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Claudius is perceived as a strong and masculine king, while Hamlet is perceived as weak and "unmanly," but we see through Hamlet's direct prose the difference in both their in true reality.  Claudius's interwoven prose demonstrates his instability.  "Mirth in funeral...dirge in marriage" (1.2.12)  The oxymoronical words, "mirth" and "funeral" demonstrate his weak personality.  We see that Claudius is not fully focused and he seems suspicious.  The audience is deceived into thinking that Claudius is the savior, yet his interwoven words casts doubt on his true intentions and his core strength.  This is conflicted with Hamlets prose, though his step father happily humiliates his step son, Hamlets inner strength is effectively portrayed through extremely close examination of the text.  "A beast would have mourned longer"  (1.2.152) Hamlet is regretting his decision that he succumbed to the Kings pressures of discontinuing his mourning.  This demonstrates Hamlet's loyalty as he followed the Kings orders while understanding the importance of mourning his beloved father.  At first sight we think that Hamlet is weak and indecisive but these qualities of subserviency to his superior while understanding the importance of his fathers death demonstrates his inner strength.  Still having the ability to not retaliate when his step father called him out and while effectively recognizing that he must continue to mourn for his father.  This effectively contrasts his step father who seems settled and confident and calm on the outside, but is unraveling his true emotions through his prose.  With Hamlet who seems weak and tense and nervous, yet his prose and his actions conversely demonstrate his loyalty and equanimity.  To conclude, we see that the perception of these two characters are actually reversed in reality.