Essay: Claudius was a man of two sides and two faces (Hamlet)

One could consider the fact that mind is one’s greatest weapon. The conscious and the unconscious all serve as parts of the powers of the mind. Amazingly, the thoughts you think, or the way you perceive things affects a lot of what you do and how you feel. Claudius was a prisoner of his own mind, or a prisoner of his own conscience.  The conscience can either lead one in the right direction, or it can lead to one’s demise. When listened to, the conscience gives a clear judgment of one’s current status. It will then lead one to peace or ultimately to destruction. One could make the conscious decision to not follow one’s conscience and suffer the consequences, or one could listen to his conscience and be free of mental torment and anguishing feelings of guilt. When a bad decision is made and one is aware of the bad decision they have made, it leads to mental torment for the individual. This torment causes him to be in a constant mental battle with his conscience. Mental torment is the case for both Macbeth and Claudius. Throughout Hamlet and Macbeth, both by William Shakespeare, Macbeth and Claudius both experience mental torment for selfish murders committed in vain, against Duncan and Hamlet Sr., and this torment leads them to a life full of guilt and loneliness.
​In the play Hamlet, Claudius is thought to be the villain. He is the main character or the antagonist and is characterized as everything a villain is thought to be, deceitful, cunning, and manipulative. The villainous traits of Claudius are shown as we see the way that he was able to even get the throne to become King. The immediate reading of Claudius’s actions paints him to be the villain we feel he is in addition to making him Hamlet’s (the protagonist) enemy.  Hamlet commits many heinous acts throughout the play. After killing the king, he marries the King’s newly widowed wife. Claudius tries to discharge the slain king’s son; he turns others against the king’s young son and even convinces them to help him murder young Hamlet (1.5.42, 60-74). Claudius does not try to hide his actions either which makes him seem like a complete villain. Many villains have an excuse as to why they are villains Macbeth was influenced by witches, but Claudius was simply greedy and selfish and wanted everything his brother had so killed his brother and took it all.
​Through the soliloquy given by Claudius, we see the true thoughts and feelings he has. He says: “My offence is rank. It smells to heaven (3.3.37).” Claudius is showing that he knows his crime was wrong and he realizes the gravity of what he has done. He also says “Pray can I not (3.3.39).” which is where the he is evoking sympathy because he feels he cannot pray because of the guilt he is carrying. Although these do not justify his actions, these quotes do show that he is aware of what he has done and feels some sort of empathy, regret and guilt for what he has done. These emotions are not usually those of a complete villain. Claudius was driven by jealousy and greed and it is said that “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” Perhaps this bottomless pit of greed Claudius had in him was filled with guilt and remorse for all that he had done. Perhaps this greed drove him to do things he would regret for life, this does not make him purely evil, in some ways, this makes him a merely flawed human being overpowered by an addictive emotion.
Throughout “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, Claudius, shows us two faces of himself when he shows himself as a good king publicly, while privately and mentally being a bad person. His actions, as well as the meaning behind everything he says to others, are proof of his morality. His leadership and characteristics regarding politics govern his potential as a “good” king, while his ideas, personal actions, and manipulative speech paint his “bad” side. Claudius is a good king and he tries to lead his country wisely. This can be seen throughout Act 1, scene 2 lines 16-38, where Claudius tells of Young Fortinbras’ assumption of Denmark’s political state of weakness, and his concern for getting back the lands that his father lost. The king reacts by sending ambassadors with a message to Young Fortinbras’ uncle, in hopes of resolving the issue peacefully. This choice of statesmanship over war shows that Claudius is wise and just when faced with the decisions of a king. The king is also shown to be flexible and caring for his subjects. He replies, “Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, and they best graces spend it at they will!” (I, ii, 62-63), when Laertes requests leave to France, this shows that Claudius is considerate and allows his subjects freedom of action. Seeing these specific traits show that Claudius can still be a good king, despite being a not so good person.
Claudius was a man of two sides and two faces. Sometimes one face overpowered the other. But, when one face became the main face and Claudius was not able to separate himself from that face and who it made him become, he became a prisoner in his own mind. Claudius was jealous and consumed by this jealousy and greed. Although he tried to be a good king, ill gotten positions can never be rightfully yours. I do believe that Claudius was somewhat remorseful for what he did but due to the fact that he wanted the throne and got it, he wasn’t able to fully show it except through his speech in his soliloquy. Claudius dies in the same way that he killed King Hamlet, with poison. In the end, Claudius did not end up growing old on the throne because the throne was never his, all he wanted was to be king.