An Alternate Reality

As a follow-up to my last post, I was considering the character of Claudius. Specifically, I was considering whether there was any possible way his character could be viewed as sympathetic. I think there is, but it hinges on a lot of things that you don't see onstage or in the text.

In examining the character of Claudius, we must consider the following questions:
- Why did he kill his brother?
- Why did he marry Gertrude?
- Why did he want to kill Hamlet?

As far as Hamlet (the character) is concerned, Claudius is a traitorous, power-mad villain. However, we see from the beginning that Hamlet doesn't know the full story. He isn't even aware that his father was murdered until the ghost appears and tells him.

Even though he doesn't know everything, the entire play is told from Hamlet's point of view. Our perceptions are colored by his biases and preconceived notions. We know nothing, except what Hamlet tells us. What if Hamlet is lying? What is Hamlet is wrong? What if Hamlet's real reasons for vengeance aren't as noble as they seem?

Imagine, if you will, a loveless and abusive marriage. The brother watches from the sidelines as the woman he has long loved is battered and maligned. She is forced to bear a child to provide the kingdom with an heir. That child grows up and is just like his father - selfish, cruel, egomaniacal. The brother continues to watch, powerlessly, as father and son continue to sap the woman of everything she has to give. She's miserable and contemplates suicide. The brother knows that he has to take action. But what can he do? If they run, they will be followed. Murder, it seems, is the only choice.

In that scenario, Claudius would not only be a sympathetic character, he would be a hero. I'm sure there are countless books and movies with this exact plot. It's basically the plot to the Princess Bride, only Wesley let Humperdink live (and there are tons of articles on why that was a bad idea) and Humperdink and Buttercup never had a kid. But it's got the jerky royal figure who treats his royal significant other like crap, and the lifelong true love stepping in to save the day.

I'm not necessarily saying that I think that Claudius is a saint. I just think that we too-easily dismiss him as the token bad guy with no redeeming characteristics. No one is one-dimensional. Plus, Hamlet isn't what you would call nice or respectful to his mom. I don't care how upset you are - nice people do not call their mothers "adulterate beasts" unless those mothers are crack addicts who left said nice people at the bus station after giving birth to them. For that reason, it wouldn't surprise me if Hamlet (by this time, a thirty-year-old man) had a habit of not treating his mother with respect. Additionally, children usually pick up on how they're supposed to treat their mothers from their fathers. Plus, this was the 16th century, before anyone realized that women were people.

Again, I'm not saying that Hamlet and his dad were definitely the real bad guys. I'm just saying that I can envision a semi-plausible scenario in which things are not what they seem.