‘‘Claudius makes a good king. He is a careful ruler and a loving husband, providing stability for both his country and wife.’’
‘‘Murderer of the rightful king, Claudius is the play’s hateful, lying villain.’’
What justification is there in the text to support these to views?
What is your opinion of the way Shakespeare presents Claudius?
From reading these statements it is clear that they both show contrasting views on the presentation of King Claudius. The first view sees Claudius in a very good light, saying he is a diligent ruler and an affectionate husband, where as the second view describes Claudius as an unpleasant, deceitful villain. Even though there is a contrast in views, there is evidence in the text for both of them.
When Shakespeare was writing Hamlet, he based Claudius on the chieftain who appears in and in ' . According to Saxo, Feng and were the sons of 's ruler Gervendill, and succeeded him as the rulers of Jutland. , king of , gave his daughter to Horwendill and she bore him the son . But Feng, out of jealousy, murdered Horwendill, and persuaded Gerutha to become his wife. Here we see that as Shakespeare actually based King Claudius on a character who committed the same crimes that Claudius would later commit, so one could say that the second view is the view that Shakespeare had in mind for the presentation of Claudius.
The idea that Claudius is the murderer of the rightful king and the central villain in the play, with his lying and hatefulness is the most popular view of King Claudius among scholars and students. There is copious evidence in the text for this point of view; Claudius secretly assassinated his brother, King , to steal his crown and his queen. When the audience learns what crime Claudius has committed they should automatically brand him as an ambitious and deceitful murderer. At the start of the play Claudius is referred to as a ‘satyr’ rather than a ‘Hyperion’ by Hamlet, Claudius is a bestial goat man in the eyes of Hamlet and probably the audience. Hamlet also pronounces, on the subject of King Claudius "O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!" Here we see again, Claudius is portrayed to be not only a villain, but one who is content with himself, he is smiling and he knows what he has done. After Hamlets death was ruled accidental Claudius took the throne and hastily married Queen Gertrude, his brother's widow. The second view sums up Claudius perfectly, it fits the Storyline of Hamlet, Claudius is the main villain and he does lie, for example when Claudius persuades Hamlet to stay in Denmark ‘Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye.’ Claudius does not want Hamlet around (hence the poisoned rapier and execution note) but he is lying to Gertrude by saying he wants Hamlet to stay, in a way that a ‘dearest father bears his son. Claudius lies to appear close to Gertrude so no one gets suspicious, no one would suspect Claudius of killing Hamlets father if he was constantly close to Hamlet. Here we see Claudius’ scheming villainy. Evidence in the text for Claudius being a ‘hateful, lying villain’ is bountiful.
