Shakespeare allows us to see Macbeth's good nature, which also illustrates how easily man can fall once he allows his passions to have free reign. In Hamlet, Claudius is also driven by ambition and he ranks a close second to Iago as men whose hearts are tainted with evil. His ultimate desire is to be king and then to remain king and he will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. Of course, the wicked deed of killing his own brother becomes more grotesque than that of Iago or Macbeth because of the sheer lack of soul a man must have to commit such an act. Claudius admits that he will do what it takes to retain the throne and he resorts to all sorts of dubious behavior to accomplish this. He also asks Rozencrantz and Guildenstern to use their:

Companies

To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather

So much as from occasion you may glean,

Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus That, opened, lies within our remedy. (Hamlet II.ii.14-8)

Here the man is so obsessed with staying on the throne that he is willing to enlist others to help him. Once he decides to include others in his scheme, he decides Polonius would be an ally that could help him gather information about Hamlet by hiding behind the curtain in Gertrude's room and eavesdropping. Of course, allowing Laertes to become involved with his scheming demonstrates just how far Claudius will go in maintaining the crown. It is interesting to note that Claudius is so intent on killing Hamlet that he devises a back up plan just in case Laertes does not succeed in wounding Hamlet, telling him, "Therefore this project / Should have a back or second" (174-5). Claudius is a man that became corrupt through his...

He may not be the most infamous of Shakespeare's villains, but he is the most detestable.
Shakespeare created some of the most memorable characters in literature and some of these characters are renown for their villainy.

Among these iniquitous characters are Iago, Macbeth, and Claudius. Each of these men is a villain in their own right, claiming the title with a unique flavor that renders them virtually unforgettable. With Iago, we cannot forget the way that he set out to ruin lives for no apparent reason. Macbeth represents another aspect of villainy in that he allows himself to be mesmerized by the notion of becoming king - mesmerized to the point of murder. With Claudius, we discover a man that is already past the point of no return because he has killed for the throne and will do whatever it takes to secure that position. These men share the common denominator of blinding ambition and they allow it to destroy their lives. While it is true that these men would never admit to the fact that their ambition destroyed their lives, the final analysis reveals how true this statement is. Each man became consumed with the prize and whatever path led them to grasp and keep that prize was the path they chose. While their stories are fantastic and glorious, we must keep in mind that any success was short-lived and hardly worth the life it took to achieve it.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Washington Square Press. 1992.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. O'Connor, John, ed. London: New Longman Shakespeare. 1999.

Shakespeare, William. Othello. Kenneth Muir, ed. New York: Penguin Books. 1968.