Everyone is the Bad guy in Hamlet (how this teaches us to interact with conflict).
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a play that is driven by uncertainty and moral ambiguity, and at the centre of this is Claudius and Hamlet. Claudius and Hamlet both have an uncontrollable emotion that make them do things that are wrong and that hurt the people around them. For Claudius it is greed, and for Hamlet it is revenge. Because in the play they are pitted against one another, the audience has a tough time deciding who is in the right and who is in the wrong.
This idea is portrayed though vital scenes that show conflicting images of each character. These scenes are Act 3 scene 1, Act 3 scene 3, and act 3 scene 4. Both Hamlet and Claudius had done wrong things, and the situation that the characters find themselves in seems to end badly no matter how the situation plays out. I am going to be exploring and dissecting the facets of this rivalry and explore how this can allow us to better understand our interactions with others.
King Claudius is the “villain” of the play. The challenge that our protagonist has to overcome, and therefore one would expect to root against him, however, real life is rarely so black and white, and the play Hamlet captures this perfectly. All throughout the play he seems cold to everyone and seemed to have little remorse for his actions.
However, in Act 3.3, Claudius opens up in a soliloquy, revealing the inner conflict within him. He begs for forgiveness from God but is aware that he still profits from his brother’s murder. He is torn between goodness and greed. “May one be pardoned and retain the offence?”. He feels guilt. He wishes he was pure and feels deep turmoil because of it. What Claudius did was not right, and he is in the wrong, but besides the murder of his brother it appears that he is trying his best to keep the kingdom together, and as the play continues, all Hamlet does is hurt the people around him and Claudius is trying to fix Hamlet’s wrongs. In Gregory Doran’s production of Hamlet, the scene has a cold colour palette like the rest of the movie. In this context, it communicates the deep seriousness of Claudius’s soliloquy. Additionally, the mise en scene is very bare. There is simply a room, and Claudius. This is a juxtaposition to how we normally see Claudius, with many people around him, lots of wealth, putting up a facade. This choice of composition Displays Claudius in a bare and genuine manner, revealing Claudius’s true vulnerability.
Claudius treats everyone well and seemingly tries to include Hamlet into his kingdom. Claudius is clearly a good person deep down, which can be seen from the way he treats the Queen Gertrude, and by how he tries to defend his court from Hamlet not only because he knows he is guilty, but also out of good intent. When Polonius dies, and Ophelia becomes mad, Claudius feels “a murdering — piece in many places, Gives (him) a superfluous death”. He is not sad just because his plan is unravelling. He is sad because his people are endangered, and that is desirable.
Hamlet is the opposite of Claudius. Hamlet is the protagonist of the play, and he certainly acts so in the beginning. The feelings of sorrow and hatred for Claudius and Gertrude is warranted, and even his thirst for revenge is justified. However, the problems arise as he hurts everyone around them, even if they are innocent or do not deserve the treatment they receive from him. The worst victim in this whole play is Ophelia. She does not have any intent to harm anyone and does not do any actions that would do so, but Hamlet mistreats her, especially in Act 3 scene 1.
It is in this scene where Hamlet’s worst qualities are displayed as there in no ambiguity here. Hamlet is in the wrong here, and Ophelia is the victim. Hamlet ridicules her for loving him, when he has given all the hints that he did love Ophelia. He breaks Ophelia’s heart and tells her her the famous line, “get thee to a nunnery”, implying he does not want her to find love and breed more sinners. This is very careless and misogynistic. A big part of Gregory Doran’s production is how Hamlet is portrayed not as methodical and cunning, but as very crazy. In this scene Hamlet flings Ophelia around the room, showing how Ophelia is defensless and powerless to Hamlet’s word’s and actions. Hamlet is depicted towering over Hamlet, emphasising the power imbalance in their relationship. The intimate, and rapid fire pacing of this scene emphasises the idea of Hamlet’s words against her being an unprovoked attack, as Ophelia isn’t given even a moment to defend herself.
This brings us to the very issue with Hamlet. In Hamlet’s obsession for revenge, he torpedoes every relationship he has, and does actions that are not justified by the bad things that have happened to him. This is further explored when he kills Polonius, who despite not having a noble disposition and despite and being very nosy, was mostly innocent. In Hamlet is not shocked by what he has done and feels no guilt for the murder of Ophelia’s father, which is ironic since his whole existence seems to be centred around revenge for his father’s murder. Claudius’s actions cause the death of a father. Hamlet’s actions cause the collapse of the kingdom.
It is evident that there is no rightful person when it comes to the rivalry between Claudius and Hamlet. There is only deception, cruelty and death. We have explored this and so who, in this rivalry, is morally more right than the other is up to one decide. But Shakespeare must have not accidentally written this moral ambiguity. It must serve a purpose, whether to make the story more interesting, to entertain the audience, or to educate the audience.
This rivalry, ending in the death of all the main characters apply to real life. This play displays how conflict between two parties can end up destroying an entire group if not ended quickly. This refers either to peace, an impasse, or one side “defeating the other” quickly. If Hamlet or Claudius had ended their rivalry quickly, by either besting each other or somehow making peace (which is not what I believe would have been right) then while there would be problems regarding what was morally right, in the big picture the kingdom of Denmark would still exist to fight off Norway. I believe that this especially applies to our global situations, where countries possess nuclear bombs that can wipe humans off the entire planet. If a conflict continues escalating on and on, it does not matter which country is to blame for the conflict, it must end before it kills everyone. Applying this to our own lives, where killing people isn’t very common, it shows how important compromise is in order to not let things escalate with other people to the point that an entire social circle becomes fractured.
But obviously as always, this is just my opinion. There is something that everyone can take away from Hamlet. After establishing that the moral right wasn’t so clear cut between Hamlet and Claudius, and after observing how the conflict between Hamlet and Claudius gets nothing done, I have taken away that one must end conflicts quickly as it serves no purpose but to tear down the things one loves. Between Hamlet and Claudius who was in the wrong didn’t matter in the end as everyone died. Speaking of ends, let me finish with a quote by Hamlet about good and bad.
“Why, then, ’tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so” — Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2)