Claudius!

Last lesson we focused on Claudius in Hamlet. We looked at his speech near the beginning of the play, and watch a couple of clips in various versions of Hamlet.
Personally, I do believe that Claudius is the villain in the story. I think his speech when he is addressing the court is supposed to be 'put on', rehearsed and fake. He could be portrayed as very evil, or just a baddie, but I do think he is evil. Look at the facts; he kills his own brother to become King of Denmark, and then marries his sister-in-law. He insults Hamlet for grieving over his dead father, then he orders two of Hamlets friends to spy on him and sends him away.
Although we agreed that villains in tragedies don't have a motive, I believe this case is different and that Claudius did have a motive for becoming King. I think that he must have been jealous of his brother, which is why he killed him and married his wife, I also think that he is jealous of Hamlet. Hamlet is clever, young and witty, and I don't think that Claudius likes that. Therefore, Claudius's motive to kill the King (his brother) was to gain the throne and have a control over Hamlet.