Explore Shakespeare’s presentation of Claudius. Does he have any redeeming qualities,
or is he merely a “damned, smiling villain”?
Claudius is not presented as a typical villain. As always,
Shakespeare’s characters are complex with many facets to their
personality. Claudius is not a conventional villain as he has redeeming
qualities, which make it impossible to categorise him as merely a
“damned, smiling villain”. However, he certainly has been condemned to
hell according to a Jacobean audience as he has potentially broken three
of the Ten Commandments: “thou shalt not covet”, “thou shalt not kill”
and “thou shalt not commit adultery”. By breaking the divine law, he is
definitely “damned” and corrupt from the start, as he has killed his own
brother for his crown and wife. It is shocking he committed such deeds, as
the threat of hell and eternal damnation was more sharply felt in the
Jacobean era, than it is today. This shows extreme greed, lust for power,
and no concern for others, which are typical qualities of villains.
However, what sets him apart from archetypal villains is that he has a
conscience. Most villains are lacking in this and this makes Claudius a man
of contradictions. In my essay I will investigate the complexities of
Claudius’s character and look at how Shakespeare has presented him to
prove he is more than a “damned, smiling villain”. Shakespeare presents
the image of Claudius being a “damned, smiling villain” through Hamlet.
As Hamlet may be mad, we cannot be sure whether his judgement can be
trusted. A madman’s view may not be credible, and Shakespeare always
leaves an element of doubt over all his characters. We do not know if
Hamlet really is mad, and therefore his view of Claudius is biased and
unreliable. This essay will consider how Claudius is presented by
Shakespeare and analyse his actions to form an opinion of whether or not
he is a “damned, smiling villain”.
Claudius is not morally upright, as is immediately evident from Act
I: Scene II “our sometime sister, now our queen”. A Jacobean audience
would consider marrying your brother’s wife as incest. He shows lack of
consideration and apparent indifference to his brother’s death by
marrying her with “Oh most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to
incestuous sheets.” By using the word “Oh”, Hamlet is appealing to the
divine and imploring to the audience. This reminds us of the religious
implications of Claudius’s actions and proves that he is indeed damned.
Claudius proves to have quite a selfish and predatory nature,
“wisest sorrow think on him, together with remembrance of ourselves.”
At a time like this, he encourages his nation to think of themselves.
Another example of his selfishness is at the end of the play in Act VI:
Scene II. He doesn’t do very much to prevent Gertrude from drinking the
poisoned glass of wine, as he cannot admit his crime to save her life. This
is extremely inconsiderate and selfish. He is supposedly in love with her,
but he loves himself more. He shares qualities with the Devil, as the Devil
is considered to make alliances with weak people with the promise of
enjoyment and pleasure.
However, in the end, the devil is only interested in hurting God through
you, and brings about your downfall, according to a Jacobean audience.
Claudius is similar to the devil, as he uses Gertrude to satisfy his lust, and
gain the crown. If he loved her, he would sacrifice all his gained power
and reputation to save her life.
Claudius is an extremely ambiguous character, and he is full of
contradictions. This is evident immediately in the play, as he is caught
between two emotions, “mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage.”
There is an ambivalent feeling with Claudius as you cannot tell if he is
happy or sad. However, these paradoxes do not cast him as a villain, as it is
possible to be happy and sad simultaneously. He contradicts himself a lot,
and this keeps us guessing whether he is a villain or not, “defeated joy”.
This could show he is the type who is insensitive to other people’s sadness,
and only considers himself and his own happiness. However, as it is
possible to be happy and sad at the same time, it does not necessarily
make him a villain for feeling like that.
He has a predatory nature as he moved in to become king as soon
as his brother died, whilst Hamlet was abroad and unable to defend his
position. However, the court wanted him to become king and this proves
he has redeeming qualities, “your better wisdoms, which have freely
gone with this affair along.” He did not have to seize power, he was asked
by the people to become king, so he cannot be blamed for giving the
people inadequate time to mourn the previous king as they wished for
Claudius to rule them. This shows that he must have some qualities that
make a good king, such as experience, leadership qualities, and his
expertise must have shone out to the people.
The King is patriotic, “lets drink to Denmark”. As he is the state, he
must be patriotic. There is a symbiosis between the King and Denmark:
they are one, “our dear brother’s death”. With the use of the word
“our”, it shows how he regards himself as the state. He asserts himself as
King and this makes him popular. He is a seasoned warrior and very
experienced. He makes a good king practically, but not morally, “to
gather so much as from occasion you may glean, whether aught to us
unknown afflicts him thus.” He is very fraudulent as he employs spies on
his “son”.
He is a wise, shrewd politician as he averts war with Norway. He is
level headed as he doesn’t rush into battle straight away to prove his
leadership qualities. This could, however, be interpreted as cowardice
which is a villain’s trait. He is an extremely good orator and a talented
diplomat which enables him to deal with public relations effectively,
“giving to you no further personal power to business with the king, more
than the scope of these dilated articles allow.” He deals with the threat
of war extremely effectively as he does his injudicious marriage to
Gertrude. However, his talents are lost on Hamlet, who is set against him,
“no more like my father than I to Hercules.”
Another trait which makes us suspect he is a villain is that he has
trouble trusting people, as he judges them by his own standards. Polonius
is his only confidante. He is crafty, sly and devious as he uses Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet. He gets other people to do his “dirty
work” for him. He also uses Laertes to eliminate Hamlet without
involving himself and getting “blood on his hands”. He is very
manipulative and clever in a cunning way.
He is very cool, calm and collected, which makes his reaction to the
play all the more dramatic, as it is unlike him. The performance traps
Claudius into admitting his guilty conscience, “Give me some light. Away!”
he abruptly leaves the play calling for light, and a fiction discovers the
truth of the ghost’s story. He is a man of many contradictions, as running
from the play and betraying his emotions so easily is uncharacteristic of
him. His craftiness is contradicted by his honesty during the prayer scene
in Act III: Scene III. He is honest enough to admit he has committed a
crime and struggle with his conscience, “my stronger guilt defeats my
strong intent”. He is a man of conflict; God and the Devil are struggling
with his soul. Unlike customary villains, he feels remorseful and he has a
conscience, “my offence is rank, it smells to heaven.”
The irony involved in the prayer scene is that Claudius realises he
is guilty of vast amounts of sin, but he cannot repent. The villain in him
prevails and he is not prepared to give up the life he acquired by
committing his crimes, “my crown, my own ambition, and my queen. May
one be pardoned and retain th’offence?” This shows he wants life the
easy way, he is not prepared to make sacrifices, which is selfish and
narrow minded, qualities possessed by a villain. Only his fear drove him to
pray, as Hamlet’s play made him realise the adversity of his crime. He had
chosen to ignore the consequences of murder beforehand, but now he
can no longer ignore it.
Claudius is an extremely contradictory character. It is almost as if he
is schizophrenic. First, and foremost, he was asked by the people to
become king, and yet he is corrupt. He feels no qualms about employing
spies, committing incest and murder. However, he has qualities which
make him a popular choice as king. He can deal with a crisis effectively as
he remains calm and level headed. He has the appearance of action, as he
is a soldier, but he physically does little. He does not stab King Hamlet, like
a man of action, but “did pour the leperous distilment” this also shows
cleverness. However, cleverness is not necessarily a good thing. It can be
used in a sly and cunning way, to help you manipulate people, “they find
us touched, we will our kingdom give, our crown, our life…but if not, b you
content to lend your patience to us, and we shall jointly labour with your
soul to give it due content.” He faced down Laertes when he tried to
attack him for Polonius’s murder. As well as talking him out of stabbing
him, he managed to use him and turn the situation around to his own
advantage. This is true cunning and adeptness. He manipulates Laertes
and yet he is a talented diplomat.
I feel that Claudius has virtuous and redeeming qualities as well as
traits possessed by “damned, smiling” villains. I believe Claudius is more
than that, as he has proved he is an able and capable ruler. However, he
is unable to repent and that is his downfall. He is a talented diplomat,
which he uses to his advantage to manipulate people. This is ironic as he
was asked to be king due to his redeeming qualities, yet he uses he good
qualities in unscrupulous ways. There are other facets to Claudius’s
character as he is very complex. He makes a good King practically, not
morally as he was extremely efficient when the Fortinbras crisis arose,
and talking down Laertes from his rage. This supports the view that
Claudius is a potentially good King. It is too simplistic to view him as a
“damned, smiling villain.” We feel almost sympathetic towards him whilst
he is repenting, as he is genuinely remorseful. However, he is too greedy
to sacrifice anything, which will bring about his downfall. He is set apart
from other villains as he has a conscience. He is not cold blooded and
calculating which is usually the case. He betrays emotions and shows he’s
human. Some would agree that although he has redeeming qualities, he is
essentially a bad person and cannot be trusted, although he is capable of
ruling a country. I believe that there is more bad than good in him and
the villain prevails in his split personality.