This page is for tropes that have appeared in I, Claudius (the novels, not the series).
For the rest:
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife:
- Claudius and Messalina. It doesn't work out well; Messalina is able to manipulate Claudius while cheating on him with just about everyone.
- Claudius and Agrippinilla as well, though she isn't the beauty she once was by the time they get married.
- Ultimate Final Exam: According to Claudius' description of druidism, three candidates out of five don't survive the final tests to become a druid.
- Undignified Death:
- Lupus, one of the guards sentenced for the murder of Caligula and his family, is shivering with cold and fear before his execution.
- Messalina's counts as this, at least In-Universe, since she is too afraid to kill herself when told she's been sentenced to death.
- Unreliable Narrator: Claudius admits that he's not aiming to write an objective account and is including a good bit of his own personal speculation.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Lampshaded in Claudius The God when he doesn't relate his battle plan while conquering Britain because that would make his description of the actual battle repetitious.
- Unwanted Spouse: Claudius and his first wife Urgulanilla, though he says that there's so little feeling between them that he can't even say they were unhappy with each other. When he announces he's divorcing her for adultery (orchestrated by Sejanus), she doesn't contest the charges when presented with them. Ironically of all his wives she's the only one who never treats him harshly or tries to manipulate him for her own gain, and outright states in her will that he is not an idiot like everyone else thinks. It's also safe to say that he bears her no ill will either, going out of his way to spare her illegitimate child; he demands the baby so he can expose it (as a Roman husband was expected to do), but he has a freedman tell her that if she gives him a reasonably-recent stillbirth (not hard to come by back then) he won't ask questions.
- Utopia Justifies the Means:
- Livia justifies all her murders and deceit with claiming that they were necessary for the good of the state.
- Claudius at the end organizes Nero to be his successor, fully knowing that he'll be the worst ruler imaginable. He does that because he believes that after this, people will finally realize that monarchy is wrong and restore the republic. He writes in his meditations:By dulling the blade of tyranny I fell into great error.
By whetting the same blade I might redeem that error.
Violent disorders call for violent remedies.
- The Vamp: Messalina uses her beauty to manipulate Gaius Silius into organizing a coup against Claudius.
- Villainous Incest:
- Caligula with his sisters and later Agrippinilla with her son Nero.
- Somewhat averted with Agrippinilla's marriage to Claudius, her paternal uncle. While their union is clearly incestuous, the marriage is merely a political alliance and is never phisically consumated.
- Villains Out Shopping: I, Claudius has a scene where Tiberius takes a break from depravities and ordering executions to compose a verse-dialogue between the hare and the pheasant, in which they argue which one of them makes for a better meal. Unfortunately, he is then surprised by a fisherman who decided to visit him on Capri and present him a large barbel he had caught; Tiberius has the poor man brutally maimed and then killed, due to a misunderstanding. Livia had given him a false warning to beware of barbel, knowing that it was a favorite dish of his, in order to both feed his paranoia and torment him with the idea that his favorite foods might be tainted. When the hapless fisherman appeared, fish in hand, to offer it to Tiberius, the emperor thought it was an assassination attempt and ordered his guards to protect him from an assailant.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Livia manages to have a relatively good public image during Augustus' reign, although she's correctly blamed for many of her evil deeds. Later Caligula becomes this, during the first months of his reign.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: The historians Livy and Pollio; Claudius describes their relationship as "friendly animosity". For example, when they first meet the young Claudius in a library, Livy asks what is he reading. Pollio comments that it's probably some romantic rubbish, since today's youth reads nothing but trash. Livy makes a bet with him that it isn't. When Claudius reveals that he's reading a historical work by Pollio, Livy insists that Pollio won the bet: today's youth reads nothing but trash.
- Warrior Prince: Augustus and, especially, Tiberius had distinguished military careers before becoming emperors. Caligula tries to become this, but fails both due to his madness and cowardice. Claudius manages to do it successfully in his conquest of Britain.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Livia. She acts as she does to prevent the restoration of the Republic, which in her view will lead to a return to civil war and instability. Even Claudius is forced to admit that she is a very capable administrator who genuinely cares about running the empire well.
- Wicked Cultured: A few examples:
- Tiberius is practically a non-cannibalistic Hannibal Lecter (he even has an MO of starving his victims). He's well versed in astrology, poetry and mythology, in addition to being a polyglot who speaks Latin, Greek, and German. He's also a connoisseur of fine food and wine, and becomes mildly offended when a member of his court composes a poem about mushrooms, titlarks, oysters, thrushes supposedly being the best tasting foods, prompting Tiberius to compose his own poem about how pheasant and rabbit are truly the greatest meals.
- Livia knows enough history to point out an erroneous reference during a conversation with Claudius (who's a professional historian).
- Wicked Stepmother: Livia is a textbook example of this in her treatment of Julia (Augustus' daughter from a previous marriage). Tiberius, who marries Julia, is very antagonistic towards her children from a previous marriage.
- Widowed at the Wedding:
- Camilla's death counts as this, although she dies just before her bethrotal ceremony, instead of the wedding itself.
- Silius and Messalina are both killed (separately) on their wedding day.
- Would Hurt a Child: Livia orders the death of her teenage great-grandson to prevent him from marrying the daughter of a political rival. Macro has Sejanus' underaged son and daughter executed (and the girl is raped before her death because it's bad luck to kill a virgin). Caligula orders the death of his young cousin Gemellus. In turn, Caligula's infant daughter is murdered by the same conspirators who killed the Emperor. Messalina tries to murder Nero when he is a child, but the attempt is thwarted.
- Yes-Man: During the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula, everyone in Rome has to become this in order to survive being near the Emperor. By the time Claudius takes the throne, people are treating him this way in spite of him not being a tyrant and encouraging them to disagree with his ideas.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Livia poisons Agrippa when he is no longer needed to ensure the stability of Augustus' rule.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Claudius is told by Thrasyllus exactly how long his life will be, down to the months and days he has left.
