Hamlet and Claudius I as nearly mirror images (Part 10, Claudius series)
In 1948, E. G. Berry explained this, drawing on Suetonius [1]:
Claudius, like Hamlet, pretended to be mad or stupid as a survival strategy (74). [2]
“Like Hamlet, Claudius is delayed and obstructed in his coming to his rightful authority [...]; Claudius has to remain in a state of pupillage to a late age, kept in that state by his uncle Tiberius, and Hamlet [...] spent a longer time than usual at Wittenberg and then [...] is detained a virtual prisoner by his uncle Claudius.” (76)
Hamlet’s “extraordinarily loose, even obscene language in addressing Ophelia in III, i and in the play scene” resembles Suetonius’ description of Claudius’ behaviors. (76)
“In [...] ability and scholarship there is [...] likeness between Hamlet the scholar and the talented and scholarly Claudius. [...] denied authority and recognition by the usurping emperor.” (76-77)
“Suetonius' words, ‘for he was now careful and shrewd, sometimes hasty and inconsiderate, occasionally silly and like a crazy man’ fit Shakespeare's Hamlet with an extraordinary precision.” (77)
For Hamlet to see his own image in a potential enemy is already a theme in the play: In 5.2, Hamlet tells Horatio that he regrets having argued with Laertes at the grave of Ophelia:
But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
That to Laertes I forgot myself,
For by the image of my cause I see
The portraiture of his.
(5.2.85-88)
Christianity in Shakespeare’s time as in ours commands loving one’s neighbor as self, one of the greatest laws [3]; to love enemies [4]; and to take the plank from one’s own eye before taking the mote of dust from another’s [5]. So it is appropriate that Shakespeare names the uncle “Claudius,” a mirror image of Hamlet in so many ways [6].
Those who prefer Claudius as pure villain and Hamlet as hero might resist Berry’s insights on these resemblances.
INDEX for series on the uncle’s name as “Claudius” in Shakespeare's Hamlet instead of “Feng” in the Danish source from 1200 AD:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/11/index-why-claudius-not-feng-whats-in.html
NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu
[1] Berry, E. G. “‘Hamlet’ and Suetonius.” Phoenix 2, no. 3 (1948): 73–81.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1086430
Berry also compares Hamlet to Lucius Junius Brutus in Livy books I and II for his feigning as a means for survival.
[2.a.] Berry, p.74, FN 5:
Ac ne stultitiam quidem suam reticuit simulatamque a se ex industria sub Gaio, quod aliter evasurus perventurusque ad susceptam stationem non fuerit, quibusdam oratiunculis
testatus est. ([Suetonius] Lives of the Caesars 5.38.3)
[trans.] He did not keep quiet about his stupidity and declared in certain little speeches that he
pretended purposely under Gaius, because otherwise he would have not escaped and
reached his accepted position.
[2.b.] See also: "Claudius deftly avoided a confrontation with the Roman senate, and purchased the loyalty of the Praetorian Guard with a massive 15,000-sesterce per man donative. His ailments appeared to improve after he took the throne, and he later claimed that he had only pretended to be dimwitted to protect himself."
from #4
https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-emperor-claudius
[2.c.] Also see Witacre, 2018:
“Claudius tries to escape his reputation for being unintelligent by reassuring the people
that he only acted that way to survive the reign of Caligula. This is reminiscent of when Hercules
orders Claudius to stop being foolish (tu desine fatuari).
69 Claudius admitted that he only appeared unintelligent when necessary.
C.f. Apocolocyntosis 7.1. See page 20, Witacre.
Also in Witacre, see summary of
Seneca's Apocolocyntosis as relating to the disability of Claudius.
Disability and Ability in the Accounts of the Emperor Claudius
Master's thesis by Amanda Witacre, 2018,
https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=kent1532088905482623&disposition=inline
[3] Matthew 22:36-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28.
[4] Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-36.
[5] Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:41-42. Shakespeare uses Horatio to refer to this in Hamlet 1.1 when he says “A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye” (1.1.124). Horatio seems to assume that it is only a mote in the eye of Denmark, when in fact Denmark may have a plank in its eye as a cause of suffering for Norway, while Norway suffered more from the loss of its King Fortinbras at the hands of King Hamlet, perhaps a legitimate source of grievance for Young Fortinbras.
[6] And also appropriate that mirrors are used extensively in both the Kenneth Branagh film of Hamlet (1996) and in the BBC Hamlet starring David Tennant (2009).
IMAGES:
Left: Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet, gazing at his image in a 2-way mirror that conceals Claudius and Polonius, who are spying on him, and soon, Ophelia.
Branagh, Kenneth, director. Hamlet. Castle Rock Entertainment, 1996.
Image via Facebook, fair use: https://tinyurl.com/bpa5t9t6
Right: David Tennant as Hamlet, gazing in a broken mirror. Promotion image.
Doran, Gregory, dir. Hamlet. BBC, 2006.
Image via shakespearefiorenza.blogspot.com
Thursday, March 31, 2011
A Shattered Mirror is Multi-faceted
https://shakespearefiorenza.blogspot.com/2011/03/shattered-mirror-is-multi-faceted.html
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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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