Claudius as Truths Told Slant (Claudius series, Part 23)

Emily Dickinson famously wrote, “Tell the truth, but tell it slant” [1]. In the character of Claudius, Shakespeare does this in a number of ways:

He retells an old Danish tale about a murderous king who married his brother’s widow (as Henry VIII had many executed after divorcing his dead brother’s widow [2]).

He changes the uncle’s name from Feng to Claudius, associating him not only with literary villains in Arthurian tales [3.a., 3.b.] and Chaucer [4], but also with Rome and two Roman emperors - Claudius II, who ordered the execution of St. Valentine (even as King Claudius ordered the execution of Ophelia’s Valentine) [5], and Claudius I, who invaded England [6].

Shakespeare associated the uncle with Rome in these ways during the English Reformation, at a time when Protestantism and Rome were at odds, executing traitors and heretics; when Elizabeth had been excommunicated by two Roman Catholic popes [7]; and when Rome enlisted Philip II of Spain (who had proposed to Elizabeth in 1559) and its Armada to attempt invasions of England on four occasions [8]. 

In a major change from the Danish tale, Shakespeare has the uncle poison his brother, his wife, and nephew, and has Hamlet and Horatio repeatedly refer to their experiences of the poisoned ghost as “strange” – significant because Shakespeare and many of his fellow players had been members of The Lord Strange’s Men, and Lord Strange, a possible heir to Elizabeth’s throne, had been poisoned after revealing a plot against Elizabeth that had been intended to entrap him [9].

Many of these are potentially sensitive, controversial issues that Shakespeare approaches by analogy with a historically and geographically distanced tale from long ago and far away. His composite character of Claudius combines elements of the Danish Feng, Henry VIII, literary villains, Roman emperors, Catholic popes, and the scheming poisoners of Lord Strange.

In Claudius, Shakespeare tells the truth, but tells it slant.


INDEX on “Claudius” in Hamlet instead of “Feng” (Nov 19, 2024) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/11/index-why-claudius-not-feng-whats-in.html NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu

[1] Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —

Tell all the truth but tell it slant — (1263) - By Emily Dickinson
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56824/tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant-1263

[2] In the original Danish tale from Saxo Grammaticus, uncle Feng kills his brother the king and takes his brother’s wife. Henry VIII had married the widow of his dead brother Arthur, but later wanted an annulment so that he could marry his mistress, and was willing to break with Rome to have the English Church grant him what Rome had denied him. He had various people put to death who opposed him, including Thomas More (d. July 6, 1535) and later two of his wives, including Anne Boleyn (d. May 19, 1536) and Catherine Howard (February 13, 1542), as well as many others. See also previous post:
WHY CLAUDIUS GOES UNNAMED EXCEPT IN STAGE DIRECTION (part 16, Claudius series) - April 28, 2025:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/04/why-claudius-goes-unnamed-except-in.html

[3] See the following two previous posts for more on Claudas in Arthurian tales:

[3.a.] Hamlet, Claudas, and Arthurian legends (Part 2, Claudius) - December 10, 2024:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/hamlet-claudas-and-arthurian-legends.html

[3.b.] Arthurian Wastelands and rotten Denmark under Claudius (Part 3, Claudius) - December 16, 2024:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/arthurian-wastelands-and-rotten-denmark.html

[4] See the following three previous posts:

[4.a.] See the following three previous posts:
Claudius, Hamlet, and Chaucer's Physician's Tale (Part 4, Claudius series) - February 07, 2025:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/02/claudius-hamlet-and-chaucers-physicians.html

[4.b.] Hamlet, Chaucer's Appius Claudius, and the Corrupt Judge of Luke 18 (Part 6, Claudius Series) - February 17, 2025:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/02/hamlet-chaucers-appius-claudius-and.html

[4.c.] Claudius and his Mini-Me in Hamlet and Chaucer (Claudius series, Part 14) - April 11, 2025:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/04/claudius-and-his-mini-me-in-hamlet-and.html

[5] See previous post:
Ophelia's Valentine and Claudius (Part 5, Claudius series) - February 10, 2025
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/02/ophelias-valentine-and-claudius-part-5.html

[6.] On connections between Claudius I of Rome and Claudius in Hamlet, see the following six previous posts:

[6.a.] Beloved Boudica, Contemptible Claudius, Elizabethan Analogies (Part 8, Claudius series) - February 28, 2025:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/02/beloved-boudica-contemptible-claudius.html

[6.b.] Claudius I, Incestuous and Poisoned (Part 9, Claudius series) - March 04, 2025:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/03/claudius-i-incestuous-and-poisoned.html

[6.c.] Hamlet and Claudius I as nearly mirror images (Part 10, Claudius series) - March 11, 2025:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/03/hamlet-and-claudius-i-as-nearly-mirror.html

[6.d.] Hamlet-Claudius, Romulus-Remus, Cain-Abel (Part 11, Claudius series) - March 18, 2025:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/03/hamlet-claudius-romulus-remus-cain-abel.html

[6.e.] Claudius, Hamlet, and Nero, roads diverging in allusive woods (Part 12, Claudius series) - April 01, 2025:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/04/claudius-hamlet-and-nero-roads.html

[6.f.] THE CLAUDIUS-NERO CROSSROADS IN GERTRUDE'S CLOSET (Part 17, Claudius Series) - May 04, 2025:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-claudius-nero-crossroads-in.html

[7] in 1570, Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth I as a heretic, and in part because of her strong response to the 1569 Northern Rebellion (by Catholics opposed to Elizabeth), after which she had between 700 and 800 executed. In 1588 after Elizabeth had (the Catholic) Mary Queen of Scots executed allegedly for plotting the overthrow of Elizabeth, Pope Sixtus V renewed the excommunication of Elizabeth.

[8] The Spanish Armada attempted a major invasion of England in 1588, which failed mostly due to bad weather, and attempted again in 1596, 1597, and 1601. Philip II, King of Spain, had held the title of King of England under his wife Mary I, and proposed to Elizabeth in 1559, about two months after the death of Mary I, so this would have been considered an incestuous marriage, requiring papal dispensation, as did their father Henry VIII, in order to marry his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. See also the previous blog post: 
Philip II of Spain through the lens of Claudius (Claudius, Part 21) - July 14, 2025, https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/07/philip-ii-of-spain-through-lens-of.html 

[9] See the two following previous posts:

[9.a.] Hamlet Act I: "'Tis Strange," a Poisoned King, and a Poisoned Lord Strange - November 06, 2023:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/11/hamlet-act-i-tis-strange-poisoned-king.html

[9.b.] Welcome Lazarus & Lord Strange's Men (Lazarus in Hamlet, Part 8) - April 06, 2021:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2021/04/welcome-lazarus-lord-stranges-men-for.html


IMAGES: Top, L-R:
Woodcut illustration (leaf [m]2r, f. cij) of Verginia's trial before Appius Claudius and her death at the hand of her father Verginius, hand-colored in red, green, yellow and black, from an incunable German translation by Heinrich Steinhöwel of Giovanni Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris, printed by Johannes Zainer at Ulm ca. 1474 (cf. ISTC ib00720000). One of 76 woodcut illustrations.
Photo by kladcat
Via Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, via Wikipedia
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Woodcut_illustration_of_Verginia%27s_trial_before_Appius_Claudius_and_her_death_at_the_hand_of_her_father_Verginius_-_Penn_Provenance_Project.jpg

Medallion, Claudius II Gothicus. AD 268-270.
Via Classical Numismatic Group, under GNU Free Documentation License,
under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license,
via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Claudiusgothicus77000981cng.jpg

Claudius as Jupiter, 1st C. AD, Round Hall by Michelangelo Simonetti, Vatican Museum. Photo by Gary Todd. Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Claudius_as_Jupiter%2C_1st_C._AD%2C_Round_Hall_by_Michelangelo_Simonetti%2C_Vatican_Museum_%2848465336326%29.jpg

Portrait of Henry VIII, after Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/1498–1543), circa 1540–1547.
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK. Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/After_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Portrait_of_Henry_VIII_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg


IMAGES Bottom, L-R:
Elizabeth I, "The "Darnley Portrait," circa 1575. Public domain, via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I#/media/File:Darnley_stage_3.jpg

Image of Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange, 5th Earl of Derby. Unknown author. Public domain via Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fernando_Stanley.jpg

Portrait of Pope Sixtus V (painter unnamed), public domain via Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Pope_Sixtus_V.jpg

Portrait of Pope Pius V by Bartolomeo Passarotti and workshop (1529–1592).
Date: circa 1566.
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Public domain via Wikipedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bartolomeo_Passarotti_-_Pius_V.jpg



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