Hamlet had remained p...
In the play, unlike for example in Othello, Hamlet stands without a rival such as Iago to challenge him. ... [V.ii.60-62] But as Harold Bloom in his Book Hamlet: Poems Unlimited(61-65); points out, Claudius is no "mighty opposite," [V.ii.62] at every encounter between the King and Hamlet; Claudius comes out the loser in both physical and rhetorical terms. ... If Claudius does not stand on one side of a titanic conflict, his betrayal of Hamlet's father and Marriage to Hamlet's mother, do ignite one: Hamlet's conflict with himself. ... Hamlet at times initiates action, as when he...
The mismanaged, "unweeded- garden refers to Claudius' usurpation of the throne in Denmark. ... Here, Hamlet doesn't refer to Gertrude's appetites as "weeds- but believes her desires would incite her sexuality and desire to sleep with Claudius. Here weeds allude to "unweeded garden- presented in the first soliloquy: the weeds represent desire, which would grow "ranker- if Gertrude continues to sleep with Claudius. ... Just as the gardener in Richard II prunes the excess branches in the garden, the gardener in Iago's metaphor controls desire. In other words, Iago believes...