er, it is unable to heal the deep wounds in his soul. As the King wrestles with the increasingly unenviable task of balancing his outward appearance with his interior thought, it is impossible not to feel sorry for him. By the time Claudius kneels and prays, he has been reduced to a man who is now the slave of one terrible deed. To properly portray Claudius, an actor must focus on the gradual fall of the character. In the first two acts, Claudius is at his best, running the court with the sharpness of an experienced leader and decisively acting on every issue of importance. Therefore, the actor must have an imposing and confident presence on stage, for Claudius dominates Elsinore and is in full control of Denmark. However, by the third act, the King must be depicted as a man who is growing increasingly fearful of Hamlet, and during the play, Claudius is so startled that he must appear as though he has seen the ghost of Old Hamlet. But in my opinion, Claudius defining moment comes during his lengthy soliloquy in which he acknowledges his guilt. As he mourns his condemned soul, he should seem so helpless that the audience views him with intense pity, for the character of Claudius, like Macbeth, is not intended to represent evil but instead to show the universal ability of power to corrupt and to destroy lives in the process. Word Count: 1202...
