Clayton had it coming. From the onset he was arrogant, rude and walks around with a sense of superiority that makes him believe that some lives are less valuable than others. He isn't shy about voicing his opinion that Tarzan and his family are beneath him in terms of intelligence and strength; and similar to Ratcliffe's character in Pocahontas, he believes that the Western world are superior because of the way they live. Tarzan and his family are seen as primal, ignorant characters and because of Clayton's 'civilised' upbringing, this makes him better than they are. So while audiences weren't too concerned with Clayton being killed off, they were probably a little bit shocked as how brutal his death was. After all, he does tangle himself up in a lot of vines and then hangs himself and judging by the length of the fall, his neck snapped and he was dead before he reached the bottom.
