Shakespeares Hamlet Essay Who is Gertrude - 1691 Words

Hamlet –Who is Gertrude? This essay intends to explore Gertrude’s situation in the play in an attempt to answer many questions about her, the queen, wife of Claudius and former wife of his deceased brother, King Hamlet. Back in 1883 Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Lectures and Notes on Shakspere and Other English Poets comments on what he interprets as a problem or inconsistency in the presentation of the character Gertrude in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet: Ham. A bloody deed;- almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king, and marry with his brother. Queen. As kill a king? I confess that Shakspere has left the character of the Queen in an unpleasant perplexity. Was she, or was†¦show more content†¦Gertrude would be hurt even more if she were to overhear Hamlet’s first soliloquy, which expresses anger at the quickness of his mother’s marriage and its incestuousness: â€Å"Frailty, thy name is woman! . . . .† Mary Bradford-Whiting, in her article â€Å"Mothers in Shakespeare† compares the mother of Juliet to the mother of Hamlet: Juliet has a mother, to whose heart of stone she appeals in vain: . . . O, sweet my mother, cast me not away! [Romeo and Juliet, III.v.198] Hamlet has a mother, each remembrance of whom is a pang to his distressed mind, and of whose conduct he can only say: Let me not think on’t. Frailty, thy name is woman! [Hamlet, I.ii.146] (251) When the ghost talks privately to Hamlet, the prince learns not only about the murder of his father, but also about the unfaithfulness and adultery of his mother. Gertrude was seduced by â€Å"that incestuous, that adulterate beast, / With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts† – Claudius himself – prior to his brother’s passing. â€Å"So lust, though to a radiant angel linkd, / Will sate itself in a celestial bed,/And prey on garbage.† This revelation shows Gertrude’s complex temperament and motivation and renders her much more rounded in the dramatist’s development of her (Abrams 33). The ghost asks the protagonist toShow MoreRelatedComparison Of Ophelia And Hamlet By William Shakespeare1382 Words   |  6 Pagesportrayed and meant the two major female characters to be (Ophilia and Gertrude), and an example of the interactions between Ophelia and Hamlet, as they were very consistent throughout the story, and are an interestin g but very easy display of societal norms at that time. After the fallout of my previous essay I tried to stay as far away from using resources to avoid anything else from happening. So almost all the ideas in this essay are mine. Articles I ended up using were from spark notes, shmoopRead MoreHamlet and Play Essay1048 Words   |  5 PagesHamlet Essay The act of revenge never fails to accomplish Shakespeare’s goal of keeping the audience in their seats. Hamlet, William Shakespeare’s most well written play carries the theme of revenge or redemption throughout the play. Redemption is defined to be as the desire to undo an injury or a wrongdoing. Many characters felt that they needed to redeem themselves however in doing so, they ended up facing death. For some characters, revenge had sprouted from their urges to redeem themselvesRead MorePolonius Mistakes Essay1742 Words   |  7 PagesPolonius Mistakes Polonius Mistakes There are many parents who are too strict and do not let their children do things that might embarrass them. Other times a parent may use their child to do certain things in order to gain social prestige. Polonius demonstrates a similar type of behavior in Shakespeares Hamlet. Polonius is a domestic tyrant wreaking on his son and his daughter revenge for his own spoiled life (Bloom 111) and is an elderly and longwinded courtier and chief counselorRead MoreThe Media And Creation Of The Works Of Shakespeare s Hamlet1041 Words   |  5 Pages1599 and 1601, Shakespeare’s Hamlet is still globally studied and analyzed today. Along with personal reflections and countless interpretations of the piece, thousands of pieces of artwork have been created based on the play. To me, the three pieces that most accurately depict the ideas and events within the play are Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard’s Hamlet and His Mother Seeing His Father s Ghost, Paul Albert Steck’s Ophelia, an d Benjamin West’s Ophelia and Laertes. In the following essay, I will be describingRead More Women in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Essay1167 Words   |  5 PagesWomen in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. In this essay I will look at Hamlets perception of women in general but particularly Gertrude and Ophelia. I will also look at the historical presentation of women, comparing Hamlets time to today and seeing if the symbolic role that the females characters have is related to the period. Also I will look at Hamlets madness, whether it was real or not and also whether women could be the cause of it. Finally I willRead MoreSimilarities Between Hamlet And The Lion King1535 Words   |  7 Pages Hamlet and The Lion King The Shakespeare’s critical analysis William Shakespeare Hamlet is a play that is written about tragedy in the late middle ages. On the other hand, Lion king is a today’s compelling Disney movie that kids and adults both love to watch. In addition, both films partake a lot of similarities since Lion King was inspired by Hamlet. The lion king and the hamlet have the same plots but different outcomes. Hamlet can serve as a metaphor for lion king and the long-termRead MoreHamlets Loss of Faith1323 Words   |  6 PagesThere comes a time in one’s life when he loses faith in his beliefs or in his relationships. In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, murders Hamlet’s father to inherit the crown of Denmark and the love of Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Throughout the play there are six soliloquies that reveal the character of Hamlet and others. In more than any other Shakespearean play, the audience is painted a better picture of Hamlet’s mind. Shakespeare questio ns the social and Christian institutionsRead MoreThe Complexity Of Vessity Insanity In William Shakespeares Hamlet1016 Words   |  5 PagesShakespeare, who wrote different genres of play, such as comedy, tragedy, and histories. One of his famous tragedies play is Hamlet, which based on Prince Hamlet’s revengeful plan against his uncle, King Claudius. However, some critics question Hamlet’s insanity and they believe Hamlet is actually pretending to be insane. The purpose of this essay is to examine the extent to which the character, Hamlet, is insane. Despite different critics’ opinions regarding Hamlet’s insanity, it seems Hamlet is notRead MoreGender Construction And Patriarchal Power Structure Of Hamlet By William Shakespeare1402 Words   |  6 PagesIn William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there are various issues regarding gender construction and how women are portrayed in the play. The women of the play have zero to no power and control over situa tions and are often viewed as weak and incapable. The idea of power and control over women is widely shown through Ophelia’s character, who does not get to choose how her future will play out and who she will spend it with. This thoroughly connects to the Oedipus complex in the play as Gertrude’s sexualityRead More The Role of Women in Hamlet in William Shakespeares Play Essay2041 Words   |  9 PagesThe Role of Women in Hamlet in William Shakespeares Play Gertrude and Ophelia, the only two women in Hamlet, reflect the general status of women in Elizabethan Times. Women were suppressed by the males in their lives (brothers, fathers, and partners) and were always inferior. Ophelia and Gertrude have little or no power due to restricted legal, social and economic rights that were found in Elizabethan society. The male characters in Hamlet reflect this sexist view point