“'Forgive me my disgusting murder'! It can't be; since I still possess those effects for which I committed the murder...". (III.ii.52-6) The hypocritical Claudius proclaims the above prayer, but is Claudius' prayer superficial? Shakespeare's Hamlet is full of deception, incest and hypocrisy; all clearly represented through Claudio. Shakespeare obscures Claudius' sinister characteristics through hypocrisy, but as the play develops, Claudius' Mephistophelian nature becomes apparent. In the first acts of Hamlet, there is no direct evidence of Claudius' wickedness. Claudius' first appearance depicts him giving a speech to Queen Gertrude, Hamlet, Polonius, and other attendants. Claudius explains: "Though the memory of our dear brother Hamlet's death is yet green, and that it behoved us to bear our hearts in sorrow and all our kingdom to be contracted upon a brow of sorrow... then our sister of a time, now our queen, the imperial competitor of this warlike state, we, as it were, with defeated joy, with an auspicious and falling look, with gaiety in funerals and with dirges in marriage, equally weighing joy and sorrow , taken as a wife. Nor have we prevented here your best wisdom, which has freely accompanied this matter (7) The naive public is not aware of the truth about the murder of King Hamlet, so it is not even aware of the hypocrisy of. Claudius. At the beginning of the speech, Claudius implores those present to deeply mourn the death of his brother, the former king, Hamlet. The underlying hypocrisy lies in his orders to mourn because Claudius is not actually mourning Hamlet's death. Claudius also misrepresents his marriage to Gertrude by providing seemingly valid reasons and downplaying the embarrassment. Noted critic Joseph Bertram relates Claudius' hypocrisy to his diabolical tendencies by stating: "The Elizabethans regarded it (hypocrisy) as a particularly serious character flaw. The king's hypocrisy is perhaps most evident in his eloquent speech in Act I, scene ii in which he openly discusses his hasty marriage to Gertrude (Bertram 138-139) Claudius continues to mask the wickedness with sincerity when Hamlet refuses to obey the common theme: the death of the fathers Claudius ensures to Hamlet that “is a loving and just answer. Be ourselves in Denmark. Madam, come; this gentle and unforced agreement of Hamlet smiles upon my heart... in the center of the paper... Bertram explains: "Shakespeare makes Claudius a hypocrite in what he says and does as the action progresses, and when the When the last scene came, we were able to understand the kind of evil that lies beneath his beautiful and smooth exterior. It is obvious therefore that he has been created by the playwright as this particular type of dangerous person, the hypocrite, who by virtue of his position and apparent splendor can pervert not only his queen, but the very land, which he has stolen. by his victim. Claudio is not a mixture of good and bad, he is an evil man who seems good." (Bertram 141) Shakespeare removes the darkness of hypocrisy and portrays the true Claudius. With the completion of Hamlet, the audience recognizes the Mephistophelean nature. Shakespeare provides evidence of Claudius' true nature chronologically as the play progresses. “Claudio dares to be both a villain and a hypocrite; his heart does not smile with his face; he is guilty of murder and incest, the smile on his face hides the guilt and plan for even more evil in his heart. (Bertram 141) From Claudius the audience learns the dangers of such flaws and character traits that he possesses.