Shakespeare’s Characters: Self-Gratification Over Human Kindness
William Shakespeare wrote in his tragedy, Julius Caesar, “The evil, that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.” It is shown that Shakespeare’s lead characters are concerned with their need for self-satisfaction, gratitude, and dignity. They lack the solicitude for human kindness and the thought of others. The more the audience analyzes the characters, the more they see the true ambition and reasoning for their evil deeds. During Shakespeare’s time, it wasn’t unusual for men to seek such power. For instance, Taming of the Shrew is a play that focuses on the desire for marriage; but the emotions of young couples were not the main consideration in courtship (McDonald 267). Katherina actions portray her as the shrew, but the audience knows her ultimate desire was to receive genuine love from a man. Richard III makes it abundantly clear that he desires to take over the English thrown and do whatever it takes to grasp it. Additionally, Hamlet seeks revenge and is motivated to do so by his supernatural spirit of his father (Sobran 45). The need for wealth, power, ambition, and greed lead many of Shakespeare’s characters to satisfy their own self gratitude over the basic ideas of human kindness.
London, during the sixteenth century, was a time of extreme corruption. Gender roles were unequal, marriage was spurious, and seeking wealth or power of some sort became every man’s objective. The usual occupation for a woman during Shakespeare’s time was marriage and motherhood (McDonald 253). Although England was ruled by the strong-willed Elizabeth I, woman’s rights were significantly contrasting compared to men. Women having a career and an education were taboo. As for men, finding a career and seeking wealth was essential for daily living. Many men sought women who come from wealth, so they can be married into riches. “Marriage was part of a system of inheritance and economics so ingrained and persuasive that the emotional affections or physical desires of man and woman diminished in importance” (McDonald 265). Most people got married and had children because it was something that was obligatory and acceptable to life, not because of genuine love or attraction for the person. Shakespeare lived in a time when the ruling of England was not a democracy but a monarchy. To be able rule, a man must be born into it, or marry someone of royalty. Many commoners looked up to these monarchs as if they were gods or lords (Rosen 14). Shakespeare found inspiration to write some of his plays about these powerful families. Most of his plays included prosperous, conniving men who wanted to rule Europe. “In these plays, we watch exciting scenes of civil wars, battles, rebellions, poor people’s riots, conspiracies, and wars between countries; and while this is going on, the characters often discuss what makes a good ruler” (Rosen 15). Claudius from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is one of many examples of a character that prospers an evil deed by fulfilling a regicide so he can take over the thrown. Within Shakespeare’s plays, and in the sixteenth century, duel matchups and battles between men were not uncommon.
Richard III, Duke of Gloucester, will stop at nothing short of treachery, murder, and cruel acts, throughout the play, to get what he wants. “Shakespeare created a Machiavellian anti-hero who never wavers along his bloody path of villainy and betrayal” (Greenwood 167). From Richard’s opening soliloquy, he lets the audience know he has a plan, and is more than willing to do whatever manipulation and deceitfulness he can to take over the thrown. Richard has set in motion several schemes to get to the thrown, such as manipulating Lady Anne into marrying him, killing off his brother King Edward IV, murdering Prince Edward, Lord Hastings, and Elizabeth’s family, and taking advantage of his only ally, Buckingham. Richard is heartless. It is obvious that he expresses pure bliss and self-gratification with the power he has over the other characters and the audience. We, the audience, know that Richard is such a manipulative, cruel character but we still sympathize with him because he uses his speech to win our trust. He gains sympathy by talking directly to the audience, telling in advance what he is about to do next (Golubiewski 414). The audience is curious and intrigued about what will happen and begins to look forward to Richard’s venting. But similar to what Richard does to all characters in the play, Richard betrays the audience. “Once Richard has used the audience to help plot and eventually gain power, he dissociates himself from them” (Golubiewski 414). At this point, anyone who associates with Richard views him as the epitome of a Machiavellian, and vile anti-hero. Shakespeare shows us that Richard has a phenomenal way with words and schemes to get what he desires (Anderson 47). In the first act of the historical play, Richard begins to woo and praise Lady Anne, the widow of King Henry’s son, Edward. He begins manipulating her into believing the reasoning for his killing of her husband, was out of passion for herself. He declares, “It is a quarrel most natural / To be revenged on him that loveth thee.” Richard III (I.ii.139-140) He persuades Anne that there is no need to seek revenge on him, because he did this deed out of the kindness of his heart. “He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband / Did it to help thee to a better husband.” Richard III (I.ii. 143-144) Out of the numerous schemes Richard fulfills, this is one of the most heartless. By wooing and marrying Lady Anne, Richard would only have to kill off the rest of Elizabeth’s family to conquer the thrown. He shows that he doesn’t care about his evil deeds and only focuses on his goal which is taking over England.
In comparison to Richard III, Shakespeare’s Macbeth is another play filled with greed and ambition beyond the moral consciousness. For example, Thane Macbeth’s need for the throne and political status eventually consumes him to the point of destruction. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth proves himself to be the most powerful of the Thanes by defeating traitors MacDonald and Cawdor in a rebellion against King Duncan. Duncan will reward Macbeth with the title of Thane Cawdor, as prophesized by the three witches, and this marks the beginning of his desires for wealth and power. The road to royalty will not be easy because Duncan has chosen his eldest son Malcolm as his heir. Macbeth is not alone in his need for power and ambition for his wife proves to be even more malicious and cunning. It is Lady Macbeth who calls on spirits to replace all her womanly gentleness and to show no mercy. “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts / unsex me here, and fill me from the crown / to the toe topful of direst cruelty!” Macbeth (I.v.40-43) When Macbeth arrives home to Inverness, it is Lady Macbeth who speaks the unthinkable—kill the king! It could be argued that she is in fact, hungrier for power and ambition than her husband. She ridicules her husband by calling him coward and weakling (Greenhill 12). “Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in think own esteem, letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would.’” Macbeth (I.vii.41-44) Lady Macbeth knows her husband is not fully capable of regicide and manipulates him to the fullest in order to satisfy her own need for power. Lady Macbeth goes on to say that he will only be a man if he kills the king. It can also be argued that she is indeed one of Shakespeare’s greatest characters because her ambition is far more superior than the audience would expect. She is powerful and in charge—she surpasses all expectations of hiding her feminine side and manipulates her husband to committee the most malicious act of all—murder. In the end, it is altogether not that difficult since Macbeth decides he wants the power and the title of King as well. The act of regicide is not just an ordinary murder during Shakespeare’s time, it was the greatest sin of all. Elizabethan’s believed that kings were chosen by God not people, so killing a king was like turning your back on Christianity (Andersen 50). Macbeth would now start to question and doubt his decision to kill Duncan. He says he is not afraid of hell, but he is afraid of turning into a monster. Macbeth has little issue with killing a man on the battlefield, but plotting a murder is different. For example, at the grand feast Macbeth sees the bloody ghost of Banquo sitting in his chair and he is terrified. “Prithee, see there! / Behold! Look! Lo! how say you? / Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.” Macbeth (III.iv.67-70) Macbeth’s guilt is just beginning to rise to the surface because at this point in the plot, Macbeth has killed three people in his quest for the throne. At the banquet, Macbeth starts to uncontrollably babble and ramble so much the guests think he is ill; it is Lady Macbeth who covers up for him and settles the guests. For all her strength and drive, Lady Macbeth begins to crack under strain of guilt and wrongdoing: Out, damn’d spot! out, I say! One— two—why then ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call out pow’r to accompt? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? Macbeth (V.i.35-40) Like her husband, she is not well. She has been sleepwalking and speaking about her evil deeds. As hard as she tries to be during the day, her mind takes over at night and she confesses her sins. The doctor and her gentlewoman overhear her sleepwalking tirades and realize what she has done. The doctor knows there is no cure for her as he says, “This disease is beyond my practice; yet I / have known those which have walk’d in their sleep / who have died holily in their beds.” Macbeth (V.I.59-60) It can be argued that Shakespeare’s, The Taming of the Shew, is a play in which the protagonist, Katherina, symbolizes the female’s desire for independence and control. This play focuses on the concepts of marriage, social roles on individual happiness, and domestication. To start, each character has a specific role they need to play and portray themselves in various ways to get what they want. For example, Katherina, is a woman that has extreme independence and wit. She is sharp-tongued, biting, and hot-tempered (Naden 53). Women usually wanted to present themselves in the best way. “In Elizabethan times, men expected a wife to be submissive to her husband; a hot-headed and cruel woman such as Katherina would not have been looked at as a desirable marriage choice (Naden 53). Women had very little overall power and control, so it was up to them, to manipulate those around them. At the end of the play, Petruchio, Hortensio, and Lucentio make a bet to see whose wife is the most obedient; whoever wins receives a hundred crowns. Petruchio wins the bet before Katherina speaks her famous monologue stating her reasoning for her genuine obedience and hospitable desire for her husband. This monologue is ironic since Katherina was tortured, humiliated, and starved during the beginning of her marriage. Is she just mocking the audience another one of her sarcastic runs about the conventions of marriage and subtly suggesting that the relationship between men and women is complex (Naden 84)? The two newlyweds no longer bicker, and Kate now kisses her husband without protest. “The real question is whether Katherina has been tamed or whether she has simply learned how to play the game with Petruchio” (Naden 84). More importantly, Petruchio’s is willing to marry a shrew for his own greed and personal contentment. The only suitor who was interested in Katherina was Petruchio himself. He is a crude and lustful fellow and he woos Katherina in an untraditional fashion. Because Petruchio is the only interested suitor, he has the upper-hand, and doesn’t need to impress her father Baptista. His gruff and aggressive manner is somewhat attractive to Katherina. Petruchio’s father had just passed away so he decides to journey on in search of a wife, “Happily to wive and thrive as best I may.” The Taming of the Shrew (I.ii.43) Petruchio is selfish, thoughtless and uncharitable. His number one aspiration is to get a rich wife so he can have someone to be obedient for him, and be married into a lifestyle of leisure. Before meeting Katherina, Petruchio states to Hotensio, “Thou know’st not gold’s effect: / Tell me her father’s name and ‘tis enough.” The Taming of the Shrew (I.ii.74-75) Petruchio doesn’t care who he’s marrying at this point as long as the name of the wife is from the noble class.
There is no character greater at deception and greed than Claudius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Claudius proves to be a worthy antagonist who knows how to use power and handle people deftly (Sobran 89). For example, Claudius has killed his brother and has married Hamlet’s mother whom he sincerely loves. Although the events of Claudius moving to the throne and marring Gertrude happen rather quickly, the characters in the play are not altogether outraged. In comparison, the people of Shakespeare’s time would not have accepted this union and perhaps considered it incest (Johnson 92). At the beginning of the play, Claudius plays the loyal, caring uncle, gentle king, and loving husband. Claudius goes so far as to profess his love for Hamlet as his “son”. He reminds Hamlet that death is a part of human nature—ever father eventually dies. His sorrow and mourning is just a fault of his human weakness:
Fie ‘tis fault to heaven, a fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd, whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, From the first corse till he that died to-day,
This must be so. Hamlet (I.ii.101-106) Claudius needs to play the part of loyal uncle in order to keep an eye on Hamlet. Those around Hamlet believe that he is mad with love over Ophelia, but Claudius is not all that certain that Hamlet is mad at all. Realizing that Hamlet is a threat, he sends him to England where he plans to have him killed. When this plan fails, Claudius is quick to have another one ready with Laertes. Because Laertes believes Hamlet is responsible for his father’s death, Claudius and Laertes join forces to kill Hamlet in a sword match. Claudius uses his favorite weapon—poison. Hamlet’s main objective in the play is proving his uncle’s guilt before seeking revenge. Hamlet stops at nothing to get what he wants and is motivated by his father’s ghost to do so. His father’s ghost advices, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” Hamlet (I.v.25) Hamlet now feels devoted and passionate in fulfilling his father’s request knowing that the supernatural spirit is indeed his father’s. Additionally, Hamlet has no sympathy towards his mother after marrying his heartless uncle. He decides to throw on a play for Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, and the court in order to catch Claudius in his lies. Hamlet declares: One scene of it comes near the circumstance Which I have told thee of my father’s death. I prithee, when though seest that act afoot, Even with the very comment of thy soul Observe mine uncle. If this occulted guilt Do not itself unkennel in one speech, It is a damnèd ghost that we have seen, And my imaginations are as foul. Hamlet (III.ii.71-78)
Hamlet believes that by setting up a play in front of Claudius, that displays an act of murder identical to the one Claudius executed with King Hamlet, Claudius will admit his wicked deed and prove his guilt. “Hamlet’s revenge will finally claim not only Claudius, but Hamlet himself, Gertrude (whom the Ghost ordered Hamlet to spare), and several others” (Sobran 89).
Although Shakespeare’s characters commit horrible acts of against God, society, the crown, and others, they truly pay for their actions by self-destruction and guilt. The characters suffer from psychological doubt, suspicion, hallucination, and involvement with the supernatural. In the plays, Hamlet, Richard III, and Macbeth, the supernatural entities plays a significant role in making the characters feel immoral. In Shakespearean plays, he always places the supernatural in closest relation with the main character.
It gives us confirmation and a distinct form to inward movements already present and exerting and influence; the the sense of failure in Brutus, to the stifled working of conscience in Richard, to the half-formed thought of the horrified memory of guilt in Macbeth, to the suspicion in Hamlet. (Johnson 14)
Most of the characters don’t know how to cope with the guilt and extreme doubt. For example, Richard III has a dream about all of the people he has killed to become king. They speak low of him and press on him for his wicked actions. “O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!” Richard III (V.iii.191). He is upset that his conscience is torturing him, internally.
Furthermore, Macbeth is a play that focuses on the main character’s guilt and self destruction. After Macbeth and Lady Macbeth kill King Duncan and clean up their dirty mess, the guilt hits them both tremendously. For example, Macbeth is visited by the ghost of Banquo; an ally to Macbeth whom was murdered by Macbeth to protect his evil secret. When the ghost appears it drives Macbeth publically insane, almost revealing the truth about King Duncan. As the Banquo’s ghost sits in Macbeth’s royal chair, Macbeth shrieks, “Thou canst say I did it. Never shake / Thy glory locks at me” Macbeth (III.iv.55-56). Everyone looks at Macbeth in confusion, while he’s talking to the invisible air. Macbeth concludes in front of his guests:
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble. Or be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword.
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!
Unreal mockery, hence! Macbeth (III.iv.106-111)
Macbeth isn’t the only character in the play who deal with self-destruction. Lady Macbeth subconsciously presents her guilt through her dreams. She sleepwalks in the middle of the night and confesses, “What, will these hands ne’er be clean? / No more o’ that is my lord, no more o’ that.” Macbeth (V.i.31-32) Lady Macbeth took away the bloody sword out of Macbeth’s hands to hide the evidence and was left with dirty, bloody hands from Duncan’s body. She and her husband hid the mess in their home and quickly washed her hands. Her guilt becomes untenable and she eventually kills herself. Shakespeare is perhaps suggesting that we are unable to escape guilt for wrongdoing.
As for developing Shakespeare’s characters, Shakespeare never fails to bring out their need for wealth, power, and ambition. Each character has a choice, decisions are made, consequences unfold, and human action causes a chain of events (Greenhill 14). Shakespeare makes sure each character learns their lessons after going something sinful, selfish, or deceitful. With the choices the characters prosper, the more they learn about themselves, and how is can affect others (Greenwood 70). Petruchio, Katherina, Richard III, Macbeth, Claudius, and Hamlet are all self-centered, witty, and at some point, bad-tempered; but they all have ambition, a plan, and avarice. These characters get what they longed but either end up unhappy, powerless, or dead. Was fulfilling their desperate need for revenge, wealth, freedom, and political power worth their end result?

Works Cited
Anderson, Richard. Shakespeare Explained Macbeth. New York: Benchmark, 2009. Print. Shakespeare Explained Richard III. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2011. Print.
Czyżewski, Krzysztof, Joanna Kulas, Mikołaj Golubiewski, and Constantin Virgil Bănescu. A Handbook of Dialogue: Trust and Identity. Sejny: Borderland Foundation, 2011. Print.
Greenhill, Wendy, ed. Macbeth. Chicago: Heinemann, 2000. Print.
Greenwood, Cynthia. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Shakespeare's Plays. New York: Alpha, 2008. Print.
Johnson, Vernon Elso, ed. Corruption in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2010. Print.
McDonald, Russ. The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. Print.
Rosen, Michael. Shakespeare His Works & His World. Cambridge: Candlewick, n.d. Print.
Shakespeare, William, and G. Blakemore Evans. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974. Print.
Sobran, Joseph. Shakespeare Explained Hamlet. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2009. Print.