Did Claudius Plan The Murder In Shakespeare's Hamlet?

In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Hamlet, the audience can view Gertrude as innocent or guilty of various crimes. However, Shakespeare uses Gertrude’s ignorance, symbols, and her actions to portray her as innocent. Gertrude condones spying on Hamlet and marries her husband’s murderer, but she has no idea that Claudius killed King Hamlet and agrees that they must watch Hamlet closely because she is worried about him.

The very fact that his mother did not mourn such a grand man as his father made Hamlet feel as if she had betrayed not only her husband, but him as well. He personifies her as a beast, an animal that could not even properly mourn someone that she had once called husband. The way Hamlet addresses his mother shows his cold reception towards her,“You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife, / And, would it were not so, you are my mother." (3.4. 16-17). He refuses to acknowledge his mother as anything other than King Hamlet's wife. Hamlet chooses to refer to her as his father’s brother’s wife, not allowing Claudius to become relevant in his speech. Hamlet wishes that Gertrude were no longer his mother, for she has brought shame and grief to his already faltering soul. Her relationship with Claudius has directly affected Hamlet not only in his emotional state, but in his physical being. The thought of incestous occurences happening in the marital bed between Claudius and Gertrude brings only nausea and anger to Hamlet. The very fact that this union has occurred has poisoned his royal lineage. Yet the only emotions Hamlet can express unabashedly are those of disgust and grief that have been brought upon him by his mother.

It was as his friends had said; it did appear to be his fathers ghost. The one thing that changed Hamlet then happened. The ghost looked at him and divulged his secret. He told a story that a serpent crept into his garden while he was asleep, and that "the serpent that did sting thy father's life, now wears his crown." (I, v, 39) Hamlet did not take this news lightly. He could not believe his uncle could and would kill his father. The ghost then forced Hamlet to swear to get revenge.

In the play “Hamlet”, by William Shakespeare, he writes about many unsolved mystifications that even the audience cannot solve. One of the many unsolved mysteries is whether or not the Queen of Denmark is aware or the murder tragedy behind her beloved husband, King Hamlet’s death. The confliction on Queen Gertrude’s knowledge is very profound, many people say that she was also had a part in her husband's cryptic death. There are many people who say she is innocent in the calamity of it all. In this case, Gertrude is innocent and does not know anything about her husband’s crooked death or who was even behind it.

In addition, Gertrude goes through a moment where she is figuratively blind when making a judgment. When Hamlet told her about how King Hamlet was killed she didn’t believe it. He says she has been blind this whole time to it and even though Claudius appears innocent he is not. Gertrude married soon after King Hamlet’s death because her love and loneliness blinded her. This led to her to make incestuous actions. Hamlet is annoyed with his mother and how naive she is to his father’s death:

Robert R. Reed Jr. had stated that Hamlet delayed his revenge to avenge his fathers murder due to internal meditations and external obstacles on his hesitation on killing his uncle Claudius, obstacles preventing him from killing Claudius. The critic states that one of the external obstacles on Hamlet delaying his revenge was because of his uncertainty of the identity of the ghost I agree with this critic since when Hamlet had first encountered the ghost of his father near the beginning of the play, Hamlet’s father demands for him to get revenge on Claudius, informing Hamlet that Claudius had killed him, although the spirit could’ve been a demonic spirit disguised as his father who is demanding Hamlet to avenge his death on Claudius who has

The reader can tell that Hamlet felt betrayed the second Gertrude married Claudius. Hamlet is completely devastated about his father’s death and Gertrude seems fairly unphased; she quickly moves on and marries her late husband’s brother. Getrude even goes so far as to tell Hamlet “‘tis unmanly grief” (I, ii) that he is experiencing, and he needs to get over his father’s death. To himself, Hamlet complains that “a beast that wants discourse of reason/ Would have mourned longer” (I, ii) over the death of a

Though she is in mourning it does not last long, as she takes to Claudius quite quickly. “A bloody deed- almost as bad, good mother. As kill a king as marry with his brother.” (3.4.34) Here the reader sees that Hamlet, much like anyone would be, is very uncomfortable and quite vexed with the fact that his mother was quick to make this move. “For look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within’s two hours.” (3.2.134). Again Hamlet goes on saying, “So long? Nay, then, let the devil wear black, for I’ll have a suit of sables. O heaven, die two months ago, and not forgotten yet? Then there’s hope a great man’s memory may outlive his life half a year.” (3.2.138). But despite Hamlet’s disapproval, Claudius is not the only one to blame. Gertrude is just as guilty for getting married soon after the death of her beloved husband. Thus the reader can not hold that against Claudius. This is just one more reason that the actions of Claudius are justified by the actions of other characters

Angela Pitt considers Gertrude “a kindly, slow-witted, rather self-indulgent woman. . . .” (47). She joins in with the king in requesting Hamlet’s stay in Elsinore rather than returning to Wittenberg to study. Respectfully the son replies, “I shall in all my best obey you, madam.” So at the outset the audience notes a decidedly good relationship between Gertrude and those about her in the drama, even though Hamlet’s “suit of mourning has been a visible and public protest against the royal marriage, a protest in which he is completely alone, and in which he has hurt his mother” (Burton “Hamlet”). Hamlet’s first soliloquy expresses his anger at the quickness of his mother’s marriage to Claudius, an “o’erhasty marriage” (Gordon 128), and its incestuousness since it is between family: “Frailty, thy name is woman! . . . .” Rebecca Smith interprets his anti-motherly feelings: “Hamlet’s violent emotions toward his mother are obvious from his first soliloquy, in which 23 of the 31 lines express his anger and disgust at what he perceives to be Gertrude’s weakness, insensitivity, and, most important, bestiality. . . .(80).

She spurs Hamlet’s anger throughout the play, because she marries Claudius so quickly. Once Hamlet finds out that Claudius is the one who murdered the late King Hamlet, it drives him even more insane that his mother would be one to marry so quickly. The act of marrying another man when she should be grieving implies that she is only using the marriage for her social status to remain as queen, especially before she had proper time to mourn King Hamlet. Critics say that the act of marriage so quickly was to save her role as Queen. That she is a frail woman that has allowed herself to be seduced by Claudius (Aguirre). Being a frail woman or not, her allowing herself to be seduced by Claudius and her hasty marriage shows that she is in fact a desperate woman. In an analysis of Queen Gertrude, it can be seen that her hasty marriage to Claudius makes her desperate to keep her social status as Queen, with no regards to her first husband’s death, or Hamlet’s

Throughout the play, Hamlet’s disdain for his mother marriage to his uncle, Claudius, is made apparent. It is because of this union, Hamlet believes that it is his responsibility to separate Claudius from his mother for her own good. Because Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet, was killed his brother, Claudius, is now King and has married Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. After a play which depicts the death of King

Since the death of his father, King Hamlet, Hamlet his son is eluded between his thoughts and his emotions. The real struggle begins when a ghost, namely the ghost of King Hamlet, his father, accuses Hamlet’s uncle Claudius for his murder. When the ghost tells Hamlet about the reason for the murder Hamlet expresses his thoughts and feelings with passion, “The serpent that sting thy father’s life/Now wears his crown” (Shakespeare). The passion from his anger is also evident at the end of the soliloquy when he calls his uncle “damned villain” (Shakespeare). Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude is also accused by the ghost of King Hamlet for being sexually involved with Claudius and hamlet passionately with rage and anger calls his mother “O most precious women” (Shakespeare) at the end of his soliloquy. This situation put Hamlet in a sensitive and fierce battle between what’s truth and what’s right. His thoughts do not run in parallel with his emotions, Hamlet being caught up in this internal confusion keeps on delaying his actions. Furthermore Hamlet’s reason to kill Claudius comes from his passion, but his intelligence gives him reasons not to kill his uncle Claudius. He keeps

Shakespeare's play, Hamlet illustrates the tragedy of a young prince's pursuit to obtain revenge for a corrupt act, the murder of his father.   As the exposition unfolds, we find Prince Hamlet struggling with internal conflict over who and what was behind his father's death.  His struggle continues as he awaits the mystic appearance of a ghost who is reported to resemble his father.  Suddenly it appears, proclaiming, "Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing / To what I shall unfold" (1.5.5-6).  The ghost continues to speak providing an important clue: "The serpent that did sting thy father's life / Now wears his crown" (1.5.38-39).  In short, this passage reveals evidence leading to the identity of whom

Hamlet's rant to persuade her that Claudius is a bad man and the murderer of his father depicts his disrespect to his mother. For instance, he tells her, "You go not till I set you up a glass / Where you may see the inmost part of you." (III.iv.20-21) He is threatening his own mother! Later, he addresses her as "thou wretched, rash, intruding fool" (III.iv.32) Even though Gertrude's lust for Claudius aggravates him, Hamlet fails to show even the most fundamental respect to his superior. The relationship is full of disloyalty and distrust from Gertrude's part. First, she appeases, "Be thou assured... I have no life to breathe what thou hast said to me." (III.iv.201-203) It is assumed that she will listen to Hamlet and stay away from Claudius. However, in the next act, she displays her true loyalty to her husband, telling him that Hamlet is "in this brainish apprehension kills / The unseen good old man." (IV.I.12-13) This is partially contributed by her observations of her son talking to a ghost that she doesn't see. Polonius' death causes her to think Hamlet is dangerous, further driving the two apart. Her distrust to her son harms him by further solidifying Claudius' plan to execute him in England because the king sees him as a threat to the throne who is capable of killing. In the end, Hamlet and Gertrude's relationship take a bittersweet ending.

People are rarely what they seem, and if you do not believe me ask Queen Gertrude. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Queen Gertrude marries her husband’s brother when her husband dies. As if this was not weird enough, the late king’s brother Claudius, whom she marries, also happens to be the person who killed her husband. Gertrude’s son Hamlet was visited by King Hamlet’s ghost who told him the truth about the murder, so he knows what has really happened. Since Hamlet is the only one they play shows being told, he is the only person that the audience knows is informed about the murder. Never in the play is it directly stated, though, whether Gertrude had anything to do with the murder of her husband or even knew. However, throughout the play there are many pieces of evidence that help to prove that Queen Gertrude did not know about the murder of King Hamlet.