Mighty opposites; Hamlet and Claudius.

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Mighty opposites; Hamlet and Claudius:

In the play 'Hamlet', the drama is essentially a contest between Hamlet and Claudius, with the outcome inevitably being the death of one of them. Claudius is Hamlet's uncle who has married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother after the death of King Hamlet.

Both characters are presented in Act One. Hamlet is presented as a youthful, innocent and heroic prince sincerely grieving for the loss of his father. His grief for his father is the initial image we get of Hamlet which also corresponds to him being innocent and honourable.

In contrast to Hamlet who is genuinely distraught and bewildered, Claudius is introduced in his court speech as someone manipulative and in control. He is calculating as how he should appear, it is not emotional and he is using this image to mask the true situation, (i.e. killing his brother) and to gain acceptance from the audience. ''it us befitted to bear our hearts....that we with the wisest sorrow think of him''. Thus our initial image of Claudius is that he is in power and also quite clever as he structures his speech so accurately to suspend any suspicions. However, towards the end of